weight loss success stories - Krystie Faulkner Loses 101 Pounds

A mother of four, Krystie Faulkner turned to food as a comfort for the stress in her life, and soon stopped caring about herself at all. It wasn’t until she mistook herself for her mother in a photograph that she realized she had a problem. With the help of exercise DVDs and some home exercise equipment, she was able to drop just over 100 pounds. She also founded her own team on Sparkpeople.com, which has grown to 350 people who offer each other support and encouragement in their weight loss journey. She has become, in honor of her favorite song, “The Warrior.”

BEFORE THE TRANSFORMATION: I have four kids, hence I put them first. And I just wasn’t important. So I just stopped caring and gave up on myself. I just hid whatever I was dealing with with food, and if I was upset or hurt, I would say, “Well, I’ll show them,” and I’d go eat. Sweets, cakes, cookies, goodness, anything not tied down. I could eat a block of cheese, you know, one pound block of cheese if I was upset.

THE TURNING POINT: I was uploading my pictures from Christmas and I saw this woman looking back at me who I thought was my mother. And she wasn’t there. She was 2,000 miles away and then I just realized, I was like, “Oh, my goodness! That is me.” And so I was like, “You know what? Come the first of the year I’m going to change this. I can’t do this anymore.” I really felt like I was going to end up just dying and killing myself if I just kept going. So I said, “Well, you know what? No more. January 1st.” And I did so…

GETTING A MOVE ON: My favorite activities now are nothing like I used to be. I started riding bicycles. I hadn’t done it since I was like 14 years old. I love to walk. I love taking boxing classes and mixed martial arts. I would like to eventually run a 10k. I’ve run a 5. I’d like to do a 10. We’ll see what happens from there. Maybe a triathlon later on down the line or something like that with the biking and stuff. I think I would be pretty good at that.

HELPING HAND: SparkPeople is the number one online weight loss site. It’s free. They give you the tools. They have message boards where you can connect with people who are going through the exact same struggles and same similarities that you are and you find a support group. It’s just been phenomenal. If I would have not had SparkPeople, I would have quit my journey within six weeks and just given up again like I’d always done. But this time I was able to keep going because I had the support and the encouragement.

THE BEST REWARDS: My husband has been amazing. He can’t stop picking me up and it’s just ridiculous how he picks me up and spins me around. It’s something new for him that he’s never been able to experience. I have a 5-year-old and I believe it was in April of this year. He came up and he gave me a hug and all of a sudden his hands touched all the way around me. He’s like, “Mama, I touch.” That was the best highlight of my weight loss ever was that he could finally give me a real hug.
source