I came across this story in a fitness forum and I asked permission to share it here on NewbieFitness.com… Watch this slide show first

I suppose after seeing the same old obese face in the mirror my WHOLE life it is nice to hear so many people say they found it hard to believe its the same person. I recall as a 10-12 year old child praying that God would give me cancer, because cancer made people to sick to eat and made them lose a lot of weight. Then I would finish off my prayer with “then please make me healthy so I don’t die”. The hardest part of being pregnant is certainly the weight gain - mentally. But eating healthy has kept me from reaching a huge gain thus far.

My “experience” is a long one, spanning over 21 years now. I have had weight problems from as far back as I can recall. The first time I recall being made to feel “different” from other kids was in pre-k. We were all running up a hill to the play yard one afternoon, and I lacked behind the others. Some kid turned around and innocently told me I was slow because I was so fat. That’s the earliest memory I have of feeling out of place over how much I weighed. I am really the only person in my family with weight issues. My mother met her “life’s weight struggle” toping off at 180. Which to me would have been a dream come true. It was certainly hard to hear her walk around the house downing herself for being 180 - when my weight was climbing all the time. And for so many years I let myself think that “If I hadn’t let myself get so fat, my dad would love me”. Now being a mother myself I just don’t see how he had it within himself to tell his CHILD she was to fat to love.

When I was 17 my boyfriend - who I was always trying to push away, asked me to marry him. I turned him down twice. I guess you could say I had issues allowing men to show any kind of affection to me. On his third attempt - I said yes. Two months later we found out we were expecting our son Garren. Saying we sped things up after that is a understatement. I spent my 9 months of pregnancy being told by a OB how stupid it was of me to get pregnant at “your size”. It was a long 9 months of self reflection. Knowing how winded I got just getting up to use the restroom - let alone stairs, or chasing a young child. When my son was 6 weeks old we both went into the doctors for a check up. My doctor then told me (as I held my son) that if I continued down the path I was on that he didn’t see me living to see 30. I recall holding my 6 week old, perfect son and thinking forward to not being there to see him graduate, marry, have children. Why? Because I liked to eat? I swore that day to my son that he would never bury his mother because she couldn’t say no to a cheese burger. I swore to him I wouldn’t be a “side line” mom who could only sit and watch his life go by - and not be a part of it. That’s when my long road to my transformation started. I guess I have never loved myself enough to make such a commitment and stick to it. But when you are holding a new life - a new life YOU created and love more then life itself, its just something that is hard to even explain. It gave me a drive I never thought I would find on my own. Many people ask me “what I did”. I guess I always find that hard to answer. Because it is really the basic principles that “fad” diets seem to brag you don’t have to follow. I didn’t wave a magic wand - I didn’t drink a liquid diet - I didn’t order all my food for only 10 dollars a day - and I certainly did not find my answer in a pill. I think when I finally settled in my mind that all of those things were temporary fixes to what has been a forever problem, it was easier to let go of the “quick fix” hope. I started off by not being able to exercise. Lets face it - at 380 pounds it is hard to walk from one end of the house to another. Working out was a horrible experience for all of my joints. I can only imagine how much worse that pain gets the older somebody with weight problems get, since I myself at the time was 18! I started with simple things. I 100 percent cut soda (yes even diet) out of my life. It is something your body doesn’t need on any level. WATER WATER WATER… I was never a water fan. Food wise it was a matter really of not having to switch to everything low/no calorie - but learning how to live life every day with food in a healthy way. “No Amber, you cant eat a whole package of oreo cookies - but two or three is a nice treat ever now and again.” I feel like if you cut our treats 100 % you are setting yourself up to fail. Sooner or later you break, and when you do - you over do it. MODERATION was a word that took me a while to learn. Once I lost about 80ish pounds I was able to start working out. Walking seemed to be the best for me. I started off feeling like I could drop dead at 20 minutes of slow walking. I now can jog (me?jog?!) for 2 hours. I use to be the kid who would joke that I would burn in a house fire before “running” out of the house. Once I was able to start working out the weight started to FLY off. So really there is no magic way to do it, other then the same boring things I have been told my whole life. It just took me a long while to find the strength to DO those things. -Amber 21, North Carolina