Health, hope, and new beginnings: Deloris’s story

My day-to-day life is definitely different here in Denmark compared to the U.S, much more active! My current workplace has a gym, so I usually get into work a little earlier and have a quick workout to start my day. After work, it depends on the day of the week, but I usually get home and cook dinner; then in the evening I could be taking my “bonus daughter” to her athletics training or a tournament. On weekends we like to hang out as a family and usually end up doing something active, at the moment we’ve been doing a lot of gardening.

Generally, in life, I’m building my own little community here in Denmark and that is really special to me. I don’t have any family living here and I’m very much a people person, so building my “tribe” from scratch has been an important part of my life. 
 

I’ve struggled with my weight for a large part of my life and have often felt it has held me back from doing the things I want to do. Moving to Denmark, the lifestyle is very different to back in the U.S. and my family loves to go on long walks which I struggled to do and often needed to take breaks. I even struggled walking up the stairs to my own home. I’d often find excuses to avoid doing these activities with my family.

It's not about dropping dress sizes, that's not what motivates me. I just want to be strong and healthy in my body; that's a win for me.”
 

I didn’t initially notice any differences in my life, but the small changes creep up on you, and I soon was noticing I could do things I wasn’t able to before. I now go on walks with my family and don’t need to take breaks or cut the walk short, and my body doesn’t ache for days after. I can take the stairs and not always have to wait for the lift. The simplest thing was actually being able to cross my legs! My everyday life has been enhanced, and I feel a huge emotional relief of starting to get somewhere on my journey. Pursuing my weight reduction journey is largely fuelled by my biggest motivation, wanting to have a child with my husband. Hearing that the reason we may be struggling could be my weight really opened my eyes.

“If you watch the Olympics, they're all different body types. They're strong, they're beautiful, they're fit. So, I try not to look at weight through the lens of physical appearance. I try to look at it through the lens of health.”

My advice for you, whether you are starting your weight reduction journey or just thinking about it, is start as early as you can, you won’t regret it. It can be tough and sometimes seem impossible, but it is doable, you just need to get out of the starting blocks!