As Eddie Sheridan prepares to return to school to get a degree in nursing, he’s doing more than just taking the prerequisite classes: The 31-year-old resident of Gainesville, Florida, is also working to pay off his credit card debt.
“I’m trying to get everything in order now, to pay off as much debt as possible,” he says, before he takes on new student loans.
With interest rates rising, credit card debt is getting more expensive, making now a good time to pay it off even if you don’t have student loans on the horizon.
That’s not an easy feat in the middle of the holiday spending season, but it is possible. Here are tips from debt experts on just how to do it.
First, set your budget
Marcus Garrett, co-host of the “Paychecks and Balances” podcast, says he built up credit card debt in college and finally made a budget at age 27. That spending plan allowed him to get serious about paying it off.
“I just needed to be more responsible,” says Garrett, who is now 36 and lives in Austin, Texas.
Eric Tyson, author of “Personal Finance for Dummies,” recommends starting by looking closely at monthly spending. “A lot of people don’t have a good handle on that,” he says. Once you see how much money is going toward expenses like dining out or buying clothes, it can be easier to trim, he says.
Then, negotiate your way to lower payments
One way to lower your monthly credit card payments, Sheridan says, is to try to negotiate with your card issuer to lower the interest rate on your card. He says that move has been successful for him.
“You just have to be assertive and polite,” he says. If he doesn’t get the answer he wants from his card issuer, then he doesn’t hesitate to take his business elsewhere.
“Customers do have power; the banking industry is very competitive,” he adds.
If that doesn’t work, shop for a new credit card
Sheridan also uses balance transfer cards to pay off his debt. He moves his existing balances to cards with an introductory 0% APR period, which typically lasts 12 to 18 months, and then tries to pay off the balance before that rate expires.
These types of offers typically require good to excellent credit.
Check the long-term interest rate
Kristin Wong, author of “Get Money: Live the Life You Want, Not Just the Life You Can Afford,” says that while balance transfer cards can work out well as long as you pay off the balance before the introductory offer expires and make every minimum payment each month, it can create even more debt if you still have a balance after that period.
“If you don’t pay off the balance within a certain time frame, you can be hit with a crazy high interest rate, which will defeat the purpose of the transfer or even end up costing you more,” she warns.
Much of my life has been as an addict. And many of us on some level are all addicts. But for others their addiction becomes who they are, their identity, their only life line; it may be slowly killing them, but it is also what is keeping them alive. For me there is no question that yoga saved my life. That yoga found me when I couldn’t pretend to save myself any longer. Ever been to a high security prison? That is what a full blown addiction feels like-24/7; except you are trying to live a normal life at the same time. You are usually trying to hide it or pretend it doesn’t exist. My life was much to this drum, a ten year battle with a wide variety of eating disorders, depression, drugs and anxiety. Ten years ago I would be asking for your pity, now I am hoping to help.
Imagine having an evil twin that never leaves your side, imagine that every move you make, every bite you take, ever breath you take is being ripped apart constantly by someone else. And it’s not a one-time thing. No, an addict doesn’t let things go, they don’t know how and they fear what will happen if they loosen their grip on anything in life.
Addiction is not a choice, you don’t wake up one day and decide “hey I am going to start bingeing and purging all my food from now on”. “Maybe today I will starve myself to get attention”. Addiction doesn’t work that way; and in knowing this it’s not that easy to stop either. As an addict forever in recovery, I get this; I didn’t choose to starve myself, to drop 32 pounds in 60 days at the age of 15. I didn’t choose to relapse and binge and purge up to eight times a day, as I put stress on my heart, rot my gums and teeth, kill my stomach lining, messed with every system in my body.
I, like many struggling with addiction spent many hours, days and months in this horror, locked inside this hell hole others were calling life. Trying with all I had to be normal, to fit in, to hide the only thing at that time in my life I could control, that I could feel safe with, even if it was just for a few moments. And as much as that safety was very temporary; as an addict you realize that the numbed feeling or “high” you get from your drug of choice (food, alcohol, medications, exercise, restriction of food, smoking.) is what you have been searching for, the only problem is you have been heavily side tracked, and to an outsider it looks like a call for attention.
