African-american

Today’s Weight Loss Success Story: Cynthia lost 100 pounds!  She has graciously given us a lot of detail about her transformation (see below).

Transformation: Romans 12

My name is Cynthia and I want to tell you about my Journey of Transformation. I have entitled it as such, because truly that is what it has been for me and God has blessed me on so many levels and in so many areas of my life that I cannot share them all right here. I will attempt to give a summary on my weight loss journey. I have struggled with being overweight, then obese for most of my life. From early childhood, as early as I can remember, I was always chubby or chunky, bigger than all my cousins, friends and classmates. Not necessarily the fat girl, but not average weight. Then when I married my husband in 1992 I was 185lbs and we started having children, after each child (6 kids) I put on more weight until 2007, I reached obesity, even what doctors called “morbidly obese”. When I look back with 20/20 hindsight, I see how the enemy crept in and kept me at bay, because at that point in my life, depression set in and different physical elements began creeping in. I went to the doctor because everything seemed to hurt, my back, my legs all the time, my stomach was always on fire, my head hurt, I would wake up with monster headaches, my husband said I snored like a bear and I walked (kind of hobbled along) like my grandma, I was miserable. During the doctor’s visit, it was revealed that I had reached an all time highest weight of 313 lbs, which only made me more depressed. The doctor put me on high blood pressure pills, she said I was on the borderline for possible diabetes and she prescribed Zoloft for depression. I was in a terrible place and wanted out very bad. I began to ask the Lord to help me, I can see where He was sending the message my way but I wasn’t receiving it, thus I struggled.

I remember in 2010 attending a women’s conference, where I was a speaker and I spoke from Romans 12 concerning finances and how we are not to be conformed to way the world views finances and we needed to unplug from this Babylonian system and be transformed to God’s views of finances, have our minds renewed and walk in the blessings of God establishing His kingdom here on the earth. Well, the very next day another speaker used all of the same scriptures in reference to health, how we eat, exercise and become soldiers in Christ, laying aside weights that prevent us from being all God created us to be. WOW!!! What an eye opener for me! From that day the seed of the Word was planted in my heart and I was ready for change but I just needed the tools to make it reality in my life.

I began little changes, which resulted in about a 30lb loss, but it wasn’t until October of 2011 when everything came together. Our church took on the Divine Fitness challenge at JSU, to become the church that lost the most weight over a 6 wk period and I had joined the team. I was so excited because all I can say was “Thank You Jesus” for sending the tools. My mind was made up and I had already received the Word, I just didn’t know completely altogether how to make it happen and here it was right before my face. Everything our trainer asked us to do, I tried with everything in me and I lost about 13lbs in that 6 wk period. Our church won the challenge, then the Medical Mall called and offered the church to join a 10-month challenge. I was super excited at this point and truly wanted to make this weight loss a reality. Our church joined the challenge and weighing in at 271.6 lbs, I went to work, every challenge that was proposed I accepted and I just did my best, then I would work to beat my own personal best, each day I would do a little more than I did the day before or the week before. I joined the gym at JSU and eventually enrolled in Boot Camp and what an experience! I have been challenged to physically do things I have never done before in my life, but I accepted and did my best, never making excuses, nor cheating myself. I said within myself, that as long as the Lord is my helper and gives me strength, I can do anything and anything was what we were doing. I could not do one sit up, nor push up, and it took me 28 minutes to complete my 1st mile walking, huffing and puffing long the way and about to pass out. I went home hurting and in tears, but refused to let defeat camp at my doorstep. I was working on the new me and transformation was being manifested. So each day I went back determined to at least try to do everything requested of me.

I can now do at least 60 sit ups and push ups, I can now run 3 miles in just under 45 minutes and I have lost about 60 lbs in this year of 2012. I also accomplished a few other challenges, like during the month of July and August I took on the challenge of completing 100 miles (walking, jogging, running, elliptical, etc.), and back in April of this year our boot camp class walked/ran every stair in JSU’s AAC and it took me 55 min just to go half way around one time, on Wednesday, September 19, 2012, I completed 21⁄2 rounds in that same time frame. Oh yeah, 7 minutes on the elliptical has turned into 45 minutes easy. So yes, I see major progress and I am truly becoming the creation God intended for me to be. I have been cleaning this temple with healthy clean eating, being mindful of what I eat and how much I eat, applying all the scriptures to my life, making them reality and not just words on the pages of the bible. I use temperance and moderation and I see nothing as impossible, because He said all things are possible to him that believes. My biggest struggle throughout this process has been the battle in my own mind, voices telling me that I can’t do it, but I choose to listen and believe the voice of God telling me that I can do all things. I believe God is holding my hand and guiding me every step of the way through this process and I’m so excited with a great spirit of expectation of where He’s going to lead me to. Many have asked, “what’s your goal weight” or “how much do you want to lose”, at this point in my life, I want to go wherever the Lord leads me and my goal is to reach size healthy, fit and not overweight. I’m not sure what that size is on the scale or clothing numbers just yet, because I have never been there, but I intend, with everything within me, to reach that destination, with the help of the Lord.