I had to share Keya‘s moving story that she posted to our Facebook page. She didn’t note how much she lost (you can see it in the photos) but I think the details of her story are far more important and inspiring. Here is what she shared (Update Oct 2013: See her updated photo and more info below the original post):
Many people don’t believe me when I tell them I got to 200 lbs. I was at a place of hopelessness and despair. My husband was in prison, I was raising 3 children as a single mother all while working 40+ hours a week and maintaining a 4.0 average in college. I had no time to take care of me and I had no time to love me. All the love that I could muster each day was distributed evenly amongst my 3 children. A life of pain including suicide attempts, miscarriages, infidelity, not being wanted by your mother, finding out at 26 that your biological father is in fact your mother’s step dad and SO much more…was a building volcano waiting to erupt. I am finally at a place where I am getting back to the basics! I found my voice and no longer allowed those things to hold me bondage. I use them to help others and that allowed the chains to break free.
We often time live life as though we are invincible, well, I had a mini stroke back in 2009.. It was one of the many times I had a brush with death and I just kept praying that God would help me to live because I was not ready to die. Finally, once again, I AM LIVING Y’ALL! Get your health right, you only got ONE life! I changed my eating habits and I workout with a trainer 4 times per week including electrifying cardio and Zumba classes. I also walk/run 5 miles on the 5th day. I hope to inspire someone, as I know what it feels like to have no inspiration or motivation in life. I love y’all to PEACES! ♥~Keya
Update – Keya has lost 40 pounds: “I just wanted to share a more updated picture, I’m still losing pounds and inches and wanted to reshare my story in hopes of helping another.”
Luke 1:37 “ For with God nothing shall be impossible “ That is the foundation that transformed a 5’5″, 307 pound women into a healthy, whole and fit 181 pound woman today. After 126 lbs. lost and still losing; God has been my number one source, provider, intercessor, healer and motivator. I started my Journey in July 2011, after the Lord spoke to my spiritual accountability partner about the enemy’s plan to kill me with morbid obesity. I wore a size 22/24 and weighed over 300 pounds. Most importantly I had low self- value and esteem and was in abusive relationships for over 8 years. I found myself being the “other woman” or the “side-line” piece because I tried replacing my feelings of rejection with male attention. Between July 2011 and October 2011, I lost 26 pounds by walking 1 hour on my local track for 3 days a week. In October 2011, I joined Weight Watchers and a nutritional program called “Body Breakthru”. As a member of these programs, I learned lifestyle changes and ways to face my weight loss challenges. I also joined LA Fitness and became an avid group fitness participant. Over a total of 15 months, I lost my first 100 lbs. Today, I am a size 10/12 and 181 pounds. I am excited to reach my goal and I continue to add variety and intensity to my workouts. I also work diligently to stop over eating and emotional eating, as well as to practice better portion control and honest calories tracking. I have been a motivational speaker for the Weight Watchers’ Jennifer Hudson Center in Chicago. I am also an online personality creating videos about my weight loss journey on 
Upon returning home from vacation I decided I needed to do something about my weight. I was about 265 pounds and standing only five feet tall. At the time I was a year and a half from my 30th birthday, and I didn’t want to enter the next year of my existence with the unwanted weight. Further, I knew that it would be harder to lose the older I became. I started by joining a Biggest Loser completion at my office. It helped to keep me motivated in the beginning because I’m very competitive and there was money involved for the top two losers. I ended up coming in second place after losing 17 pounds in eight weeks; however, after a few months of working out I hit a plateau and became very discouraged. I was around 30 pounds lost when I decided to change gears and stop working out at the gym. I instead took to a female dance studio that hosted classes like Zumba, Belly and Pole Dancing. I looked like a fish out of water participating, but I kept at it. What I liked most about the studio is that there were women of all ages and sizes, and they pushed me to do better. I kept up with the classes for about two months and then decided to start working out at home to save money. I took to walking and the intense Insanity workout. This forever changed my life. The program was tough, but I pushed play every day because I knew that if I did I would get results. Eventually my daily one mile walk turned into a two mile jog and increased to running several miles later down the line. I finished two rounds of Insanity and then moved on to another home program called TurboFire. The convenience of working out at home helped me stay on track because all I had to do was walk into my living room, which gave me no excuse as to why I couldn’t work out.
