I gained 70 pounds. Four years later I can say I finally found my happy medium, healthy weight and fitness balance for my life so I could be happy. Do you have a healthy diet and are you happy with your weight are two very important questions.

None of my clothes fit properly and people looked at me like I had some incurable disease. People acted as if my weight was going to rub off on them. People can be very cruel. Even some of my friends and family treated me differently then they had before the weight. With every conversation they would seem to search for the opportunity to give their tips and secrets to how they keep themselves skinny and looking great. The comments of, Oh you use to be so skinny. Well skinny doesn't mean healthy does it? No it doesn't! For all the young people out there we need to set a healthy example of how to eat and how to diet safely. There are so many dangerous diets and weight loss ideas out there that we have to be concerned for the younger generation. Every where you look you see people talking about weight. It is one of the most important issues in our lives. What I have found over the years is what you hear the age old cliquey "everything in moderation" is exactly right.

The first thing I did was kill myself for two years on fad diets, starvation and jogging and running until I thought I'd pass out. I had tried everything and had only lost 5-12 pounds I am not kidding you I killed myself for two years. I tried every diet out there meal plans and money down the drain or well down the Wazoo you know what I'm saying. There are so many diets out there, Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Atkins Diet, The Cabbage Diet, Detox Diet, Guinness beer diet, now that beer diet might be a lot of fun lol! Check out this monster list of diets. There are so many people out there trying to cash in on our weight loss it is crazy did you check out that list wow!

One day there was some really hot buff guy speaking about weight loss I sat up turned up the television as was my I will find my miracle pill attitude in those days. What I heard nearly knocked me off my chair.

I hear this person say all you need to do to lose weight is love and except yourself for who you are right now. If you are not happy with yourself at this weight what makes you think you will be happier just because you lose some weight. You will still have your big nose, stretch marks from having children and that flaw that will always bother you but will always be yours. The point is you are the only you there is so give the best of you to the world and your family while you have the chance and the time. I'm paraphrasing here but you see what I felt at that moment, it hit me like a ton of bricks. Even though my husband, my best friend has always told me he loves me more then life itself I never quit got it until I had my battle with my weight. I understand now what unconditional love means.

I honestly sat there and cried, the truth of that moment was so intoxicating and invigorating it is still lingering with me today.

I was trying to do everything every one told me, even that stupid vinegar and water diet yuck I hated that. Eating granola that tasted like dirt, drinking shakes of "run the restroom" as there main ingredient. I can not believe how far I was willing to go because I hated myself being fat, because of the weight I had become a different person. I had been stuck in weight loss information overload, believing the only way I could be happy was to lose weight. I had no self worth at all. My husband and children, the only people who actually understood I was not- my weight, I was just myself and that was enough for them, they got me through it all. I thought about how it must have looked to my kids to see me killing myself to be something I was not. What message was I sending to them and was it what I wanted them to feel about themselves. I had to change my thought process.

I began to look at myself differently from that day on. I told myself if this is the last year, month, week or day I have to live I do not want to spend another moment with self loathing because of one more pound. No more information overload! No more reading diet books, taking pills, looking for top rated diet powers. I am beautiful no matter what I weigh and so are you. You are worth having friends who love and adore you for who you are not what you look like. I promised myself I will live my life to the fullest and be so happy it becomes contagious. I love myself today no matter what weight I am.

I decided I was going to start eating half as much per meal then what I was use to. If I was still hungry I would eat a little bit more. 2000 calories a day is a balanced diet no matter who you are. The first step for me was learning what size of serving is reasonable. I made food about being hungry not being bored or even being depressed I decided to make food enjoyable again. I love food and I love to cook.

Once I gave myself permission to live and be happy I just started to lose more and more weight. I had the extra weight along my hips and stomach mostly so I started listening to target exercise ideas, working that area more where the weight is concentrated and it was making a huge difference. I started a routine of working the target areas and I saw a huge change right away. My skinny jeans fit me now, you know the ones you keep at the back of the closet just waiting to put them on someday those jeans.... they now fit!

