In His Strength

I don't know a woman alive who is completely happy with her body!

I have always struggled with my weight. When I was a child my grandmother had to make my clothes for me. The children in my school would always make fun of me.

I didn't call them my friends, because if they were truly my friends, they wouldn't have made fun of me! I could have gone on a diet it I wanted to. I just wanted the other children to like me.

When I got to the 10th grade I made a decision to change my body. But I did it all for the wrong reasons. I did it so my peers would accept me. I had lost about 40 pounds by the time I was a senior in high school. I maintained my weight throughout college. I still had maintained my weight when I got married. But when I had my first baby, I put those 40 pounds back on.

I have tried many diets in my lifetime! But once I went off of those diets, my weight started creeping back on. It's easier to make excuses than changes! I couldn't eat like a athletic teenager and then complain about my extra layers of fluff.

This wasn't really about the scale or what clothing size I was; it was about this battle that raged in my heart. I turned to food for comfort instead of God.

When my mother was diagnosed with endometrial cancer in August 05' my eyes were opened to the fact that I needed to take better care of myself. In fact, my GYN told me that one of the top leading causes of cancer is being overweight. Being overweight leads to diabetes and both my parents were diabetic. Having diabetes was also one of the top conditions that lead to cancer.

I made my mind up that I was going to lose weight and keep it off so that I would be here to see my kids grow up and have kids, and see their kids have kids.

My mother passed away in December 06' and I was heartbroken! I struggled with losing weight, and not because I wasn't trying, because I truly was. I watched what I ate and I worked out on a regular basis.

About a year after mom's passing I became very depresssed...to the point where I had to take medication for it. I didn't know the person I had become. I missed my mother something awful, and I thought that was the sole reason for my depression. I was desperate! I cried out to God. I couldn't do this any longer in my own strength. I needed help!!!

After many medical tests, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, which is an auto immune disease in which the thyroid gland is destroyed by a variety of cell and antibody mediated immune processes. In English, this means that my thyroid no longer produced the thyroid hormone that my body needed to function properly. It is the primary gland that keeps your metabolism working normally. So today, I am labeled as being hypothyroid.

Hypothyroidism has many symptoms: depression, trouble losing weight, being tired all the time, hair falling out, etc. There are to many to list them all.

I was depressed about losing my mother, but it was also because of my having hypothyroidism. I was put on Synthroid and was told that it would take a few months before my symptoms would subside.

After about 3 months I started to see a differnce in myself and in my weight. I still struggled some and rightly so, because my metabolism wasn't what it used to be.

I truly believe that God used my thyroid disorder to show me and others His power. I was always overweight and I could have changed that if I wanted to, but didn't. Then all of the sudden I truly tried to lose weight and couldn't. I wasn't doing it to please my peers...I was doing it for my health, for the right reason.

In His strength, I lost 56 pounds and am still maintaining it at 40. I feel and look better than I did when I was in my 20's. I really have to watch what I eat and workout at least 4 times a week to maintain my weight, but it is all worth it to stay healthy and to glorify God.

I'm not on a diet. I'm on a journey with Jesus!

In Him,
Dalinda