I met Lyndsey when we started riding at the same barn as kids. We became friends and spent lots of time swimming, running around and riding and doing pretty much anything horsey. I've been following Lyndsey on facebook and was so impressed to see such a dramatic weight loss that I asked her to share her story. I did not expect to receive such a well written piece, and I admit I was a little teary! So proud of her and looking forward to reuniting and celebrating soon :)
     
     As a child and until I was a young adult, I was always a very active (that's an understatement) lean, fit and healthy (tomboy) girl. I was (mainly) riding horses 7 days a week, (usually more than one horse in a day, and horse shows every weekend during the summer) being a barn brat 24/7 which meant cleaning stalls, and doing any job that meant being around the horses and my friends. I probably was involved in every sport at one point or another. I loved anything outdoorsy and that made me sweat. I never realized the simple things that make you happy....until I became what my medical records would label me as, for many years "morbidly obese."
      Morbidly obese. If you've ever been labelled this, you know how terrible it feels. It might actually be worse than being called just plain "fat", maybe even worse than hearing your weight in numbers. Morbidly obese, that insinuated to me, that I was slowly killing myself, by living the way I was.  
      Looking back, it all stems back to my emotions and lack of control. I've been through many hard times during my life, as each individual rough patch overlapped another, things would spiral deeper. As my weight climbed from "eating my feelings", having children, losing my dad to cancer when I was 22 years old and being in an abusive relationship, I did less and less of the things that made me happy. Riding my horse and doing the active things I was used to were almost impossible. Even the every day things like walking in a mall, up the stairs, buying clothes, walking my dogs, playing with my children. Those were things that were much easier at my healthy weight of 135lbs (ish), not when my weight was between 280lbs and 320lbs.



         I had tried and failed many times to lose weight. The first ten pounds was always easy, but for various reasons (almost all of them were mental walls I put up myself, usually coinciding with another rough time) I was never successful. In the spring of 2014, things were finally starting to improve and I found myself in a different frame of mind. The pain and stress of various life events was lifting and I started to feel like I really (finally) could focus on me and lose the weight. I got the shove I needed to do just that, my horse was very sick and she needed me.
         From June to September that year, in addition to being a mom to my four young kids and a wife to my very tolerant and understanding husband, I was constantly at the barn playing doctor for my horse. That meant cleaning her stall multiple times a day, scrubbing buckets, hauling water to her....basically, every chore was a workout. With all this going on, I decided there was no better time to completely overhaul my life, in fact, I was hell bent to succeed like never before. Yes, I changed my diet to salads and steaks instead of a burger and fries, but mainly it was all about portion control and moderation.
        I realized I didn't have to make myself completely miserable to lose the weight. I still ate the things I loved (within reason), I just ate less of it and less frequently. I drank a massive amount of water, all day and every day, which I quickly realized was detrimental. As time went by and I steadily lost weight, my exercise was able to increase. In addition to all the barn work, I rode friends horses more often, I swam and I took long, brisk walks. My horse was on the mend and so was I.
      By April of 2015, I had dropped around 100lbs and I felt good enough (and surprisingly confident!) to start jogging/running. I picked a rural area by the lake and I started out mainly walking with short bursts of running, but managed to do between 3-5km about 3-4 times per week. By the end of that summer, I could go 8-10km and confidently say I ran over half of that. I even joined a local gym! In the process, I dropped about 60lbs more by that fall...and sadly dropped some friends. Turns out, not everyone will be happy for you. In my case, the people I thought were my best friends ended up spreading rumours that I lost my weight because of being anorexic/bulimic....needless to say, aside from being childish and completely untrue, that's not something I would or could ever take lightly, so they were gone with the weight so to speak.
        I not only lost all my weight (I am 5'6 and now a healthy, fit, muscular 136lbs) and went from a size 22 to a healthy size 4-6, I found myself... as cheesy as that may sound. I found out just how strong I was, physically AND emotionally. I found that I actually could be proud of myself and that there's absolutely NO shame in being proud (pride, not gloating etc) of your accomplishments! I found my self worth, motivation and found I was so much happier because of it all. Not that all these things were lost because of my weight, but the journey helped me find them.
         So, to anyone that is looking to find something in themselves, and/or lose some weight in the process.....you NEED to find what moves you. What drives you? What makes you tick? Maybe it's your love for a sport or a hobby? Or, maybe you desperately want to be able to keep up with your kids/grandkids/furkids. Just find what really makes you, YOU! That right there will be what drives you to succeed. Put that engine behind proper nutrition, exercise and hydration....you will be unstoppable!