Along with her thirtieth birthday looming, Lauren Keizur determined 2016 was going to be the yr she received wholesome. However shedding her extra weight was just one a part of her plan. She knew she additionally needed to care for her psychological well being, understanding the shut connection between bodily and psychological wellness. The Oregon native had struggled with melancholy since she was a young person and was misdiagnosed with bipolar dysfunction at 13 years previous.
“I believe they took regular teenage angst and temper swings, and misdiagnosed it as bipolar,” she says. As a result of her prescribed medicine was for the mistaken sickness, it solely made her really feel worse.
She tried to handle her melancholy with out medicine, however “it was all up and down,” she says. At occasions, she was bedridden for days, consumed by her personal thoughts.
As a part of her plan to rehab her well being, Keizur sought the assistance of a psychiatrist. This time round, she was accurately identified with seasonal melancholy and premenstrual dysphoric dysfunction, a extreme type of PMS.
“It’s utterly totally different. I really feel like a standard particular person.”
Her new analysis — and the precise remedy plan — was life-changing.
“It’s utterly totally different,” says Keizur. “I really feel like a standard particular person.”
Getting her psychological well being on monitor was step one of the journey, however Keizur didn’t cease there. At 315 kilos, she had been experiencing a few of the unwanted effects of carrying round extra weight.
“I wasn’t even 30 years previous but, and I had such unhealthy leg ache [and] knee ache from my weight,” she says.
She resolved to start out the yr — and her 30s — consuming higher, strolling outdoors 3–4 days per week and logging her meals on MyFitnessPal. Since her first day of logging into the app on January 10, 2016, she hasn’t missed a day.
When Keizur had tried to shed pounds prior to now, she checked out weight-reduction plan as nothing however sacrifice. In her thoughts, weight-reduction plan wasn’t essentially about being wholesome; it was primarily about limiting what she ate. “If I tousled, I felt prefer it was over,” she admits.
This time, nonetheless, she took a distinct method. As an alternative of simply limiting her meals consumption, she added wholesome meals into her weight-reduction plan and targeted on consuming balanced meals, like burrito bowls, hen and greens, and eggs with avocado toast.
Over time, her exercises progressed, too. She went from strolling a number of occasions per week to mountain climbing together with her husband and enjoying Xbox Kinect video games, like “Dance Central.” Finally, she added power coaching and even working to the combination. Just lately, she achieved an enormous milestone: working 5 minutes straight with out strolling.
Keizur’s exhausting work paid off. She shrunk to 214 kilos, and her family and friends took discover. They had been surprised by her progress after they noticed her at a household marriage ceremony earlier this yr. Certainly one of Keizur’s co-workers at Fred Meyer, a grocery chain within the Pacific Northwest, even nominated her for the corporate’s wellness award.
“With out my data, she’d written an essay about my weight-loss journey and the way I’ve impressed her and despatched it in,” says Keizur. Due to her co-worker’s nomination (and Keizur’s exhausting work), she was named Wellness Champion for the district.
Keizur’s weight reduction has impressed others to get shifting, too. Her mother, Taunia, who had additionally struggled together with her weight, noticed a photograph Keizur posted on social media lately and determined she might comply with her daughter’s instance.
“I confirmed her tips on how to use MyFitnessPal,” she says. Taunia later stunned Keizur by sending an image of herself on the health club. The household was rapidly turning into absolutely invested of their well being.
The important thing to Keizur’s weight-loss success? Her group, she says. She linked with folks on Reddit and Instagram to commerce ideas and help. She says she’s made some good mates by the social media websites and even plans on assembly up with a few of them in actual life.
“It’s insane,” Keizur says about her weight reduction. “I by no means thought I’d be this near 200 kilos.”
Her greatest supporter, although, was her husband, who has liked her at any dimension. And, in true household vogue, he’s additionally began getting more healthy and has misplaced about 40 kilos.
However Keizur’s story isn’t merely about weight reduction; it’s about setting wholesome targets and committing your self to reaching them. It’s about loving your self for all of the issues you are able to do. And Keizur is proof you are able to do something.