Nearly half my life I spent in addiction; which lead me down a path where I cycled with anorexia and bulimia, trading one of the other many a times, dabbled with drugs, binge drinking (under age of course), several attempts at suicide, experimental cutting, was obsessed with calorie counting, exercise, my weight, my size, every pimple on my face, every imperfection possible I was obsessed with it. And at one of my lowest points this craziness wound me up in the hospital with gastric obstruction surgery as I swallowed a tooth brush desperate to purge just one more time. To many you may not understand, but for some this run down seems like a horrible mirror.
If you are struggling with addiction and know you are at a place that you want to move forward and want to “get better”, you probably already know that it’s one tough uphill battle. To put it frankly, it’s hell. And for me, yoga was what kept me holding on to that tiny microscopic string, each week (my Wednesday night class) kept me hoping and praying I could do this, I could survive. I remember my first few classes, still struggling with an eating disorder, my mom and I attended yoga together and that one class each week, even just for that night was a new chance. I remember many nights walking out praying to God, please help me to go home and not binge and purge, praying with all my might that tomorrow I’d wake up and be normal.
You can’t think straight as an addict, the Yoga Sutra talks about eliminating the dualistic mind, you ask any addict they totally get the double mind. You have your eating disorder mind saying one thing and your sane mind saying the other; and for many years I couldn’t even hear my sane mind, I was a walking corpse, there is a year of my life I don’t even really remember (and I have a stellar memory) because I am pretty sure I was experiencing death on earth.
Yoga has saved my life, yoga has given me a second chance, yoga has taught me to live in the most in-touch, real way possible. Yoga has taught me how to breathe again, feel again, and somehow some way it has helped me loosen the grips on life a little and trust a little more. For a long time I didn’t believe that there was anything from my past that could have triggered this experience in my life, but yoga has helped me to realize that some of this was in fact learned behavior, some of this was the reaction of cruel kids in school and some was just simply fear of not being enough in my life. And at some level, we have all been there. We have all cried tears of fear, control, sadness, imperfection. And to all of you out there still walking up hill-it’s way easier with a yoga practice.
Yoga teaches you to want to live again, it teaches you what it really means to be in the moment, and those struggling with addiction know better than anyone what a moment is. Because on the same note, you are trying to stay alive or sober for just a moment or stop thinking-not obsessing about your next addictive move.
Yoga lets you know it’s not your fault; yoga lets you know that even when you feel alone you are feeling, and that is a start. Yoga says, don’t stop feeling, let the feeling pass, and they will.
Yoga gives you a second chance a million and one times. Yoga reminds you that your life is just as valuable as everyone else’s, in your own unique way.
Today, is a call to action, if you struggle with an addiction I beg you to try yoga, but be careful us addicts gravitate to that which can feed the need. So mix it up, most recovery programs that incorporate yoga use styles like Yin, Hatha or Restorative, these styles are great to really help you learn how to be present, be still and be in the feeling. Don’t throw in the towel; don’t hate your first class because it asked you to step out of your comfort zone. Keep at it; if you want to live, if you want to come out on the other side, for me it wasn’t a choice anymore, it was a matter of life and death. And I chose life, and I continue to choose life each day.
If you are an outsider to a person with addiction, most likely they know there is a problem, don’t shove food in their face, point out daily they look like crap, or tell them they are killing themselves, I’m sure they know this already (if not they will soon). So remember this “am I helping or hurting”. Yes addiction hurts the ones that love them too, but be a forklift and be a friend. Take them to a yoga class and keep taking them. I probably would have never went each week if my mom wasn’t going, not knowing, she kept me accountable and kept giving me my string of hope each week without knowing. In Savasana, hold hands with them, say “I love you” with no strings attached. As a fellow yogi having been to hell and back several times, hold their hand instead of pushing them while in recovery. Be there for them instead of telling them where to be and most importantly don’t give up, I survived and look back now and wouldn’t want it any other way (crazy I know).