The reason I am telling you this is because I want you to know I know how bad it makes a person feel when people look at them like they are a freak of nature. People don't want to be over weight! We don't choose to be obese we are not freaks! We are people! We have feelings, hopes, and dreams. We have goals, likes, dislikes and we don't eat everything we see! Some people eat very little but are still over weight! So what, why does that mean we are any less then other people, we are not less of a person when we gain 10 pounds! Okay I have had my rant now sorry. Please the next time you see someone over weight realize they want more then anything to be quote un-quote NORMAL! Use some common decency when you speak to them they had more to face today I am sure then you.

No matter what side of the coin you may be on, the only reason I wanted to write this Hub was to change how you look at other people. If you are someone who is or always has battled with your weight this Hub is for you. There is something you can do about your weight today and that is why I decided to write this. You can see yourself as you really are a strong loving person. This subject means a lot to me as it is the struggle I went through to get to were I am today.I am healthy and I am happy. I am not skinny as most would call skinny but I am happy with myself, I am curvy and sexy.

People do not tell us how to feel about ourselves we are the only one that has that power.

Once I changed my reasons for wanting to lose the weight it started falling off. I wanted to be healthy not skinny! Everything in moderation is the wisest statement I have ever had the privilege of learning. Literally in less then a year I had went down 3 pant sizes. Let me tell you I like myself so much more now. I actually had two people tell me, "Wow you look beautiful so much healthier now then before you got pregnant you seem so much happier now."

Wham there it is people can see if we are happy or not and that is what people were reacting to. I was miserable and every one thought they could help me or should help me for the greater good or whatever reason. The truth is you are the only person who can help you. Your biggest hurdle is yourself. I think the power of love the power our mind is the greatest powers that exists in the world.

You are what you believe you are. You are beautiful. You are sexy. You are inspiring. You are funny. You are adventurous. You are wonderful. You are warm and inviting. You are making a difference in someone, somewhere right now in some way.

You have a purpose in this world. You are the love of some one's life. You are a joyful moment to some one, every time they see or speak to you. You are some one's hero. You are special and I mean the original kind lol very funny jokester in the back.

You are one of a kind baby! There is only one you. No matter what, there is only one you, love yourself, laugh at yourself, love everything about yourself today because tomorrow it will all be changing, one moment at a time, one memory at a time. Love it cherish it because this is the first day of the rest of your journey.

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience,

raised a glass of water and asked, How heavy is this glass of water ?

Answers called out ranged from 8oz. To 20oz.

The lecturer replied, The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance.

In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.

He continued, And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on.

As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden.

So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work/life down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow.

Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can. Relax; pick them up later after you've rested.

Life is short. Enjoy it to the fullest!

Some ways of dealing with the burdens of life:

1 Accept that some days you're the $h!#, and some days you're in the $h!#. It varies so we can all learn how best to scrape it off and how best to keep our stink to ourselves.

2 Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them later.

3 Drive carefully, It's not only cars that can be recalled by their Maker.

4 Eat slowly and enjoy each day you never know when your last meal may be.

5 If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague and anti social.

6 If you lend someone $ and never see that person again, it was probably worth the $.

7 You can't please all the people all the time so why do you even try.

8 Never buy a car you can't push easily.

9 Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won't have a leg to stand on.

10 Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance anyway.

11 Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, try to sleep late when you can.

12 The second mouse always gets the cheese.

13 When every thing's coming your way, you may be in the wrong lane.

14 Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

15 You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to just one person.

16 Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once besides next time you can invite a friend to make it with you.

17 We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are dull and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.

18 A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour and consider it a blessing.

19. If they don't love you for who you are why would they love you for who you are not.

20. The most difficult person to impress is ourselves.

Have an awesome day and know that someone has thought about you today .