From My Former Self

This topic came about on twitter the other day from the inspiring Whitney on twitter!


She tweeted: What would your former self say to you now about your weight loss journey?

This came about while we were watching the Biggest Loser, they have a segment on the show where the contestants watch their video of themselves before they started losing weight.

For me, it is always emotional when I see it. I mean you cannot help but get emotional if you have been obese before.

I may not have a video of me talking to myself but honestly, I do not need a video. I have these:

 I took these the day I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting




My facial expressions in these pictures say it all......

I was hopeless, miserable, I stood there with a heavy heart, feeling weighed down not just physically but emotionally as well. I was tired of being morbidly obese and tired of feeling tired all the time.

If this woman in these pictures had a chance to see and talk to this woman that stands in the mirror now:

I know exactly what my former self would say:

She would be speechless. She would stand there and laugh if I dared to tell her she would become a sub 4 hour marathoner. She would call me crazy if I spoke of actually being able to shop in the regular departments of a clothing store. She would cry if I tried to tell her one day we would throw away all 7 medications we had to take everyday and celebrate.

She would not believe me. I know this because my former self had little self confidence. She was a woman but merely a shell of who she could be. Living day to day just existing and honestly only smiling if people were looking. My former self allowed everyone else in her life to come first and lived in denial of her health problems.

I did not realize that I could smile willingly and sometimes without even realizing it. I did not realize that living inside of that body was a muscular tough woman who is a force to be reckoned with. I did not understand that yes it is hard to lose weight but it is worth every single ounce of pain, sweat, and tears that are shed during workouts and struggles.


My former self would be speechless especially when she saw pictures of her current self happy while running a marathon ;)

One thing that is so important though, you see that shirt, yes this girl who is living now inside this body, she will never forget where she came from. She will not forget the fight it took to get here where she is. She is grateful to have the experience of being able to change her entire life in less than 2 years. So to my former self I say this: we love you and we are so happy that you have become the woman you were always destined to be.