Helping create a sustainable earth is important to each and every person on the planet, whether they will admit it or not. There are many reasons going green is important, from lowering utility bills to stopping the effects of global warming, but what is the most important reason? We set out to find the answer by asking our readers what the most important reason to go green was, according to them. The response was impressive and it was clear that many of you are very passionate about this issue. As we explore the results of our online poll, remember that the reason is not as important as the action, so do your part to create a sustainable earth
Earlier in the year, iSustainableEarth.com setup an online poll asking our readers to help find, “the most important reason to go green.” The poll had four possible answers to choose from, “lower monthly utility bills,” “to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases,” “to stop global warming and its effects” or “make the planet livable for future generations.” While there wasn’t a wrong answer to the question, we were more interested in what people felt the most important reason was. Interestingly, the question about stopping global warming was the least favorable answer, garnering only 7.69 percent of the votes. Second place went to lowering utility bills with a strong 23.08 percent of the vote. And now for the drum roll please… With over 53 percent of the total votes, making the planet livable for future generations was the most important reason to go green, according to our readers.
There is a lot that can be said from the reason that our respondents chose. The most important reason was not something that was tangible to them, but for our children. We were proud of our readers and their humble choice, while lowering utility bills was important, it was a distant second when compared to the compassion shown in the top choice. Creating a sustainable earth for future generations gives us hope of a cleaner and bright future. As we said above, it is not the reason that is important but your actions, so make them count.
We have to start trying to use better products that are not killing our world . All these big corporations could care less all they care about is money! I care about my kids and if they are going to have clean drinking water and clean air we all could do our part buy just using products that are safe and clean and leave a very little carbon foot print as we can!
Here are a few links to one of the cleaning products i use that is safe and works better than any store bought cleaners that i have used. CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE!
As we grow older, it can be difficult to maintain a healthy weight. Even people who could eat whatever they wanted when they were young may find that they gain weight – and even worse, have trouble losing it – as they age.
There is no shortage of diet products that claim to have the answer to help people lose weight and keep it off. Diet plans, exercise programs, and nutritional supplements are all options to consider.
It can be especially hard to evaluate the efficiency of dietary supplements. There are so many of them that the sheer variety can be overwhelming. And, the Food and Drug Administration doesn’t monitor supplements the same way they do prescription medications.
Recently, we decided to check out one such supplement: Detoxil Omega Formula. In this review, we’ll explain what it is, the claims its manufacturers make about it, and whether there’s any scientific research to support those claims. We’ll also reveal the pros and cons of Detoxil Omega Formula as we see them and make a final recommendation about whether the product is worth trying.
Detoxil Omega Formula is a nutritional supplement that is designed to help your body’s fat cells released stored fat while, at the same time, signaling your organs to use the released fat as a source of energy
As you might suspect from the word “Omega” in the product’s name, this is a product that contains Omega-3 essential fatty acid. Omega-3 is an ingredient that’s widely known to be important for heart health. It can also help with weight loss.
The specific form of Omega-3 found in Detoxil Omega Formula includes eicosapentaneoic acid (EPA) and decosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The company that makes Detoxil Omega Formula claims that the form of Omega-3 found in their product is more effective than others when it comes to helping people shed unwanted pounds.
The product itself is a gel capsule that looks similar to other Omega-3 supplements on the market. We’ll give you more information later about the price and other key factors
Who is Detoxil Omega Formula Designed to Help?
The primary audience for Detoxil Burn Omega Formula is people who have tried to lose weight using diet and exercise and have not been successful. It’s a product that may be especially helpful to people over the age of 40 or those who have pre-diabetes or diabetes. We’ll talk more about that later.
