This is an archived article and the information in the story may be outdated. Please check the time stamp on the story to see when it was updated last.
For as long as she could remember, Morgan Bishop was self-conscious about her weight. She recalled being curvier than her peers as a teen, but it wasn’t until she had her son that she saw her weight spiral out of control. During the pregnancy she gained 70 pounds, and she recalled that after his birth she began her journey of yo-yo dieting, losing weight only to gain it back and more.
The turning point came when her son, at the time in fourth grade, came home from school and expressed that he was “mad” at one of his fellow classmates. After some time, Morgan discovered that the classmate had told her son that his mother was fat, but he didn’t want to tell her because he was afraid it would hurt her feelings. For Morgan, that was the time to take a look at her choices and make a change for the better–for both her and her son.
At her heaviest weight of 286 pounds, Morgan was miserable. But it was small changes to her diet, and not exercise initially, that she accredits to the results. “I used Isagenix shakes to replace two meals a day and followed the company’s intermittent fasting program, which includes drinking Cleanse for Life, a beverage that supports the body during fasting. Food had been my drug for so long, and I had to accept the fact that I had used it as a way to cover up a lot of emotional pain and issues I had been holding onto.”
Exercise came into the equation after Morgan had already lost a lot of the weight. “I didn’t exercise at all at first because I couldn’t. But as I started feeling better and losing some weight, I started walking a little. I didn’t add any gym time or weight training to my routine until after I had lost more than 100 pounds.”
She explained that a lot of her change came from the work she did on her mental health. As she lost weight, she was motivated by the differences she had begun to see, and said that she began to accept and love herself at every stage of her journey, leading to a healthier lifestyle overall.
Now, she has a much healthier relationship with food--and her body. “I’m a completely different person now. I feel physically amazing. I take pride in taking care of myself and my body now. My mindset is different and I wake up happy and ready to face the day. I was finally able to get out of that revolving door of dieting and self-sabotage.”
With self-love, time, and mindful changes to her diet that made for a more balanced lifestyle, Morgan was able to build a body she was proud of. She now has a new outlook on life that motivates her to keep going and continue to pursue a healthy lifestyle everyday, pushing her through even the cravings to maintain her weight loss long term and inspire others to do the same!
