about my beginnings

Hi I'm April.  I've lost 125 lbs to date, and I have 27 to go.  I want to blog to keep me accountable, but I also want to help others who need to lose.  I thought my story might be helpful to some...so I'm sharing.

I was always fit and healthy until I was violently assaulted when I was younger.  I felt alone, there was no one I could talk to about it.  I was embarrassed, I blamed myself, and I hated myself for a long time.  I decided one day I just didn't want attention from men anymore, and I thought a great way to do that was to gain weight.  It sounds ridiculous now, but I loved my fat for a while...it was the blanket that sheltered me from the world and covered my pain. 
I ballooned up to 290 lbs, and I was then overwhelmed.  The doctor told me I was a walking heart attack at age 30.  I was physically in pain from carrying around the weight.  I signed up for Weight WAtchers and lost about 20 lbs. Then I got stuck...they couldn't help me to lose more, so I quit.  The cycle began again.
A good friend told me I needed to talk to someone about what had happened to me.  After a lot of arguing, I signed up for therapy. It was hard at first talking about what happened, but in time, I began to feel better.  I decided to try to become a runner.  Literally, I could only run for 30 seconds at first, but I built endurance. 
I had lost a bit of weight and trained for a half marathon .  After I completed that I decided to do a full marathon.  Everyone told me not to, that I would get hurt, that I couldn't do it.  IN the race, I felt like I wanted to quit around the 20 mile mark, but I told myself no....the quitting is over.  I finished, and I cried when I crossed the finish line....I was really happy with myself for the first time in about 10 years.  I was actually proud instead of ashamed.  I finished something...I achieved a goal and it felt great.
My eating still wasn't great.  I found out about Beachbody products and decided to try the Shakeology.  It was great......kept me full so I didn't purge on junk and my food cravings practically dissipated. http://beachbodycoach.com/april6678 to learn about shakeology if you are interested.

That brings me to today......my life has changed totally.  I love my body (I bought myself boudoir pics for a bday present this year:)..just to show myself how far I've come, I've run 2 marathons and 4 half marathons, I teach exercise part time, and I am a Beachbody coach (Besides shakeology, body combat dvd's have helped me shape my body).
I'm vested in helping myself and others get to their weight loss goal.  I've started a 60 day go hard or go home weight loss challenge on facebook.  Let me know if you want to know more.
I lost 2.5 lbs this week/...and I actually can't wait until the next weigh in :).