The human body is complex, and nutrition plays a major role in our health and well-being. Omega-3 is called an essential fatty acid because our bodies need it, but we lack the ability to synthesize it on our own. That means that we must get it from our diets – or from a nutritional supplement like Detoxil Omega Formula.
A big consideration with essential nutrients like Omega-3 is their bioavailability. That term refers to how easily your body is able to use the nutrient once you’ve ingested it. Some foods are naturally high in Omega-3, including cold water fish like mackerel and tuna and certain seeds, such as flaxseeds and chia seeds.
The benefit of taking a supplement is that you can get the nutrients you need even if your diet is limited. Detoxil Omega Formula is for people who want to be sure they’re getting a sufficient amount of Omega-3 in their diet.
Is There Evidence to Support the Claims Made About Detoxil Burn Omega Formula?
Any time you consider adding a new nutritional supplement to your daily health regimen, it’s a good idea to check out the ingredients to see if they are safe and beneficial to your health. In the case of Detoxil Omega Formula, there is quite a bit of research that supports the product’s claims.
Let’s start by looking at the research into the effects of Omega-3 fatty acid. The first study we found was conducted in Italy in 2003. It looked at the impact of a diet high in complex carbohydrates and Omega-3 essential fatty acid (essentially a Mediterranean diet) on a group of obese, menopausal women.
The study divided the women into two groups. The study group ate a special Mediterranean diet while the control group received general dietary guidelines but no specifics. At the end of the study period, the women in the study group had lower BMIs and had lost more weight than the women in the control group. They also had improved insulin sensitivity when compared to the control group.
Our Final Recommendation
Our final recommendation is that Detoxil Omega Formula is a product that is worth trying. There is ample research about the health benefits of Omega-3 essential fatty acid with EPA and DHA to support the claims made about the product. If you have struggled to lose weight or get your blood sugar under control, Detoxil Omega Formula may be able to help.
If you would like to order your own supply of Detoxil Omega Formula, please click herenow
We texted incessantly for a month and went on our first date to an ice cream festival called The Scooper Bowl. I missed the train, and we kissed. We began a summer fling where we’d walk around Boston holding hands, eating pizza, and watching TV cuddled up on her couch. She made that summer in Boston perfect. It was only two months, but it was unfiltered romance.
Throughout our courtship, I was utterly under the control of my ex-girlfriend. I let her walk all over me. She would call me at 4 A.M. and only stop calling when I answered. Being in college, I decided to drive down south where she lived to see if our relationship could work. I asked Mary to wait for me while I figured it out. She didn’t want to. Obviously.
“Are you all right?” I asked.
“Yes,” she replied.
“Okay.” We hung up. Not even a minute later she called me back and let me have it.
“What the fuck, Jeremy?! You’re ending this because of her? She treats you like shit. Fuck you. Don’t ever talk to me again.”
She told me I broke her heart, blocked me on Facebook, and said we would never (ever, everrrr) get back together.
I’m a writer, not a talker, so when I broke down one night reeling from the gravity of my mistake, I actually wrote Mary a letter.
I assume it opened with “Mary, I’m an idiot…” She now says it was tear-stained. Regardless, it worked. She texted me to say she had gotten the letter, which led to hanging out as friends, which led to drinking as friends and eventually a relationship.
It was good, but the toxic feelings from the first breakup followed us wherever we went. Mary had let go of that fun-in-the-sun, summer-fling, freewheelin’ attitude I had desperately tried and failed to bring to our last relationship. She had made new friends and learned valuable lessons since our breakup, the biggest one being that guys who try to hold on to their high school ex-girlfriends are as dumb as they are stupid.
She’d get mad at me for forgetting to text, breaking plans, and generally being a croissant-level flake. In turn, I’d get mad at her for getting mad at me; she was the only girl I’ve ever had a full-on screaming match with in public. We weren’t those people, but we were turning into that couple.
