I wish I could remember a time in my life where I didn’t worry about my weight and the food I was eating. I knew very early on as a child that I was different than the other girls. My two older sisters were thin and pretty and could eat so many foods that I couldn’t. I had food allergies that prevented me from having the snacks and candy the other kids could. I remember once visiting my grandparents and watching my sisters eat Hershey’s chocolate bars. I knew I couldn’t have them, so I waited until no one was looking and dug the wrappers out the the garbage just to smell them. Needless to say, my relationship with food started out very complicated.
The allergies went away as I grew older, but the teasing about my size never did. I wasn’t allowed to forget that I didn’t fit the standard mold. As early as high school I was on diets, watching the other girls eat pizza and drink soda, never forgetting that I couldn’t do those things without consequences like they could.
Even as I grew into an adult, the scars of childhood teasing followed me. My self esteem was at an all-time low. Everywhere I went, I felt people staring. I thought all they were thinking about was my weight, just like I was. I didn’t feel good in my clothes, I was embarrassed to go out. My relationships started to suffer, and so did my health. I was isolating myself from the people who loved me, and wishing I could just hide away.
I’d tried every diet and exercise program I could, but each one left me more and more confused. There is so much information out there about what we should and shouldn’t eat and so much of it contradicts itself. I was on and off Weight Watchers for years, but just like the other diets, I could lose weight, but would often gain it back quickly and sometimes end up heavier than I had started.
I remember standing in my kitchen with my husband trying to plan dinner and I was frustrated to tears. The idea of making one more decision about what to eat, hoping it would be the right one, just left me feeling hopeless. I said to him, “I just want someone to tell me what to eat.” I needed help.
No more than a week later, a friend told me about Ideal Protein and how well it was working for her. Of course, this wasn’t the first time I’d heard of a new diet that “really worked”, and I had hundreds of questions. After non stop texts and phone calls with my friend, and a phone consultation with her clinic, I decided to make an appointment.
It was a huge commitment, but I would never know if I didn’t try. The only Ideal protein clinic was an hour and a half away, and I needed to make it there once a week for weigh-ins before work. I spent a lot of time driving back and forth those first few weeks, but with each coaching appointment I grew more and more excited about the process. I was starting to realize that this “diet” was unlike anything I tried before. I was losing weight, but not just that, I was actually learning how the food I was eating was affecting my body. For the first time I felt like this program wasn’t just about my shape or my size, but my health and my support system. My coach kept me accountable to each decision I made and the friends that had joined with cheered me on. I never hit a plateau, and the results week after week kept me motivated and on track. Before I knew it, I had lost 62 pounds in 5 months.
I haven’t looked back since I started Ideal Protein. This program has given me more than just my health and my confidence, but my career as well. I hope to help as many people as I can to discover Ideal Protein and get on a path to wellness.