The Bomb Dropped – And the After Effects

26 Sep, 2012

Written by Jennifer Sill & Rhonda Robison

My journey to weighloss has begun. However slow it might be. I am inspired to take these steps because of my instructor. She has been sharing her story over the past month. This is the final part. Click the links below for parts one-three.

Part One: Just Start – My Inspiration

Part Two: Set Goals

Part Three: Creating a New Me

The BOMB drop and the after effects!

By Rhonda Robison

After we got back from our Spring Break trip, I took my film in to be developed. It took about 3 days so I picked them up on a Wednesday. Honestly, I hadn’t worked out since I came back from spring break.

I came right home, sat right down to take a look at the wonderful pictures I took of my family. Remember when I said… “During the time we were in Dallas and at Six Flags, I found myself thinking, I think I really look good for having three kids under the age of 8yrs.” And remember when I said “I found myself thinking that quite a bit during the week.” Well here is when the BOMB dropped on me and it was that moment that I realized my thinking at Six Flags and in Dallas was SO WRONG; so much so that I started to cry!

I couldn’t believe my eyes. There it was, in the mist of the wonderful pictures of my boys a family picture. It was horrible! In the photo I was turned to the side with my stomach budging out for all to see like I was still pregnant! “WHAT????” “Seriously?” This was March 2001 and my son was born in June 2000. How could I still look pregnant?

I couldn’t take seeing it, so I ripped it up and threw it away! I grabbed my youngest son and headed to the Y and never looked back. I was refocused and revitalized! No way was I ever going to look like that, not anymore and not ever again!

I rededicated myself entirely to taking care of me. Eating right, re-establishing my goals, logging my food and my emotions and working out M-F at the Y taking classes and strength training.

Hard work pays off…

So, now let’s fast forward to May 2001, Memorial weekend. We decided to go see my family in Sioux Falls, SD and it happen to be hot.

By this time I had lost 25lbs since the New Year. I had been vigilant in my workouts and it was starting to show on the scale. YEA! F-I-N-A-L-L-Y!!!

Be honest with yourself, because I know you are all out there…so my question is, have you ever done this…have you ever looked in the mirror and not realize what you truly look like? Like in Dallas I had no idea I was that large. The same was true as I was losing weight.

At this time of my life, when I would look in the mirror I would only look at my face and hair to get ready for the day. I never wanted to look from the neck down. I didn’t want to have the feeling of horrific disappointment, like I had over spring break. So I never looked past the neck.

As I was getting ready for our family festivities scheduled for the day I had decided to wear a new sleeveless shirt I had purchased because it was so hot. As I looked up into the mirror I had to do one of those double takes…you know what I mean. You look up and look away and you slowly look back to see if what you saw was real? That is what happened to me, I noticed something…I couldn’t believe my eyes again, there was definition in my shoulders, my arms were thinner, my neck was thinner, my face too!…wow, this was really working! I went into my mom’s room and looked in her full length mirror…my legs they were thinner. OMG! Well back then I wouldn’t have said it quite like that, but it was just as shocking as it had been when I looked at the photos from Dallas.

Let me tell you…that day was a huge day for me! I discovered something special; I discovered my self esteem again…some of it was back! Wow what a feeling! It had been so long since I felt good about myself! My shoulders had not seen definition like that since volleyball. P.S. At that same moment in time I vowed to NEVER complain about doing shoulders in class ever again! Kerri enjoyed that story! She was so excited for me that she challenged me to carry on.

The moral of this portion of my story is to NEVER, ever give up! Even if you feel you look horrible in a photo, if someone tells you that you’re not worth it, you’re not beautiful, or maybe yourself tells you, “it’s not worth the effort.” Don’t believe any of it. Don’t believe the lies!

To this day I remember that moment like it was yesterday! What a feeling. How can you measure that? How can I even put an experience like that into words? All I can say…”Priceless!”

Never give up. Sometimes we lose our focus, but I am here to tell you if you put in the effort, do the work, you will see results!

Have an active and healthy week!

**Editor’s Note: This ends Rhonda’s story. She is my instructor now as I take on this journey. I hope that I can see results. So far, I’m sore. I gained 5 pounds the first week. (I think my body is in shock.) I’m hoping that all goes away and takes some other weight with it soon! I’ll keep you updated!

(Feature Photo Source)