As Mary eloquently puts it nowadays, “You were a real piece of shit back then.” I was a perfect storm of idiocy. I was always angry at myself for letting her go, angry that we didn’t act like a normal couple, and angry that we were constantly fighting.
In 2012, my little brother Adam died. My life shattered, and I spent the next month drunk in bed. It had been four years since Mary and I had spoken, but it spoke volumes to me that she came out of the woodwork to send me a handwritten note expressing her sorrow for Adam’s death. Through everything—the fights, the skipped plans, the immaturity—she found it in herself to reach out to me. I was blown away, and she was back in my life. We learned that we only lived a few blocks away from each other, and that is how we started dating for the fourth and final time. Once again we started seeing each other as friends. We always met up at this one café in the Lower East Side. I’d get a coffee, and she’d get a bagel.
This is when I felt like I really met Mary. I wasn’t angry, I wasn’t jealous, and I wasn’t distracted—I had a clear mind, and I loved her. She was the kind of girl I’d always call back, and always take out for dates, and always hold hands with. She’s the kind of girl I never want to be away from. I’d seen what life looked like without Mary (cue damp Jimmy Stewart shouting “Mahhhhrrrrrryyyyy, don’t you remember me Mary?” in It’s a Wonderful Life), and I had a new appreciation for her. I loved the person she had turned into: She had built a life for herself in New York and was the person I know she always wanted to be—she grew her bangs out, too, which I guess is a big thing for women?
One night in 2013, she asked if she could stay over, and I more or less spilled my guts to her and admitted my intense feelings. She said she didn’t reciprocate. It would take about nine months of hardcore wooing before Mary finally said she had feelings for me. In 2016, three years after that night and almost ten years after our first date, I asked her to marry me and she said yes.
There was a “trick” to getting Mary back for good. Going through a tragedy had changed me. It was terrible, but it helped me grow the hell up, and by the time Mary and I crossed paths again, I was ready to be the kind of person who texts back and keeps plans and buys presents for no apparent reason. We don’t yell at each other in the street anymore, and that’s pretty cool.
It’s miraculous that Mary ended up giving me so many chances, but she always tells me that I was the same person as I was back in 2008—just way less shitty. She always loved 2008-era me; I just needed to get my head on straight. I hope that part makes it into her vows.
Here is how i did it i followed this program to the letter we have not had a fight in almost 12 years. i mean we may disagree but not like it was before this program saved my life click here to learn more!
Everyone wants to maintain a healthy and have that happy life free of any sickness or disease, and according to me, it should be because of natural causes but not because of diseases that are mainly caused by the lifestyle one chooses.
Doctors have been clear and told us that to avoid heart diseases we should check keenly on what we eat, you cannot eat that fried chicken you love so much or French fries or processed foods like margarines, fast foods or commercially baked foods.
This is because according to the doctors such foods cause inflammation in your body which is caused by damage to your cell membrane and the oxidized low-density lipoprotein commonly referred as LDL, the bad cholesterol present.
LDL is made up of fats and protein and contributes to plaque buildup in the arteries. This extra buildup then makes the arteries less flexible and leads to arteriosclerosis, in simpler terms, hardening of the arteries.
Dr.Susan Stevens once suffered a heart attack, he survived it, and the doctor prescribed too many drugs to help in clearing the cholesterol that had clogged his arteries but he refused. He opted for natural ways of reducing the cholesterol levels in the body and it worked for him.
So Scott decided to team up with Blue Heron Health News to publish a book: The Oxidized Cholesterol Strategy that contains tips and ideas of how to maintain low levels of cholesterol without putting in too much work!
Cholesterol is a wax-like substance that exists naturally inside your body and the body needs it to function. Also you get cholesterol through the foods you eat. A buildup of cholesterol in your bloodstream causes plaque in between layers of your artery walls.
The buildup makes it hard for your heart to pump blood. What then is oxidized cholesterol you might ask, it cholesterol that dangerously builds up on the artery walls is oxidized. Oxidation can be quite damaging to the cholesterol cells.
