Clara Williams is 51, 5′10″, and 183 pounds. But in 2011, she weighed 426 pounds. This is the story of her weight-loss journey.
Yahoo Health
The turning point
From the second grade all the way up to adulthood, I had been overweight. In third grade, I weighed 100 pounds. When I got married at 21, I weighed 220. When I had my daughter at 26, I hit 300 … and up and up and up … until I saw my highest recorded weight at the doctor’s office in 2010: 426 pounds. I was wearing the biggest jeans available at women’s stores — size 36 — and I was having a hard time fastening them.
Still, that wasn’t the turning point. Not until my daughter gave birth to my grandson, Isaac, did I realize it was time, and I was ready, to change. I knew that I would not be around for him, or the rest of my family, if I didn’t get my weight under control. It was hard to even get up off the couch by myself, let alone with a baby in my arms. I was sick of being sick and tired. So I decided to fight to live life to its fullest.
The changes
Being overweight is one vicious cycle. The bigger I got, the more I hurt. And the more I hurt, the less I moved — and the bigger I got. My dad had lost more than 100 pounds, and that helped me start to believe it was possible. With the encouragement of my high school friend Patty and my dad, I finally decided it was time to try again. If I was going to succeed, I knew I needed support. So in April 2011, Patty and I joined TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly), a nonprofit weight-loss support group at our local recreation center. There we attended weekly weigh-ins and took part in contests to keep us motivated to move and lose. The support from the group gave me all the encouragement I needed, and in so many ways, it saved my life.
I slowly changed my habits by eating less junk and incorporating more whole natural foods, but I never felt like I was dieting. It was a daily choice, and I realized along the way that in order for me to make lasting changes, it had to be about waking up every day and making the best healthy choices I could. The same was true for movement. When I started exercising, Patty and I took walks after work almost every evening. During my lunch breaks, I’d do Leslie Sansone’s walking tape with coworkers.
Related: Brooke’s 149-Pound Weight Loss: ‘I Couldn’t Hate Myself to Healthy — I Needed to Love Myself’
Facing the scale at TOPS each week held me accountable. I knew that as long as I was making the choice to eat healthy foods that God made and using the body He gave me to move each day, I would make it to my goal eventually. Sometimes my progress seemed slow, but I always reminded myself that I was better than where I started.
The after
When I lost the weight, I finally felt free of the limits that being overweight had put on my body. I didn’t have to worry about fitting into seats at the movie theater, about getting turned away from riding a roller coaster … or even something as simple as walking. I no longer had to take medication for high blood pressure or diabetes. I could get up and down with ease. My back and knee pain decreased. I could go to the park with my grandson and play with him for hours. Having struggled for so long, I didn’t — and don’t — take feeling good for granted. At 50, I began to run. I may run like a turtle moving through peanut butter, but at least I can run.
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