8 minute read
Cutest Kid
Congrats JACE
Jace Roller is the 10-month-old son of Phillip and Deana Roller of Purdy.
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Photos should be sent in the original JPG format at the highest resolution possible. Remember to include your child’s name, parent’s name, age, city and your contact information. The contest is open to children ages 10 and younger. The photos submitted will be used for the sole purpose of this contest.
A weight loss journey
By Christmas time every year most people have decided what they will set for their New Year’s resolutions. Learn a tographer of Free Dove Photography, began her weight loss journey in February 2020. “I’ve struggled with my weight since I was 8 years old,” she said. “I’ve While Amanda Boswell and Brittany Bray have not quite hit their goal weights, throughout the year 2020 they have faced many challenges and found many successes in their weight loss journey. of two women new language, go back to school, go yo-yo’d back and forth with my weight on a life-changing adventure, a new and spent my entire 20s attempting year begins with endless possibilities. to lose weight once and for all to no However, one resolution is made more avail.” commonly than others, “This year I Amanda had tried diet pills, weight want to lose weight.” loss supplements, training, keto,
Whether the plan is to lose that Weight Watchers, and more. pesky 10 pounds or a more significant “If there was something on the body transformation, gym member- market that claimed it could help, I’ve ships and diet fads gain popularity tried it,” she said. “As you can imagine quickly for those first few months of all I lost was my confidence, and after the year. each attempt, I was left defeated and
Two local women have recently depressed. embarked on a weight loss journey of “Everything seemed unattainable, their own and while the sisters start- unreachable or impossible. I couldn’t ed together, their adventures looked understand how these things could quite different from each other. help other people be successful in
Amanda Boswell, owner and pho- their journey, but not for me.”
Amanda’s health started declining and her weight began to rise even more.
“I started to feel an early onset of diabetic symptoms and knew I had to make a change,” she said. “I’ve been checked out by doctors to see if maybe my thyroid was acting up or perhaps I had PCOS and didn’t know it. I was trying to figure out why I couldn’t lose weight. No matter how strict I was, how much I killed myself in the gym — I wasn’t losing any weight.”
Doctor after doctor told Amanda to do low carb or keto diets because she is pre-diabetic, and almost every female in her family is diabetic.
“I lost 28 pounds doing keto, but I feel like you have to either be all in or don’t do keto at all,” Amanda said. “I couldn’t even have a few bites of anything without setting myself back weeks, which just isn’t sustainable to me.”
She knew a low carb and sugar-free lifestyle was something she would need to adapt to for the rest of her life if she wanted to keep diabetes under control as best as she could.
“My sister and I were born four days apart and after we turned 31, we knew we had to walk into this new decade — our 30s — a healthy one,” she said. “We both had our own reasons to lose the weight.
“We both have our own journeys, but we decided to embark on this journey together and hold each other accountable. We’re not blood sisters, but we’re best friends that have had each other’s back for over 15 years now.”
After confiding in each other as they always do, they decided to research weight-loss surgery options as a last resort.
“My mom had weight loss surgery (bypass), and was pretty successful with it,” she said. “I’ve known several other people who have gone that route as well.”
It wasn’t enough to just read statistics online, Amanda needed to read other people’s stories, follow their journeys, and really learn how to make this a way of life and not look to surgery as a quick fix.
“I used to be so skeptical of surgery. Even when my mom had it done, I wasn’t on board with it,” she said. “I always thought, ‘If you couldn’t create healthy habits now, then what’s the point of surgery if you’re going to go back to your old ways?’
Before and after photos of Amanda Boswell and Brittany Bray show the amazing progress the two women have made side by side. They chose their weight loss journey to be healthier.
-Amanda Boswell
“While that is so very important, there’s so much more to it than that.”
The duo really dove into social media and joined groups to learn all the things — the good, the bad, and the ugly.
“We started researching doctors and soon found out that we couldn’t afford to have this done here in the U.S. with our insurances,” Amanda said. “I wanted to get my weight under control before my health declined too much, and after experiencing several symptoms of diabetes in 2020 that’s what really pushed me to make a change.”
Amanda has four children and she wants to be around for them for the long haul without a slew of health issues holding her back.
“We started researching Mexico and really dove into reputable hospitals and doctors,” she said. “I’ve been to Mexico on more than one occasion, and I’m pretty familiar with the area and even know some great people that live down there.
“We called and spoke with many doctors and emailed all sorts of questions back and forth.”
Amanda had a full page long list of questions.
“After we found a hospital and doctor that we loved, we took the necessary steps to schedule our surgery and our doctor said we were a great fit for Gastric Sleeve,” she said. “On February 20, 2020, we both had surgery and recovered together in the same room and started our Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy (VSG) journey.
“Right off the bat, Britt’s journey was different than mine.”
The women had to learn how to eat slowly and really follow the doctor’s and nutritionist’s guidelines for when to add in new foods so their stomachs could heal.
“I did everything by the book,” Amanda said. “In my mind, this was my last attempt to get healthy, and I wanted to be sure I was doing every single thing right.”
She started walking 30 minutes a day, doctors orders, just four days after surgery, and really learned how to eat all over again.
“Before surgery, I was never really ever full,” she said. “I could eat so much and still be hungry minutes later so for me, this surgery has helped me see food in a different way.”
Amanda healed quickly and didn’t have any complications after her surgery.
“It was a breeze as far as recovery and by day four I remember thinking, ‘Is this it?’” she said. “During the whole process, there was always that fear in the back of my mind that this isn’t going to work either.
“I’ll be honest, the mind games are still there, and it’s still a daily struggle sometimes.”
Amanda said you can get caught up in comparing your journey to someone else’s and lose sight of how far you’ve come, which is why she thinks that pictures are so important during a weight loss journey.
“Document your journey and take those before pictures,” she said. “We didn’t even look at our before pictures until after surgery when we started
Amanda Boswell is less than 30 pounds from her goal weight and has lost 75 total in less than a year.
Brittany Bray has experienced complications with her weight loss but has still lost more than 50 pounds in the last year.
comparing and seeing how far we’ve come. It can really light a fire inside you.”
Amanda encourages people to always remember, their journey won’t look like someone else’s and it shouldn’t.
“We’re all different,” she said. “Our bodies are different and they may react differently. You have to change your mindset and keep going regardless of how you feel.”
That’s probably Amanda’s biggest takeaway with making this a sustainable lifestyle.
“I may not always feel like eating super healthy,” she said. “I know I won’t always have the motivation to work out, but if I take that step and remember my goals and not how I feel, I know I’ll be successful.”
Amanda is still working toward reaching her goal weight and said the weight loss definitely slows down the further out from surgery that you get.
“I’ve lost 75 pounds since February 2020,” she said. “I’d like to hit the 1-0-0 pounds gone forever mark, but really, this journey is so much more than a number on a scale.
“I want to be in a healthy BMI range and just overall feel better. I’m so close to my goal and I know I’ll be there in no time.”
Amanda didn’t start working out until about seven months after her surgery.
“I didn’t feel like I consumed enough calories a day to sustain lifting and training so I listened to my body and used my best judgment,” she said. “Truth be told, I actually gained weight when I first started working out, which was a bit of a bummer at first but you have to give your body grace. Your body is adjusting and things take time.”
Story continued on page 43