When you buy the book online and you download it as pdf, how will it be of help to you?
In the program you will get to know how to use the advanced knowledge for having quicker relief from heart attacks and take charge of your cholesterol levels in the body for an even healthier and better functioning body.
The program will give you brilliant ideas for checking on and managing your cholesterol levels and help you achieve permanent results.
You will get to learn new steps as the days go by, and in the end you get to drop your oxidized cholesterol levels therefore making you have arteries that are clear without putting in too much effort.
You will learn how to prevent and get rid of heart attacks and strokes by following a four week strategy that will guide you on how to get rid of all plaque formation.
This program will help you know about the foods you should and foods you should not eat. Foods that create oxidized cholesterol must be avoided in your diet.
The Final Verdict
Isn’t it amazing to learn that you can get rid of all that bad cholesterol from you system in just four weeks! You get to be healthy again, get rid of those heart diseases and stroke and be happy once again.
The product comes with a 60 day money back guarantee, so you need not be scared of trying it out because if you find out that the product does not meet your expectations or it does not work for you, you could easily ask for your money back and it will be returned without conditions.
I am hoping that this review has helped you to know more about this program and right about now you are thinking of how to go and buy it for the betterment of your health.
I give you my word that The Oxidized Cholesterol Strategy will not disappoint.
Iron Man‘s suit of armor doesn’t exactly look like an easy build. We’ve seen how much Tony Stark’s toiled over making the perfect suit in the comics and in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s a commitment, one that cosplayers regularly sign up for. Given that the Iron Man armor is a complex build, it would be nice to have someone walk you through the steps with complete instructions
I mean, it would make for a great “what I did over summer break” essay. I think it would be neat if this was a school project, actually. I bet an enterprising student could sell a teacher on this idea.
And if you’re not about being a mechanic, Trejo has options for purchasing a complete set of armor. Visit TheIronSuit.com to get all the details
Imagine you could build any version of Iron Man armor. Which would you choose and why? Propel yourself to the comments and let us know.
Trejo made an Iron Man suit of his own for Halloween one year and realized he’d like to help others do the same. To that end, he’s put together an online course to guide ambitious makers through the process. It includes a material list (with easily accessible items), a guide, 3D design files and the software necessary to view them, video tutorials, and more.
Game testers support a game development team by playing versions of the game that are under development, and reporting on any bugs that they find. Some of the tasks that game testers do might include:
Play the build, looking for bugs and other defects
When you find a bug, figure out how to reproduce it (“repro” it) predictably
Type up a bug report, using the company’s bug-tracking software
Submit the bug report to the game development team so they can try to fix it
The programmer who receives your bug report might ask you for more details to help them track it down
There are many other things that testers do, such as attending meetings with the development team or the other testers in your group. But the bulk of the work of a tester is finding and reporting bugs as described above
To get hired as a game tester, there are several skills you’ll need to learn: how to find and reproduce (“repro”) bugs, how to write bug reports, and how to verify that the game development team has fixed them. There are also “soft skills” you’ll need to learn such as being a good communicator, detail-oriented, and self-motivated. You can learn all of this and more by reading my book, Land a Job as a Video Game Tester. You’ll learn the basics of game testing, and all the steps to apply, interview, and accept job offers. It’s got everything you need to know to get a job testing games. read it
Testers can be paid hourly or they can be on an annual salary. Either way, the pay rate can vary a lot — it’s based on factors such as which game company you’re working for, what geographical location the studio is located within, and how many years of experience you have as a game tester or a game testing lead. Read more about the specific salary numbers per job and years of experience in my article about video game tester salary. I update it with the latest pay figures every year.
QA testing is generally considered an entry-level position in the game industry, and most companies do not require a college degree to be hired as a game tester. But if you do get a degree, then you’ll have a much better chance of moving into higher-paying jobs in QA/testing, or even moving into other areas of game development like art, design or programming — game jobs that almost always pay a lot more than a job as a tester. So if you want to have a career in the game industry and not just a jobthen it’s smart to get an education.
