Losing My Weight

I am one of those many people in the world who was once considered to be “Morbidly Obese”.  I remember that when I was younger I weighed 319lbs, and you can imagine how difficult it was for a woman to handle a situation like this.  As I grew up I would hear passing comments like “Hi fatty” and everything else that follows from that, and while nobody was actively vicious or swearing at me, you know that how we are seen in the eyes of others can impact us deeply.

I was 27 years old, and my parents were worried that their daughter would never marry, and I was indeed rejected by any men who had the opportunity to meet me.  The reason of course was my weight, so I decided one day that I would purchase one of those “As Seen On TV” ab-flexor belts that were sold on infomercials in the hopes that perhaps I could slim myself down and lose weight.  I paid the high price for the device, and once it arrived I wore the electrical stimulator practically all day and all night, but the belt actually led me to gain several pounds because I was unable to bend and move around actively.  The whole thing ended up being a waste of time and money.

A Variety of Methods

Next, a friend of mine told me to join a gym, but that was a terrible experience for me, because when I walked in on the first day I saw that everybody was in excellent shape, and I felt that everybody was secretly laughing at me because of my size – I decided that the gym was not for me.  Next, I was so desperate that I refused to eat anything in order to lose my weight, but that was obviously dangerous, and I ended up in the hospital due to my forced self-starvation as my blood pressure dropped to dangerously low levels.  At this stage I nearly gave up, and I believed that I would never be able to lose weight no matter how much effort I exerted, and I ate a bottle of sleeping pills in order to end my life.  That did not work, thank goodness, and I eventually found myself in a psychiatrist’s office.  She explained that I was obviously depressed to due my self-image, and she told me that she too was once overweight.  The psychiatrist was very active with me in helping to design a strategy that I could use in order to lose my weight safely and efficiently. 

Personalized Exercise

My personal weight-loss plan included basic exercises like running, bicycling, and eating a balanced diet, and I was OK with everything except for the running.  I did not remember ever running in my entire life, and although I tried, I felt that I was constantly out of breath and so unable to accomplish anything.  I explained the situation to my psychiatrist, and she recommended that I practice Yoga in order to provide me with a more mild exercise that would not strain my breathing too much.  She shared with me a very valuable piece of advice, which was that if I should ever fail to complete an exercise routine that I should visualize myself as the already improved person that I wanted to become.  This tip has helped me to continuously inspire myself to complete my exercises, and once I followed my new practices I found that I had lost 22.5 pounds in just 2.5 months.  

Success

This was an astonishing achievement, and this has taught me that anything can be achieved through determination and consistently intelligent effort. The next thing that I wanted to accomplish for myself was to maintain the speed at which I was losing weight, so I would stand in front of a mirror and tell myself that I didn’t want to ever go back to my previous weight – That I was done with the way that I had previously lived my life.  Over a period of many more months I successfully dropped my weight to healthier and more attractive levels, and I am so happy with the changes that I have made for myself - I am now married and have recently started a weight-loss center in order to help others like me to lose weight. 

The practice of seeing yourself in your ideal state is a powerful tool for actualizing your result and shaping your life according to the vision that you hold for yourself, and one thing that I will say is that if you make a promise to yourself, it is only you who must assume responsibility for making the changes that you want to see in your life.  And I say with full confidence that you can do it too.

-Anonymous Contributor

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