Galesburg

Member Since October 2006

My Story
2006 was one of the most difficult years I had experienced. I started the year with my now ex-husband asking for a divorce. He had left a couple of years before which was after about two years of substance abuse problems. Before that I had just had my second child which made me the biggest I had ever been in my lifetime. I had always struggled with my weight but I kept part of the weight gain from both children. Stress during the marrital problems and then having my husband move to another state gave me plenty of excuses to eat.

Now back to 2006, I had been a single parent for over a year even though the divorce bombshell had just dropped. Things got uglier during the divorce process. Time had passed since the documented and witnessed substance problem, so my ex-husband decided to push for lots of visitation. The only problem was that he wanted the kids to go where he was about 500 miles from me. That is about the time I wandered into my local Curves. I did not really believe that I could make things work at Curves because my money was tight and I did not have much self confidence. I was struggling with depression and feeling isolated from people. God gave me Curves to help me past this time of my life.

I met Kathy the day I decided to check out the cost of loosing some of my weight. I really did not believe that I could afford the cost. Kathy helped me find the best way to start my program, which happened to be the six week solution. That evening I weighed in at over 200 lbs and took the chance I could change myself. I met the staff over the first few weeks and they helped me celebrate the successes and forgave me for the failures. I lost 16 lbs during the 6 week solution then continued to loose until I hit my plateau of 169. I lost over 30 lbs and found lots of self respect. Thank you God for Curves and the staff.

I found friends and the support to get back some confidence. I call the staff at Curves my bartenders because they have heard many of my difficulties and let me vent when I thought I would freak out. The divorce was final in January of 2007 but visitation disagreements carried on until the end of the year. The staff helped me deal with the panic and gave me some advise when I had to travel with the kids to see their dad. I have to say the best revenge is looking good. I looked better than I had in years and my Ex knew it.

The next part is the time when I thought I would have to quit. I lost my child support because my ex-husband went to jail for driving under the influence. Come to find out he had more than one arrest and spent 12 out of 14 months in jail in the state he lived. As a cost cutting measure I thought I would have to quit or suspend my membership, so I approached the owner and mentioned my situation. God stepped in again. I was blessed with the opportunity to work a few hours a month to pay for my membership!

I have found in my time at Curves that if you want to change your life then prayer and hard work will help you. Curves gave me the support to achieve my weight loss goals and a place to connect to other women. Thanks for letting me tell my story because I love my Curves!!

My Photos