Name : Jaymie / Before Weight : 300 / After Weight : 175 / Pounds Lost : 120

What was my final straw? The thing that happened that made things click for me? What made me decided to have weight loss surgery? For me the most common answer would be for my present and future self. I was obsessing over food, binging day in and day out. Leading down the road to diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, the list goes on.

I was struggling through day to day activities like going up and down the stairs, going for a walk through the mall with my friends. My job was becoming a hinderance because my knees and back ached, I sweat so much from the excess weight I carried. I was always a fan of the “Monday Diet” but Monday’s came and went, I restricted, lost, binged, gained, hated myself and feared food. But fast forward today my body is now an investment, I no longer take my health for granted.

I wake up early on my days off to get my workouts in, hitting the gym after a 12 hour shift at the hospital, I buy healthy groceries and cook home made meals, I go out for food and DONT feel guilty, I enjoy my job more because my body isn’t holding me back. At 25 I finally feel like I have my life back and this body is MINE. Do I still struggle with body imagine? Of course I do but name me a person that doesn’t.

This journey has been SO much more than physical. Like I’ve always said it’s mental, emotional, spiritual and then physical. If you don’t have your mental health I truly believe that you don’t have anything. So please continue to nourish your brain just at much as you do your body.

1. Work on your mental health just as much as your physical.

2. Take pictures throughout your journey and a lot of them!

3. Celebrate non scale victories.

4. Exercise is just as important for your mental health as it is your physical.