100 lbs Down & Back in her Wedding Dress

"Like many others, my issues with weight started in early childhood.  Before the age of 10, I was being treated for a “thyroid condition” because I was overweight.  I can think of only two times in my adult life when I was close to being a normal size.  The first was when I was married.  Over the next 20 years, I gained 100 pounds.  I then found a program that seemed to work and lost 70 pounds and kept it off; at least until it all came back.  In the summer of 2013, at approximately 255 pounds, I hit bottom.  The final 3 phases of my journey had finally begun.

Phase 1:

Summers always included time cruising in our sail boat.  In 2013 I silently dreaded heading out on our annual cruise. I could barely step onto the boat from the dock.  Even with an added step, which shortened my step distance to about 12 inches, I had trouble getting on board. My humiliation and despair was even greater when trying to get in and out of the dingy.  Getting back on board was painful and humiliating. I could barely get up to the deck on my knees and then struggled to stand up. I felt like a beached whale. I was 59 years old with an awful future ahead of me. Something had to change. I had to do something to regain my strength. After this trip, we joined the gym and I started working once a week with a personal trainer. I had thought of doing this before, but had put it off due to the expense. This experience convinced me it was time to invest in myself and my future. My workouts focused on building strength and over the next few months I was able to slowly make good progress. The weekly commitment to my trainer and the guided training sessions were invaluable. I was dedicated to going and missed my sessions only when traveling. 

PHASE 2:

In 2014, I was experiencing severe pain in my left foot. It turned out to be severe arthritis due to a birth defect. Years of carrying so much excess weight had finally done permanent damage. In January of 2015, I had surgery to fuse the joints in my foot and clean out some of the arthritis.  While being prepped for surgery, I was absolutely humiliated when it took 3 doctors to find the right location in my fat backside for the nerve block. During my recovery, I finally accepted that if I wanted to live my life without the severe pain of arthritis, I had to lose weight and that exercise alone was not enough. I had to make changes to how and what I ate. I worked with my trainer to determine a weight loss plan. With changes in my eating habits and regular exercise, the weight finally started coming off. By the spring of 2016 I had lost 50 pounds, breaking through (barely) the 200 pound barrier for the first time in years. That spring, my husband and I left on a 14 week cruise to Alaska on our boat. The benefits from all of my strength training and weight loss were huge! I could maneuver my way on and off and around our boat with ease! I was finally wearing misses instead of plus size clothing. I felt great. Fortunately, I only gained 6 pounds during our trip. Unfortunately, during the next several months, that weight gain continued. 

PHASE 3:

After a few months, I had gained almost half of what I had lost. I hung on tightly to medical wins I had experienced; off all medications for acid reflux, no longer using a CPAP and my A1C had dropped from the high to the low end of the pre-diabetic range. These felt good, but it wasn’t enough.  Unfortunately, my ability to get the weight off, like so many times before, had once again disappeared. Why was it I always failed? In late August 2017, depressed and ready to give up, I was introduced to a relatively new program called “Bright Line Eating.” I was intrigued to learn that there were actually physiological reasons for my failure and that there was hope for healing. I knew I had finally found the answer to why I had struggled for so many years, and that if I chose to use them, I had the tools to heal. I have used the guidelines and support this program offers since August 30, 2017. It would take another several pages to describe all of the benefits I have reaped in this short period of time. Here’s just a few of them. I have lost 62 pounds, 98 pounds total.  As I write this, I have a few more to go to reach my goal, but I have complete confidence and patience that I will achieve it.  I have stopped taking blood pressure medications and my A1C is now in the normal range; I am no longer pre-diabetic. I have total confidence that I will never gain the weight back. If I do, it will because I have made a conscious choice to do so. The word “diet” will never again be used as a verb; it will forever be a noun in my dictionary. When asked “how did you do it?” my standard response is “I quit dieting. It doesn’t work. I also quit eating the standard American diet”. My trainer loves that fact that the word “can’t” is no longer a part of my vocabulary. I may say “I choose not to,” but she will never again hear me say 'I can’t.'"

-Dorey

*UPDATE: Dorey just got back from vacation and she has officially lost over 100 lbs now!