Walking It Away: How I Lost 40 Pounds

"In the last seven years I've lost 90 pounds, which is a Nicole Richie, basically."

When I first lost weight, it was approximately seven years ago. I went from 230 pounds to 190. I tried to lose weight after that the unhealthy way - did the shakes, starved myself, didn't really workout. I decided last January to embark on another weight loss before I turned 35, and I've lost 40 pounds since then. I've done it a healthy way, watching what I eat and exercising for really the first time in my life.

"I could barely move."

When I first started working out and doing strength training, I was extremely sore. In fact, after the first day I could barely move, I could barely go up the stairs. I had gone to the gym with a friend, and she showed me how to use weights and strength train, something I had never done before. I was so sore, but my friend assured me that it would get better with each time I worked out, so I kept doing it.

My first experience on the treadmill was just walking extremely slow, but I thought was pretty fast. I bumped it up every day, go for a minute longer or a little faster each time. It took a couple months for me to start feeling that I was actually working out and it was actually doing something.

"Now I sweat, not all the time or anything, but I wasn't able to sweat before."

I've never sweat before. I come by it naturally. My mom's not a sweater. Unfortunately any time I get in the sun, I would just bake and get really hot and no sweat would come out. When I started working out my friend forced me so much on the treadmill that sweat was forced out of me. It was a pretty amazing moment that first bead of sweat dripped down on my forehead onto my lips. I didn't know what was going on. Now that I can sweat I love the sun, being in it is a totally enjoyable experience. I see what the whole big deal is about summer and why everyone likes it so much.

"I started walking my dogs."

I have two dogs, so I started walking them outside instead of always walking on a treadmill. We have a three-mile area that we walk outside, and they get to run around and try to get birds and rabbits and chase people. They just had such a great time that I started looking forward to it every day. As soon as I would put on my tennis shoes, they were ready to go.

"I've finally found my groove."

I have three songs on my MP3 player that last approximately 20 minutes. I try to run for 20 minutes and then walk uphill at like a 15 percent incline for 20 minutes. The three songs are key and I listen to them every time. Once I'm done with the second song, I start to get this little smile with like a little runner's grin because I know it's almost over. I never thought I would smile while running on a treadmill. I time my breathing and keep pace with the music. It's really helped because it makes you a loner when you're working out but you don't feel like you're by yourself. Plus you have entertainment.

"I lost weight by changing the way I think."

When I realized I was turning 35 and that I had heart surgery when I was a little girl, I knew I needed to look at losing weight not for looks, but for health. This is probably going to be the last chance for me to get where I want to be and be done with it. I had a free training session recently, where they assessed my health and measured my body fat, and they were pretty impressed at everything I was doing. I was really, really nervous about having my body fat measured, but I actually ended up being 24 percent, which puts me in the average range for my age. I'm one percent away from the good range.

I would like to lose 20 more pounds, but I'm really not putting it on a weight kind of goal, more like a health goal. I feel like once I'm there, I'll know. It could be 20 pounds. It could be 10. It could be 15. Right now, I'm just proud of what I've accomplished to this point.