I am so excited to have another success story so soon after Janette!. Just like Janette, I found Mary’s page on Facebook and was so impressed by her transformation. At her highest she was over 300 pounds, and now she is down to 175 – super close to her end goal.
Mary is now a Beach Body Coach – her coaching is free and if you choose her as your coach, you have access to all the Beach Body Products – like DVD’s and shakes and other weight loss help. What are some of the DVD’s you ask – you’ve probably seen an infomercial about them:
90X®, TurboFire®, INSANITY®, INSANITY: THE ASYLUM®, Slim in 6®, Brazil Butt Lift®, Body Gospel®, and RevAbs®. Shakeology is a great addition to your diet.
Mary has a facebook page which you can like to get a daily dose of encouragement CLICK HERE TO LIKE HER PAGE!
Mary was gracious enough to answer my standard questions – here is her story:
1). What was your “Aha” moment when you decided you needed to do something about your weight?
I think it was when I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, and my doctor insisted I try to control it with diet and exercise to avoid being on all kinds of meds the rest of my life. I will be forever grateful to my doctor for that. It’s definitely what started it, and then followed by that, was probably when I saw my “before” picture and was like, “That’s me?” It was definitely a sobering moment.
2). Had you tried to lose weight in the past – were you successful when you tried?
Yes, I had tried in the past. It wasn’t very healthy, it worked while I was doing it, but when I stopped the weight came back, and then some. So every time I tried these diets, I’d lose weight while I was doing them, like purging (vomiting, laxatives), or starving myself, or the Atkins diet, or metabolife, etc; but then gain almost twice as much, until finally I weighed 300+ pounds.
3). How do you find time for yourself to concentrate on losing weight?
I don’t find time, I MAKE time. I work full time for the City, I help take care of my Grandmother, and I do free Fitness Coaching as well. I could say that I’m too busy and can’t find the time. But there’s always time if you make time for it. Sure, I give up an hour of my day to work out, but it’s an hour that I would have spent on the couch. So, it’s a win-win for me.
4). What kept you going? Were there times where you wanted to give up?
The thing that kept me going was remembering the dark place I was in, when I had let my health go, and never wanting to go back to that dark and lonely place. I wanted to be happy, and I knew what I had to do to get there. So I just made myself keep going. But there were times that I wanted to give up, like when I’d plateau and not go down in weight or size for a while, or when I went through my break up, etc. There are just times in life when you want to give up on things, but I just kept reminding myself why I started this journey in the first place. And I was always able to turn to my Coach for support whenever I needed it; he always knew how to get me thinking about my goal again.
5). How has maintenance been, is maintaining harder than losing weight?
I still have a few more pounds I want to lose, so I’m still doing my workout routines and counting calories. But I’m so close to my goal. When it comes down to it, I already have my plan. I’m still going to work out 5-6 days a week, because I’ve come to LOVE working out and bettering my body. I will also level out my calories, and change my caloric intake to maintenance level. Which shouldn’t be too bad, we will see.
6). Did you exercise while losing weight, if so, what do you like to do for exercise.
Yes, but I took baby steps. When I first started I could barely walk a 30 min mile. So, I got a treadmill and worked on it from there. Until it got to the point to where I could walk a 15 minute mile, sometimes 14 and then I started bicycling. Eventually that wasn’t enough anymore and I started doing the Insanity 60 day total body reconditioning workout program and busted through my plateau, and that’s what I still do and jogging as well. I fell in love with both.
7). What are some tips that helped you along the way?
To always drink water, water, water! Also not to obsess over the scale. And to BE PATIENT! Don’t stress the small things, live life, make healthier choices; get some exercise in and the weight coming off will naturally follow.
8). Did you have people in your life that weren’t positive towards the changes you were making?
Yes, I did. But I learned very quickly that you should never focus on the negative, if you do only negative things happen. So I started choosing wisely who I allowed in my life, and decided they were no longer worth keeping around and cut off ties. I’m much better off, as I am now surrounded by tons of amazing, beautiful, intelligent and inspirational people.
9). What was a typical eating day like when you were heavy?
Oh man, it’s hard to talk about this because I had gotten so bad. For breakfast, I’d get fast food, 2 breakfast sandwiches and a juice and some cookies. For lunch I’d get fast food again, a meal large size with another dollar menu burger to go with it. For Dinner, a large microwave pizza and some taquitos with guacamole. I’d also snack on chips and candy throughout the day in between meals and drink anywhere from 6-12 cans of Pepsi a day. It was awful. I’m the COMPLETE opposite of that now. Some people might even be shocked to think of me that way from what they see of my eating habits now.
10). What is a typical eating day like now that you are eating healthier?
I drink my Shakeology meal replacement shake every morning for breakfast. Lunch is usually a salad of some kind, or healthy sandwich. My snack in between Dinner is usually fruit, so an apple, or some watermelon, or cherries. For dinner, I’ll usually do 4 oz servings of lean protein (mostly chicken or fish for me) along with a side of fresh, steamed, or sautéed veggies.
11). What are some of the things you’ve been able to do now that you’ve lost the weight?
Well, I went shopping the other week and was able to walk into any store and try on and find something that fit me. It was such an amazing feeling! I’ve been able to jog, that was always so hard for me, but now I feel so light compared to what I used to be, jogging comes so much easier, it’s a freeing feeling. But most importantly, I’ve gained the confidence in myself to do things I’ve never done before and never would have done before. Like recently, I drove to Vegas by myself. I had never been to Vegas, or gone any place far by myself, and I stayed in a hotel with a huge casino, and gambled for the first time, went to a Coaching Summit to better myself as a Fitness Coach with 7,000 other coaches, and made tons of new friends. The old me would have never even THOUGHT about doing any of that. But now that I know I can do anything I set my mind to, I’ve started to dream big.
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YEAH Mary!!! This proves, it doesn’t matter what your situation, how heavy you start out with, just keep going and results will happen.
Want Mary as your very own FREE weight loss coach? Get more information here.
E-mail her at coachmarytackett@gmail.com
Her Beach Body website is here http://beachbodycoach.com/esuite/home/marytackett
To check out Beach Body nutritional products – check out her page HERE
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If you can take a quick moment to leave a nice comment for Mary – please do!!
Thanks for the inspiration Mary!!!! I’m sure with your new lifestyle you are going to help many people in your life!