September Success: Meet Brooke Birmingham

Welcome to September Success, a month of inspirational stories of weight loss success from real women who didn’t turn to shakes or supplements.

Last week on September Success, we met Marjorie Krueger. This week, we”ll meet Brooke Birmingham. Brooke is the girl who started a conversation about body image.

I met Brooke from a viral post on Facebook. The story behind the post was that Shape magazine told her to put on a T-shirt to hide her imperfect tummy after significant weight loss. Can you imagine?

At the age of 28, Brooke has already lost 172 pounds, which means she went from a size 28 to a size 6/8. She hit her goal weight in May 2013, after 4 years of hard work.

Find out her story!

Q: What triggered you to lose weight?

I had been overweight much of my life, and teased for it throughout. That led me to a negative head space where I just didn’t love myself. One weekend, my cousin took me clothes shopping. I remember standing in a dressing room surrounded by a bunch of skinny jeans that wouldn’t fit.  We had a talk that weekend about my life, and how I needed to start taking care of myself.

That weekend started the process of wanting to change.

A couple of weeks later, my mom went to a Weight Watchers meeting and invited me to come along with her the next week. Which was exactly what I needed.

Q: How did you lose it?

All of my weight loss has been with the Weight Watchers program. It worked for me because they didn’t tell me what I couldn’t eat.

[bctt tweet=”I was able to eat what I wanted in moderation, while they taught me about eating healthier @babnotonadiet” username=”jegoswam”]

Q: Share a story of one of your biggest milestones.

I think one of my biggest milestones was the first time I ever ran a mile. I had been doing the Couch to 5k program for a couple of weeks when I decided to just continue running instead of breaking it up with a walk. Some upbeat songs came on in my earbuds and just pushed me to keep going. Before I knew it I had finished a mile. I remember stopping and just crying.

I was so proud of myself because it was something I had never imagined myself doing.

Q: How did you stay motivated when you had a setback?

I stay motivated by reminding myself why I started. I truly believe that everyone needs a why for the journey no matter what the journey may be. When I first started to lose weight it was to feel better in my own skin and to be able to enjoy life. Now I continue to live this healthy lifestyle because I want to grow old with my husband and have children someday.

When I’m down, I remind myself how much better I feel when I’m working out and fueling my body with good foods. 

Brooke Birmingham is a healthy lifestyle blogger and Weight Watchers leader. She can be found enjoying life with her husband, Mr. B, out in their kayaks or at a local brewery. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.

Thank you for sharing your story, Brooke!