“You can’t make excuses if you want to achieve your dreams. Make do with what you have and push forward!”
Dear Tosca,
Excuses, excuses and more excuses! That’s what I gave myself when I reached a whopping 213 pounds at the end of December 2008.
In high school, I wasn’t overweight. I was your average female student who was a member of the track team and drill squad. But that all changed after I graduated and I was kicked out of my parents’ house at 18 years old for not joining the military.
I worked for one of the unhealthiest food chains in the world, making minimum wage. I lost my scholarship because I was working too much and was then literally forced to choose between college and the roof over my head. I was very stressed, very depressed and started to overeat to feed my emotions. Little by little the weight piled on. I was falling apart from the inside out.
By the time I was 21, I had been laid off from five different jobs. I started to drink to remove myself from the real world. I had almost nothing, and I started to let the one thing I did have slip away – my life. Mixing alcohol with my bad eating habits became destructive to my health. My weight ballooned to 194 pounds and I wore a size 16/17 in pants.
My reality check came one day when I ran into an old friend while I was in the mall looking for a new pair of jeans because none of my other pants fit. She asked me if I was pregnant and when I answered no, she asked, “What happened? You got so big!” It was the hardest, coldest thing I had ever heard, but at the same time it might have been the best thing to ever happen to me! I walked away from my friend without saying a word and returned the jeans I had just bought. I promised myself it would be the last time I would ever pick out a size 17!
I immediately went to get a membership from a gym close to my house. I knew I would have to lose that weight the hard way, but I was ready. After my first workout, I came home feeling like I wanted to quit, but I didn’t. I told myself I was going to do whatever it took to get my body back.
Unfortunately, that night after my first workout, I fractured my ankle! I was devastated with the news that I’d have to be off my feet for three months. But my heart felt so driven, I couldn’t just stop there. I picked up a copy of Oxygen magazine to read while my ankle healed and I found Tosca’s column, “Raise the Bar.” It was there that I learned about her books. I ordered them right away. With the advice from The Eat-Clean Diet®, I started to get myself organized. If I couldn’t work out, I was going to dedicate myself to the principles in her book.
At first the changes came slowly, but I didn’t give up. I had to keep going! Eventually, I was back on my feet and back to the gym. The combination of The Eat-Clean Diet and the workout plans provided by Oxygen magazine started to make huge changes to my body!
By May 2009, my clothes were falling off of me. I was becoming me again! I started a weight journal and at the 30th of every month, I weighed myself and took measurements. I actually started to look forward to my monthly weigh-ins! I worked my butt off! I was in the gym twice a day, six times a week. I joined the spin classes, lifted weights and logged many miles on the treadmill and stationary bike. Most importantly, I was eating very Clean!
I am now 22, I weigh 128 pounds as of December 1st, 2009, and I’m in the best shape of my life! My emotions and state of mind are stable and for the first time in a long time, I can see the great life I have ahead of me. The biggest lesson I have learned from this journey is that you can’t make excuses if you want to achieve your dreams. Make do with what you have and push forward! I’m facing my own hardships right now, but I’m determined to stick to my goal of competing in my first show in May 2010! It doesn’t matter if I win my first competition. The greatest reward I’ve gotten from all of this is the pride I can feel as a stand on that stage knowing where I came from.
I want to thank my friend in the mall that day. I needed that push from her, whether I liked it or not. Also, thank you, Tosca! Your inspiration and advice changed my life!
Thank you, Tosca!
Megan Murphy