Journey towards health and wellness:
My name is Annalisa McCormack-Carrillo and I live in south Texas. I am a wife, mother of 4 and grandmother to 4 incredible grandchildren. I have struggled with my weight most of my adult life and have been on many, many, many different diets over the years -- often gaining what I had lost and then some. Before starting my health and wellness journey I weighed
well over 324 pounds (I say well over 324 pounds because I know I had dropped a full dress size before I finally started this program). Although logically I understood that my outer shell was not the totality of who I was at my core, I could not escape the fact that my “size” had begun to limit my ability to function in everyday normal life situations. I was pre-diabetic. My feet, back, knees and hips hurt and one flight of stairs would leave me breathless. My relationship with my husband was suffering because I was too embarrassed to allow him to see or touch me -- intimacy was non-existent. My “fat” clothes no longer fit and I was relegated to wearing yoga pants that had long since been stretched to their limit. Can you see yourself in any of this? Are you struggling with some of these issues too? My daughter lovingly bought me a nutrition and workout program in January 2015. I gave the program a halfhearted try but later quit because "I knew better.” We all know better right? Over the next 4-months I lost and gained the same 3 – 5 pounds but never really made any real progress. A friend on Facebook had been posting about the amazing progress his wife had made on a weight loss program. He mentioned she would be starting an accountability group soon and opened the door for people to join her. I messaged him and asked if I could join the group. I mean why not right? I'd tried everything at this point -- Phen Phen, the ice cream and hot dog diet, the cabbage diet. You name it and I tried it. I was afraid and waiting to die. My next move was bariatric surgery. The group started June 1st. I will never forget this day as long as I live – I call this day my day of ‘FREEDOM.’
Can you imagine remembering an exact day in your life that so greatly impacted you? June 1, 2015 was that day for me -- it will FOREVER REPRESENT my day of FREEDOM!! It represents FREEDOM from the secret of how much I weighed, what my measurements were and what I really looked like as opposed to the vision of what I thought I looked like. The coaches of the group asked us to share our weight, measurements and a picture of ourselves. Some people did and some people didn’t. I don’t know what I was thinking because I did just that and posted my stats:
⏩ weight at that time: 310 lbs.
⏩ measurements: for purposes of this bio I was literally as wide as I was tall
⏩ pictures: clearly I’d been wearing rose colored glasses for way too long. Although it was incredibly painful to face, it was also such a relief. I was finally free! I could breathe again as there were no more secrets!! Most importantly, there was no more shame and no more looking back. June 1st is the day I began to reclaim my health and started my journey of rediscovery. I joined the accountability group and committed myself to:
⏩ clean eating with 5 – 6 smaller meals a day;
⏩ 30-45 minutes of exercise daily; and.
⏩ superfood shake. This accountability group has been an incredible support and life giving experience. Since I have learned a new way of feeding and nourishing my body I have lost 126 lbs. and 100+ inches. I still have another 50 lbs. to go but I am confident I will reach my goal. I’m taking this journey one day at a time -- sometimes it’s one meal at a time. Truth be told my journey towards health and wellness has dredged up many emotions that had long since been stuffed inside --- working through them has been a bit messy and uncomfortable, but it's been OH SO VERY WORTH IT. I am sharing my journey with others in hopes that they too will come to know what is possible when you begin to rediscover who you are -- commit to your health and wellness and finally make you a priority. You need to know that YOU MATTER!! Come and join me on this journey. I am excited for what the future holds. The best is yet to come! Blessings to you,
Annalisa.