Most game testing jobs are near the larger game studios, which happen to be in the larger cities around the world. You may be able to find testing jobs in smaller towns and cities, but if you’re positive that you want to break into the game industry then you’ll have the best chances of finding work if you can move to one of the major cities for game development.
If the idea of moving to a different city (or even a different country) freaks you out, I urge you to keep an open mind. Many people move to a new town to start their first video game job, so there’s already a support network in place to help you out. The company that’s hiring you might even offer financial assistance to help you with your moving costs.
Instead, start your mornings with a healthy and filling breakfast, so that you can kick off your day with energy, and you’ll be less likely to do unhealthy snacking later on.
Balance out your meals with the healthy and good-for-you carbs – veggies! Reducing the amount that you eat can be unfilling, so rather than going for a second serving of pasta or meat, add more veggies to your dish. You’ll still be able to enjoy your grains and meat, but you’ll also be able to eat your fill
If you have a little extra time on your hands, pick one day a week to make a few dishes that you can eat throughout the week. Having a few pre-made lunches and dinners to choose from throughout the week will help you avoid the morning rush of making a PB&J lunch or the temptation of swinging by for take-out on the way home. You don’t have to make actual recipes either. Cooking up things that can be used for multiple recipes, like chicken, beans, grains, or a few boiled eggs, can help you quickly throw together meals without having too much repetition
Most of us at Cooking Light have lived alone at one point in our lives. So we rounded up the best ways our editors have combatted the single-serving woes:
Americans eat a lot of food they didn’t cook themselves. While three-quarters of us eat most dinners at home, less than 60% of us prepare them in our own kitchens. In 2005, the trend of combining the convenience of take-out food with the comforts of home found each American buying an average of 57 restaurant meals to eat elsewhere, up from 33 meals 20 years ago. And when we do cook, we seldom cook from scratch. Last year, less than half of main meals prepared at home included even one fresh product, according to research from the NPD Group.
Losing weight can actually have a lot to do with gaining: Think mental strength, understanding, and self-acceptance (insert raised hands emoji here). These 10 women may have some seriously amazing weight loss in common, but their journeys are all uniquely inspiring: From their reason to start to their motivation to keep going, these women have learned tons along the way—and they’re sharing their struggles, triumphs, and what their weight loss means to them.
The biggest surprise for me was how quickly I’ve lost weight. It always seemed like such a slow process. Being a huge fan of instant gratification, it was very helpful to watch the pounds fall of so quickly…[but] I knew that at some point I would hit a plateau. After losing weight so consistently for seven months it is really disheartening. But at the same time I’m really happy with what I’ve done so far. Now that it’s getting warmer I’ve been playing tennis, which has been super awesome. I definitely realize how much easier it is now that I’ve lost so much weight !
The most challenging part of this journey was being strong enough to walk away from the people and things that were holding me back. I had to learn very quickly that if someone isn’t in your corner then you just have to let them go. The people who truly care for you want you to succeed! [I also had to] sacrifice things like having a social life in the beginning, when I knew I wasn’t mentally ready to be around food and drinks without losing control. Not everyone was understanding of this but I had to do what was best for me, and that wasn’t easy.
My weight loss means I gave myself the love and time I deserved all along. Becoming a mother, my first instinct was to put all of my energy and time into my daughter, but I was losing myself in that cycle. Taking the time to eat better and getting some activity in each day made me happier and more energetic for myself and my family
“The most challenging part of my journey has been my body image issues. I’ve struggled with being insecure and self-conscious my entire life, so I really had no idea how to feel confident. Even after losing weight, for a while I still saw myself as huge, and struggled with being comfortable and confident in my new body. I started my discovery into self-love by reading the book Intuitive Eating, going to therapy, and making my fitness goals less ‘appearance-oriented.
reviewing good products 