I Stopped Living to Eat and Lost Over 80 Pounds

Before: 256 pounds
After: 172 pounds

The Lifestyle
Looking back, I realize now that I was always an emotional eater, especially as a kid. I made my portions way larger than they needed to be and didn't really understand when I was full. In my early teen years, we moved from Ohio to Tennessee—and during that transition, I leaned on food to adjust to my new home. Over time, I kept doing the same thing. During breakups or any emotional situation, I would turn to food. My go-tos were all in the carb family: chips, crackers, bread, and mac 'n' cheese. And though I don't like to blame my weight on living in the South, I think the lifestyle there probably contributed to my weight gain. You can definitely be healthy and fit and live in that region, but thanks to all of the heavily fried food and vegetable dishes with bacon in them, it's just an indulgent place to live.

My exercise routine was non-existent. If someone asked me to do something active, I would find an excuse not to go. I remember when I first moved to Colorado eight years ago, my friends and I signed up for a 5-K, and I couldn't finish it. I stopped to go to the bathroom and just decided I should go do something else. I carried about 50 to 60 extra pounds, so I would get winded pretty easily and just resisted any kind of activity. Plus, the idea of going to the gym alone really intimidated me. I knew that I was gaining weight, but I just avoided pictures. And when I did have to take them, I would find ways to hide my body. I knew I should probably lose weight, but I just didn't know where to start because I felt so out of control.

The Change
In 2010, I was visiting a group of my college girlfriends, and we decided to take a group photo of all the girls. I didn't have a chance to tell the photographer to only shoot my face. When I saw that he took a full-body shot of the group, I was shocked by what I looked like. Even though I saw myself in the mirror every day, the picture really showed me what was going on. The scariest part was that I was larger than my friend next to me—she was six months pregnant. It was devastating.  At the time, I weighed 256 pounds.

After seeing that picture, I thought, "All right, enough." So I spoke with one of my friends, and she told me that her mom used the diet program Jenny Craig to lose weight. I had tried a lot of fad diets over the years. Seriously, you name it, and I tried it. But this time it was the perfect storm: I had been thinking about losing weight for a while, and a friend who wasn't much bigger than me said she was going to undergo gastric bypass surgery. When I saw the photo, I thought that in a year I could easily need to do the same thing. When I got back home, I started the program immediately.

One of the biggest challenges I faced with the diet was that I traveled for work all the time. I would spend three weeks a month in a hotel. But I still made it work. During those times, I would eat the Jenny Craig meals for breakfast and dinner, and when I was on the road during lunch, I would pick up a salad or a Veggie Delight sandwich from Subway. Eating like this really helped me to break my emotional tie with food. It became more about eating to live instead of living to eat. I took the diet as a prescription and saw my meals as my medicine instead of indulgences. They were all I needed to stay energized through the day. Slowly, I began doing more cooking and experimenting with healthy recipes and weaning myself off of the Jenny Craig meals. It felt good to know that I could control portions and ingredients on my own.

When it came to getting in shape fitness-wise, it took me a long time before I started going to the gym. Like six months. I was embarrassed about my body and didn't want it on display at the facility. But in Colorado, the mountains are our playground. There are tons of things to do outside to stay active most days of the year. So I started walking the trails. After that, I joined a yoga studio and became addicted. I love going to class and seeing all of the amazing things my body can do during the practice and forgetting about my to-do list. Eventually, I joined a gym and started doing workout classes and hopping on the cardio machines. I've found that changing up my workouts helps keep me motivated. If I get bored, I don't want to do it. And all that work finally paid off in early 2013, when I weighed 172 pounds.

The Reward
I feel like my outside matches my insides now. When I was heavier, I held myself back from the things I wanted to do. For example, I used to take so much time getting dressed and be really uncomfortable with how I looked and how clothes fit. I would consider just staying home instead of going out with friends because getting ready would put me in a bad mood. Now I don't think about my body or the clothes I'm wearing; I'm only focused on going out and having fun. That feeling has also translated over to my work. When I give a presentation, I don't worry that the people are looking at my body and not listening to my words.

Kelly's Tips
Celebrate the steps that you make. I set rewards for my small achievements. When I lost 30 pounds, I bought myself a new bag. After 40 pounds, I treated myself to a massage and a facial. After getting below 200 pounds, I went on trip with my friend. It made losing weight more fun and took celebrating with food out of the equation.

See every day as a reset. I learned that when you try to lose weight, you might fall down a lot. I had a lot of days when I didn't make it to the gym or my eating wasn't on track or I would have too many cocktails at happy hour. But I realized that every single day you get to start over. Don't let that day make you feel discouraged and ruin all the progress you've made. Life is going to happen, but you can hit the reset button at any point.

Get in the kitchen. For me, getting creative in the kitchen by coming up with new ways to eat healthy foods kept me inspired to eat right and not get bored and fall off the wagon. I love to cook now. 

Share your progress. I started my blog the day I started losing weight as a way to track my journey. Since people can read it online, it made me accountable and helped me stay on track.

Kelly Guy, 37, is 5' 5" and lives in Denver, Colorado.

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