I meet with patients every day that have many health goals. Some want more energy others want a healthy, high quality life without relying on medications. But I’d say one of the most common goals that my patients have is to lose weight. What these patients don’t know is that I know exactly what they are going through. I am here to tell you that I have struggled with my weight most of my life.

I feel grateful to share my experiences dealing with obesity. At age 10, I tipped the scale at 175 lbs. At age 21, I was a size 24, 42” waist, a 260 lb “house with feet” as my friend once put it. I still remember the feeling from hearing the hurtful, judgmental “fat” comments that brought me to tears throughout my childhood and into adulthood. Looking back at the weight loss journey that began over 10 years ago, I proudly state that today, I am 35 years old, 5’2” and can fit into single digit sizes.

I’ve dealt with years of yo-yo diets. Everybody I consulted claimed to be an expert in the “right way to eat” to lose weight. The Atkins diet, calorie counting diets, Weight Watchers, Slim Fast, laxatives, appetite suppressants, nutritionists and exercise physiologists are just a few of the roads I have traveled. And in almost every case, as I lost some weight and learned a few things about eating, I also hurt my health. Atkins’ plan helped me lose weight but I also gained so much water weight that I had a hard time breathing. The calorie counting diet always led me to deprive myself and so any time I would indulge, I would gain the weight I lost…and then some. The stories of this kind of roller coaster are endless. That was my story and it may be yours.

There are so many people out there who feel helpless and hopeless, powerless and victimized, frustrated with themselves, their circumstances, and their lives. There are countless stories of what’s not working, of the illnesses out there, and fewer stories of wellness, of success and of self empowerment. My story is one of self empowerment. The success of losing weight is not watching that number on the scale become lower. Many people have lost weight using unhealthy means. The success of my losing weight, was knowing the “right why,” it was about making the proper lifestyle choices along the way and having a support system that inspired me. For me, weight loss went beyond the number on the scale…I stopped counting carbs and started to count on myself.

Today I have an integrative and functional approach to eating, to lifestyle choices and I continue with my commitment to living a bright, joyful, energetic life. I learned what parts of myself I was stuffing down with food and most importantly how to find new, healthy, more productive ways of dealing with life. I continue to learn to handle my emotions, food, and life instead of becoming a victim of them. I learned about nutrition and the biochemistry of our cells and how they sometimes work together and what would stress them to not work together. I learned about stress, and more importantly learned how to handle it better. I put all my focus on my health goal, not necessarily my weight goal.

Every day, I have the opportunity and the gift of sharing my wins with my community and supporting people towards their personal health goals. I was featured in the New York Newsday Weight Loss Story in January 2010 and was on the Dr Oz 100 show in February 2010 for his anniversary special featuring 100 people that lost 100 pounds or more without surgery. I am grateful that I am able to use my personal experiences as a foundation to help others in the same way. At 35 years old, I am grateful to say that the picture I see inside my head now is no longer of that 240 pound “house with feet.” Instead, I see me.