I am currently looking at seeing if a show will take my story and help me with cosmetic surgery. I know there are alot of people out there that are trying. I guess doesn't hurt to start here.
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Thank you for taking the time to read my story. My name is Valerie Fontanez, I am 24 years old and I have an 8-year-old autistic son. I want to share with you my journey, what I have gone thru in my past, my present experience, and my future plans.
I think I have always been the “chubby” girl. Never in my life have I been in-shape. During high school I was always the “thick/fat” girl. I didn’t really have any friends because I was overweight. The biggest I have ever been in my life thus far is 260 lbs. I` believe that I gained most of my weight during my pregnancy with my son Jonathan. I figured that “eating for 2” was acceptable and that I would lose all my pregnancy weight immediately after having my son. Boy was I wrong. After the pregnancy I honestly really didn’t think that there was anything wrong with me. Maybe I was too consumed with my new baby boy. I ate everything in site from huge cinnabons to whole chickens. I was overly obese for about 5-6 years. So what made me change? I no longer felt like a woman. I was not able to wear feminine clothing since I was so big. I wore a lot of men’s clothing usually old vintage clothes from the thrift store. When it finally hit me, I became depressed and I was pressured by my father that I needed to lose weight or else I would lose my husband. I wanted to do something about my weight, but I decided that I wanted to make a change for myself, my son and not for anyone else. Now I am not going to say that my weight loss has been easy because it hasn’t! My journey has been a rocky ride and I am still trying to reach my destination. I won’t give up and nothing is going to stop me from reaching my destination. I have been on numerous diets to get where I am but there are 2 programs that have given me great success. The first nutrition program is weight watchers. I gained a full foundation of making good eating habit and making eating healthier a lifestyle. The second is a customized nutrition program by Chris Janusz of Vizual Xcellence. I reached a point in my healthy fitness lifestyle where I could no longer lose fat. Chris Janusz’s SwoleGenix Program has helped me lose fat mass as well as gain & preserve lean muscle mass at the same time.
Eating clean and weight training has become an everyday lifestyle. I weight train 4 days per week and perform cardio 7 days per week. I have lost a total of 100 lbs, till this day I still cry once in a while because I can’t believe how far I have come. How much I have achieved. It’s quite amazing when I reflect upon it and I inspire so many women online at my favorite fitness forum. On a monthly basis, I receive random emails from women that are very over weight or just struggling to get back on track. They praise and thank me how much “hope” I give them. With my results, they believe that it is possible for them to achieve their goals. I love to inspire people because I have been in their shoes. I want these girls to know that there is “hope”. It’s all a mental game….Desire-Devotion-Discipline.
My journey is still not over. I am still in the process of losing fat mass and gaining more muscle mass. My short term goal is to get to a body fat percent where a figure/fitness competitor would be during off season which is about 17-16% body fat. I am saving my pennies so that I can get cosmetic surgery which will allow me to compete in figure competitions. I have a lot of excess skin all over my body from being obese for so long. After my surgery and recovery, my ultimate goal is to compete in figure competitions at 12-11% body fat. I “will” compete some day no matter how long it takes me. I “will” reach my destination.
All I want is to get my story out there and continue to inspire, motivate and give people “Hope”. I feel that this is my purpose in life. It makes me feel so good in my heart to help people. If I don’t make the audition, I will still continue with motivating and inspiring others as much as I can.
