Border Line Purge To Fitness

Diets DO work! I am proof.

Years ago, I weighed a mere 245 lbs. Yeah, really. I was in a very safe place. I had moved to California with a man I loved and he made me feel safe and taken care of. With that, I formulated in my mind that I wanted to lose the weight now. Finally! I had been fat since I was 5 and felt that it was time. Every night before I went to bed, I would imagine myself thinner. I did not really know what a size 10 would be yet I imagined it. I also imagined myself exercising. Yes, the "E" word. I found a diet that worked for me and went for it. I stayed on the diet (which was monitored each week by a nurse taking your blood) for a full year. I did not deviate until the nurse asked me what else I ate. When I said "nothing", she told me to have some popcorn to get my metabolism going again, which I did and it did. After about a month of being on the diet, I began to exercise for 4 minutes a day (not even 5!). I used my mini-trampoline and just jumped up and down while watching TV. After about another month, I increased it to 10 minutes. Then 15 and I added in a few minutes of arm exercises while I was doing that. I gradually increased the time until I was exercising about an hour and a half a day with 20 minutes of arm exercises thrown in for good measure (and to rid myself of the "wings" I had developed. In a year I reached my goal. I made reservations for a vacation with my girlfriend, bought all new clothes and off I went.

The feeling I go from losing the weight was as if a "weight" had been lifted off my shoulders as it did. I think my unending will and determination made it happen. It also helped that I believed in what I was doing and that I would one day reach my goal.

Then, as we all have had, stuff happens and I went up again. So three weeks ago, at my highest weight ever – 375, I went on a diet again. This time I am on NutriSystems, which, in my opinion, has the best tasting diet food ever. (And if you join them, please mention my name! Thanks.) My intention is to get down to my 135 lbs. again so I can fit into all those great clothes and look good too. I will continue to formulate my goal in my mind every night before I sleep and continue to believe that I can do it. Before I stated the diet, I consulted with my doctor and he was all for it. (You should consult with yours. At least that way we know we have more than one person pulling for us – our doctor and ourselves!)

It will be a long road, yet I think each and every one of us can do it. It takes a good will, a stick-to-it attitude and the belief that it CAN be done! Good luck.

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Mary-Ann Donnolo is the owner of an e-store called Royal Treasures (ww.royaltreasures.com). She sells homemade chocolate truffles, brownies, pecan pies and baskets. And she does not eat ANY of the profits!