On this 2.7-mile morning walk, I'm sharing how I got started with exercise when I weighed 240+ pounds.
Summer 2023 was when I finally got sick and tired of being sick and tired.
We took a trip to Louisville, KY and the seatbelt on the airplane BARELY fit. I knew that I’d have to get a seatbelt extender if I gained any more weight. I’ve always carried my weight in my bottom half and my booty just kept growing and growing.
My husband was working in Louisville so I took the kids for a day trip to the Cincinnati Zoo, which is also a botanical garden and just gorgeous!
It was a warm, humid August day and I was completely exhausted and uncomfortable the entire time at the zoo. We rode the little train that goes around the park, and I could barely fit into the seat and was squishing my 6yo.
We enjoyed the zoo, and I snapped this selfie. I’m smiling, but dying on the inside.
It was that day that I decided I had to change my life. If you know me, you know that when I do something, I’m all in. It’s go big or go home. I got on my doctor’s website that night to schedule an appointment for when we got home. I needed blood work or something to help figure out why I kept gaining weight.
They had a promotion on the main page about weight management and that’s where I learned about the new-ish glp-1 weight loss medications. I booked a telehealth appointment for the next morning and had meds in my mailbox a few days after we got home.
When we got home from our trip, I went all in on changing my life. I made it my full time job. I’m really not sure what I was doing with my time before, but from that day forward, I was dedicating hours a day to saving my life.
I weighed 243 pounds when I started this journey. I’m 5’4” so that is a lot of weight on a short girl. My feet hurt every morning when I stepped out of bed. I was plagued with “runner’s knee” even though I barely moved. I would get short of breath going up the stairs in my house. I needed caffeine and a daily nap to make it through the day.
I found this photo recently, and it’s hard to believe that was me. This was in 2022 on a trip to West Texas for my birthday. I was probably 25lbs from my heaviest weight here.
My weight started to pile on in 2018 due to a big conglomeration of factors. I gained about 50lbs by 2019.
And then continued to yo-yo and gain another 30lbs over the next two years. But I never felt like I was fat or like it was holding me back. Until that trip where I looked at the seatbelt and that day at the zoo where I couldn’t keep up.
But looking back at photos, it is shocking how much weight I gained. And now I can see how much my weight held me back. It kept me from doing things with my kids. I stopped taking photos of my family. It kept me from doing social things with friends. It kept me from building my relationship with my husband.
So all that to say, when I decided on making a change, failure wasn’t an option. I was going to give it everything I had.
So yes, I started taking weight loss medication. I also completely changed my diet. And I got up and started walking.
First, I walked around the block. Then I walked up my street. Eventually I could even walk up a hill. Then I walked twice a day. And eventually I was averaging five to eight miles a day of walking!
This is me in September 2023 after losing about 25lbs and buying my first proper workout clothes.
My body has changed so much over the last year. I’ve lost 115lbs, and I am so much stronger and healthier. I can do so much more physically now, but I still get out and walk every single day. It’s a habit now, and I will never give it up as long as I am able to keep doing it!
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