Joyful, first of all, thanks for those kind admiring words to us big women who are making changes. That did my heart good today. I think I speak for all of us big'uns when I say that some of the lessons we learned that made our changes possible were:
1) Try not to let yourself get frustrated. That's probably the thing my trainer says to me most often, right after "Drink some water for me." Changes take time to become apparent. Trust that you are doing the right thing and don't keep rushing to check for results. Not easy, I know.
2)Don't berate yourself for not doing better. Everything you are doing is fantastic. Setbacks? They happen to everyone. Shake it off and keep moving forward.
3) Sweet talk your body, don't treat her like the enemy. Sounds like she's been a battleground - how smart you are at 27 to decide to turn her into your haven. I waited until I was 44!
By the way, I ate and drank (and i mean bottles of wine and pitchers of cocktails-drank) my way to almost 300 lbs. I joke that cycling really cuts into my drinking. Cut into my eating, too. Now a half-full bottle of wine can sit in the fridge for days, and I think about pedaling uphill when junkfood is around. Suddenly chips & dip look like the devil himself!(Now I realize I should cut down on coffee. Man, it's the only organized religion I have left!)
There's a great tenet of Buddhism, "In having compassion for myself, I reconcile all beings." Have compassion for yourself. I think the process of change (healing) is tiring in and of itself. Let yourself rest and relax. Another think my trainer (my friends call him my Obi-wan) says is "rest is as important as work." And he's won something like 12 races so far this season, so it must be true!
hugs from LLB