Taking My Life Back One Step at a Time: How I Walked My Way Back to Healthy

By LaTonya W. Moore

Taking My Life Back One Step at a Time: How I Walked My Way Back to Healthy

Let’s just face it, honey, there is no quick fix for weight loss, period. No fad diet, prescription, or pricey weight loss shake or bar will lead you to your best you. Only the natural way—a complete change in your diet along with exercise—will safely facilitate weight loss and help keep the pounds off.

I have lost over eighty-five pounds and have managed to keep them off for over two years. I am so delighted to share my journey with you. Throughout the course of this book, I will divulge my health struggles as a result of being overweight, the turning point in my life, and exactly what lifestyle changes that I have found work for me. So sit back, relax, and take notes!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jun 28, 2019
• ISBN: 9781796043365

LaTonya W. Moore

LaTonya W. Moore is a University of Alabama in Huntsville graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in biological sciences. She has worked in the scientific and pharmaceutical industries for the duration of her career and enjoys baking in her spare time. She is also the author of three published books: A Summer of Passion, Love, Pain, and Happiness, A Summer of Passion Revisited: Devious Divas, and Taking My Life Back One Step at a Time: How I Walked My Way Back to Healthy. She lives in Huntsville, Alabama, with her husband and daughter.

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Copyright © 2019 by LaTonya W. Moore.

Library of Congress Control Number:            2019908750

ISBN:                    Hardcover                    978-1-7960-4338-9

                             Softcover                      978-1-7960-4337-2

                             eBook                            978-1-7960-4336-5

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 06/28/2019

Xlibris

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CONTENTS

Chapter 1 The Old Me: Up until 1998

Chapter 2 Life Changed After Graduation: 1998 to 2002

Chapter 3 And, So It Begins… 2002-2008

Chapter 4 A Pleasant Surprise: 2008 to 2010

Chapter 5 Blood Pressure Medications Are from Hell: 2011

Chapter 6 My Rainbow During the Storm: 2011-2014

Chapter 7 Enough Is Enough: 2015

Chapter 8 Eat to Live, Not Live to Eat: 2015

Chapter 9 Continued Success: 2016

Chapter 10 A Change of Heart: 2016

Chapter 11 Happily Ever After: 2017 – Present

Chapter 12 Weekly Weigh-Ins

Chapter 13 My Weight Loss Tips

Chapter 14 My Exercise Habits

Chapter 15 Before and After

Chapter 16 Sample Menus

Chapter 17 Quick and Easy Healthy Recipes That I Truly Enjoy

CHAPTER 1

The Old Me: Up until 1998

I was born on April 28, 1975 into a family of great cooks. A lot of our holidays and family functions were centered around food. From delectable homemade biscuits and cakes to pot roasts and fried chicken that looked and tasted as though they were made by culinary experts. Food has always been an expression of love. It was a blessing and an honor if an elder took time out of their busy schedule to teach you how to prepare a recipe that had been passed down from one generation to the next. One cooking lesson in particular that I will never forget is the one for my paternal grandmother’s homemade biscuits. My mouth is watering at the thought of how light and flaky they were. Even though I never really grasped the concept, just being able to spend time with her was priceless.

For every fabulous meal or dessert that was prepared, neither the ingredients nor the calories were ever considered. I never bothered to question or research any of it for fear of offending whoever prepared them. Little did I know that all that good eating would come back to haunt me.

Honestly, as far as I knew, there were no known health issues on either side of the family. Everyone seemed to be as healthy as a horse. I was never told about any medications that some of my family members were taking. Maybe it was a way to protect me from what was to come or a way to sweep genetic health conditions under the rug while secretly pacifying them with prescribed medicines. I would have lived my life totally differently had I known exactly what I was up against.

In my younger years, I had always had somewhat of an active lifestyle even though education had been my main priority. We kids played outside most of the time, so we stayed in shape. There were not a lot of video games or fancy cell phones to keep us inside on the couch. We ate and then headed right back outside to run around and play.

In middle school, I played volleyball as well as hung outside with other neighborhood kids. My weight was stable and in the normal range. By the time I entered high school, my education became my primary focus. I still managed to maintain a healthy weight even though my diet was not the best. I ate whatever my parents cooked plus whatever fast food I could get my hands on. At that time, you couldn’t tell me nothing! I was 5’3", weighed 121 pounds, and wore a size 5 (BMI 21.4 / Normal). I stayed that way until I started taking birth control pills. Once I graduated from