I would like by this testimony, to talk about my obesity, my meeting with someone that helped me change my self-image, my healing, and my resurrection. I started having weight problems from early childhood. This situation immediately alarmed my attending physician, who sent me to various endocrinology and diabetology departments to discover the cause of my overweight. But the conclusion of all these exams was, that I had no malfunction. However, at the age of 10, this same doctor, seeing my weight constantly changing, sent me to a centre for obese children. There, indeed, after a stay of seven weeks, which were not the happiest weeks of my life, I lost 8 kilos, kilos that I had immediately resumed the following year, and continued to grow. At 15 I weighed 95 kilos. I made several more attempts at various diets, but could not keep them for more than a week. And I must confess that I did not see a way out for myself, nor how I could have managed.
When I met Sophie Reverdi, at the age of 23, I weighed 130 kilos, I am 1,72m. We quickly sympathised, and we started talking about my weight. At first I had trouble talking about my problem but I felt that I could trust her, so I emptied my bag. I told her that I was suffering from this problem, and that for a girl, it was sad to be this deformed. And, Sophie asked me a question. “Do you want to lose weight? I replied, “Of course, yes, but if I knew how to do it I would have done it a long time ago.” So she told me about her obesity journey, where she had gone and how she had managed to lose weight. She too had been an obese child, and at the age of twenty, she weighed 128 kilos, for 1,60m. I was very impressed, since it was hard to imagine that this beautiful woman, sure of herself and full of energy, was once obese. And she said to me, “If you want, I’ll explain to you how to do it”.
What I was going to hear from her was new to me and there were many things I did not know. She explained what the dietary method she had discovered was. She explained to me that you could eat delicious things and at will. Then, how to organize my shopping how to prepare very simply my meals; little tips that make the difference. She also told me about my ability to control my life, my decision-making power, my potential, my strength. She told me that it was my responsibility to change the circumstances of my life, that I was responsible everything … that it was me, who put these foods in my mouth, and that it was up to me to remedy this problem, by reversing the stream but also by changing some harmful messages that I sent to my brain. I also began to take a closer look at the body’s mechanisms, the way in which gaining and losing weigh works. Sophie explained things about my illness which, I was not aware of at all. She kept motivating me, telling me that I would be beautiful, light and well in my skin, that my life was going to change radically, that I was going to discover a new Jana, sure of herself, full of energy, full of hidden talents, that I was going to discover a new body, and recover a physical form, which had nothing to do with my current form, that I could quietly go shopping, without being stressed to know if there remains in shops a few XXXL sizes to fit me, that I could go to the pool, without going through the basement, that men would be more interested in me. Listening to her tell me these things, I started to visualise, as all this could make my existence different. I realised that by losing weight, I was going to discover all those pleasures of life that I did not know. Finally, I was convinced, and I started to follow the program. I also knew, considering the number of kilos that I had to lose, that it would not be a matter of two months, but that did not discourage me.
From the first few kilos lost, I began to experience overwhelming energy and a sense of victory. It was a time of rebirth for me. With each kilo lost, I felt better and better; every kilo lost, I felt like a flow of energy coming towards me. And then in thirteen months, with ease, I lost more than 60 kilos. It was incredible. I think I could never have given myself a better gift than to get rid of all those extra kiolos. Defeat, finally, of this horrible disease that had pursued me for years, leaving me behind the scenes of my own life. I had managed to do this for myself.Jana Vitezova is now a Smart and Light certified coach.