My Story

    

                              Before 220 Lbs                                                  After 154 LBS

    

       My name is Gisselle and I am 21 years old.  I grew up in a Hispanic household where we were spoiled with fatty and fried foods. While I was growing up I was never an obese child. I was actually underweight. When I was 8 years old I began taking pills to gain appetite. Well those pills worked a little bit too well .By the time, I was 13 years old I was 128 lbs; a lot of my weight came from my breast since I was a 36 DD.  During my teenage years I began gaining weight, it started off slowly, a few pounds every year.  All of my family and friends would say to me " You're not fat, you are just thick". I believed that lie and just thought I was a "bit"bigger than other people. I would see myself in the mirror and I REALLY saw a 130 lb girl.  At the age of 17 years old I was 185 lbs. When I first saw that number I was freaked out by it,I wanted to diet, I became obsessed with my weight. I didn't know anything about dieting, so I did the same mistake many people do which is to stop eating or going days without eating. After a few days, I would give up and go back to my daily obese routine. I became so comfortable being a 185 lbs, I thought I would never become heavier that since I remained that same weight for almost two years (or so I thought).

              

        

                 
                                 When I first began my journey I had a BMI of 34.5 ( 5'7 220 lbs) .

               My Turning Point:  One day I was visiting a friend's home and I saw a scale in their bathroom. I said "hey, it's been a few months since I've been on a scale, why not try it out for fun?". Little did I know that moment would change my life . I remember that moment like it was just yesterday. As I looked down on that scale and saw those black numbers staring back at me: 220 LBS . I was in shocked and disbelief. I ran to my friend and said " It's time for you to get a new scale , your current one is broken".  A few days later, I went on another scale and it read 220 LBS. At this point I realized that I had allowed myself to become obese. I had promised myself that I would never go over 200 lbs because once you get to the 200's the 300's are right around the corner.

    Everyone around me was telling me just "eat healthy and workout", but the problem is I didn't know how to eat healthy. I was 20 years old and had never tasted fruits nor vegetables in my entire life. My daily diet consisted of 2 slices of pizza, 3 bowls of captain crunch or other fatty cereal, 1 liter of Coca Cola, 2 bowls of ice cream or a slice of cake. I knew all of this had to change or else I would die at a young age.  Over the years I had developed an addiction to sugar, it started off as a scoop of Ice cream a day and then I moved on to a gallon of ice cream. I started developing skin issues since my body couldn't dissolve the sugar anymore.

        My first day of a healthy lifestyle was the hardest, actually everyday is hard . It's a physiological battle, but you have to tell yourself  " you can do it", have faith and determination.  My first healthy meal consisted of a bowl of spinach and grilled chicken. Eating spinach wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, I actually learned how to enjoy it but I wasn't getting enough nutrients since I needed more fruits and vegetables.  A few weeks later, I began juicing and the weight started melting off. I was making 2 cups of juice per day and replacing them with meals as well as eating lean meats. I had about three cheat meals per week and I was still losing weight. By the end of the month I was down to 205 lbs , a total weight loss of 15 lbs. 

              I was fed up of trying diet guides and workout plans that weren't designed for people like me. How can someone that has never been obese and know my struggles give me diet advice? I began doing research and talking to others that had been in my situation and lost the weight . With the information I gathered I created my own diet and workout plan.