Modern Flavor Magazine 1/2015 Modern Flavor Magazine 1/2015 | Page 26

assist in my weight-loss journey a success. When I was doing my research and I was debating on how I would lose the weight it was because I knew I had to. I was on high blood pressure medication and I was 24 years old at the time. I suffered from migraine headaches, from constant sudden and debilitating muscle spasms in my back and legs. I was tired all of the time. I was depressed, miserable, I didn’t like myself, I didn’t like my situation, and I didn’t like my job. It was all because I was overweight and I couldn’t get where I want it to be. So I researched and prayed. I decided that I was going to have the surgery. I was going to change my life, my nutritional value,s and my dress size. My first project was not finding a surgeon but it was actually finding a trainer. This trainer would help me once I had the surgery to maintain the nutritional values that were given to me by the nutritionist and give me an exercise program and routine that I could not only do with him but also away from him. I found Chris Miller of Maximum Fitness in Columbia MD. Chris gave me a nutritional plan that would carry me beyond the six weeks that I was given to go from a purely clear liquid diet to solid food. I worked out with Chris 2 to 3 times a week for one year. In that year I lost 70 pounds I lost the majority of it during the first six months but what I gained was more important. As most people know even without exercise, the first six months of your weight-loss journey rapid weight-loss will happen without an effort outside of sticking to the basics of what you can and cannot eat post surgery. Where I differ from the majority of post gastric bypass surgery patients is that I regained the muscle mass that I had lost over the past eight years prior. The key to healthy weight loss is having good nutritional values. As I lost the weight, I also gained the confidence that I never knew that I had. I gained the attention of men but also some women noticed and in turn asked me what I was doing. I would let them know that I was post surgery. I do not hide it however my nutrition values have changed. I began to