hitting bottom and getting up
 

we have an ant problem in our house. one afternoon in june of 2010 i had walked into my bathroom... not mindful of the fact i had sprayed for the ant outbreak that had happened in there. the fall seemed to take place in slow motion... but i couldn't stop it.

i sat there on the bathroom floor... unable to get myself up because i was too fat to... i literally crawled out into the bedroom and slowly inched my way toward the wall... to use it for leverage. it took me a good 15 minutes to get up off the ground. and it was physically painful to do so.

somewhere, laying on that bathroom floor, humiliated and horrified... i had hit rock bottom... and there was nowhere to go but up... falling that day was the biggest blessing... that was when the change happened...

i had done what i had done countless times in the past... planned a diet. terrified, because of the countless times i had failed in the past... all of them leading only to more weight. yet somehow, it felt different this time.

i had no idea how much i weighed... for a long time. best guess that i could come up with was 370 pounds. who was this person... and how did that happen. my life had spiraled out of control and i knew i was killing myself... yet seemingly unable to do anything about it except watch it happen.

over a year later... and 100 pounds lighter... i begin a new chapter.

the first 100 pounds was actually, surprisingly... pretty easy. for the most part. i took the years of diet experience i had... knowing what works for me and made an eating plan that i could live with... and i tracked my calories via an ipad app. and when i felt able... and i could register on the wii fit scale... i incorporated some exercise.

almost like a switch... after reaching that milestone... the losing stopped... i was doing the same things but hit a plateau... i didn't get discouraged but i also didn't try and fix it... i just leveled off into maintaining what i had achieved... and most importantly... i didn't gain any of the weight back. and after several weeks of staying off the scale, i stepped back on yesterday and i have begun losing again...

i changed more than my diet plan that day back in june of 2010... stuck on the floor unable to move changed something even deeper in me... i not only changed my eating habits... i changed my outlook on life... i found a clarity of vision of a path i wanted to take... one more positive... more evolved.

to understand myself... others... this life... in a bigger, better way... to spiral out... to keep breathing... keep going.

i also discovered along the way the importance of letting people in... which wasn't easy for me... being honest with people i cared about... and when i did that i found i got so much in return...

we're all lucky... none of us are alone here.

Hi spiralout! Welcome to 3FC! It sounds like you've done a lot of work and made a lot of progress (physically and mentally) since your fall. You're right, we're all here together. I hope to see you around the boards.

Spiralout - Thank you so much for sharing your inspirational story!

Welcome from another newcomer! Hope to chat sometime!!

I have the advantage of knowing you and already being clued into how awesome you are. To quote a cigarette: you’ve come a long way, baby! And I have no doubt you’ll go the distance. In the meantime we’re in this together… I’ll happily be the Oates to your Hall, Louise to your Thelma, Bullwinkle to your Rocky.

Let's do this!

Welcome to 3FC! Sometimes it takes a terrible experience to set us straight. Congrats on the 100 lbs lost. Will power is the strongest tool and it makes it seem easy to lose weight. Don't forget it is a huge achievement though. I sometimes have to remind myself.
Maintaining for a while was maybe a good idea, let the body catch a break and probably also catch up on the big changes.

I hope you will be around a lot and keep inspiring people but also be inspired to keep going! It is so worth it!
Are you ready to lose some more?