Eat

I am flesh and blood proof you can change your life with a little courage and a lot of hard work.

Hi! I’ve had a complicated love affair with food since childhood. By the time I was six years old, I was wearing my mom’s jeans with the legs rolled up. I was a fat child, a fatter teen, and, eventually, a super morbidly obese adult.

Me with my first husband, Chris, and our cat, Sherlock.

At the age of 22 years old, I made the decision to undergo gastric bypass surgery. At 350 pounds, I was more than 200 pounds overweight (I’m only 5’1.). It was a drastic choice that I made after nearly a lifetime of dieting. I knew then that dieting didn’t work, but I didn’t realize what would.





It took me two years to lose the weight. I lost it faster than others because I worked out 2-3 hours a day and ate as few calories as possible. I took in maybe 7-800 calories a day at the time. All I cared about was my eternal quest to be “skinny.” I didn’t even know what skinny would feel like. Before I could walk, I was overweight.

Down 40 pounds.

On my 24th Birthday. Down 180 pounds.

My quest to lose the weight changed me and took a toll on my marriage. I survived my caloric stupidity, but my first marriage didn’t. I had married a wonderful man, but I was no longer the same person.

Divorced and still not “skinny,” I hit my lowest point. From there, I began to get real with myself. I started to study nutrition, and I began to consider my health. My whole health. The kind of health that includes your emotional well being. I realized that I’d lost all the weight, but I was still as shattered and insecure as ever.

I decided it was time to eat the right way, to make a move for me (a cross country move, in fact), and to focus on my writing.

In July of 2007, I moved to San Diego, CA.

July 2007. San Diego. Down 200 pounds.

Since that time, I have dedicated myself to EATing well, to exercise and positive, forward MOVEment, and to becoming the best WRITEr I can be. I now eat better than I have at any time in my life. In March of 2009, I married the love of my life. And, in August of 2009, I left my full-time job to pursue my greatest dream: I am now a 100% self-employed professional writer.

My own journey has inspired me. I believe that anyone, at any moment, can change their life. All they have to do is re-write their story.

What's your story?

--------------------------------------------------
Read about my life philosophy at MOVE and my writing life at WRITE. Want to contact me? [eatmovewriteATyahoo.com]