Welcome to my blog <3
You may be here because you're overweight and want to know where to start.
I was in your shoes about a year and half and 90 pounds ago. I was lost and confused and didn't know if there was any hope for me or if I was going to be morbidly obese for the rest of my life. I have tried multiple times throughout my life to lose the weight but only to have gained it back and then some. I used to be very active but nearly 300 pounds on my small 4'11' frame I could barely walk around the grocery store without getting winded. I was deathly afraid of having to use the electric scooters they provide in store for fear of my weight progressing and never going back to walking.
I am 27 years old living in San Antonio Texas, one of the most overweight cities in the states. It's true when they say "everything is bigger in Texas". That includes our hair, our food portions and our people. Being the daughter of an southeast asian immigrant I was faced with the stigma that all people of asian descent are "skinny". The average Vietnamese woman is 99 pounds. I don't remember the last time I weighed that little. Throughout middle and high school my weight fluctuated but was never less than 120 pounds. I was always a little bit "chubby" but you know how you used to think you were "fat" but really you'd give anything to go back to how you used to look because it is now such a distant reality.
I know that the BMI chart gets a lot of criticism but it's a great starting place for if you're not a body builder and want to see how you measure up. My starting BMI was 54+ and being a nurse that number terrified me knowing that so many health risk present themselves at increased measurements. I knew I had to do something to improve my prognosis and quality of life.
This was my starting BMI. I couldn't look at this number without feeling deep shame about what I've done to my body and how I've turned into a monster. It's taken years to realize that this is a distorted thought and that I needed to learn to love myself before I could treat myself right and reverse the damage I've done to my body.
This is my current BMI after I've started practicing CBT or cognitive behavioral therapy, learning about nutrition and incorporating a little bit of physical activity (recently though as I still don't care much for exercise)
It's taken a lot of dedication to get where I am now but like everyone else I still go through days where I struggle and feel like I don't have my sh*t together but I like to remind myself and I'd like to remind you that it is a journey and not a race. I still have more weight to lose but I feel like I have something to share with others in this journey. So if you've made it this far, thank you for your support. It means the world to me.
