{"id":99282,"date":"2014-07-13T08:00:03","date_gmt":"2014-07-13T13:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/?p=99282"},"modified":"2014-07-12T11:06:53","modified_gmt":"2014-07-12T16:06:53","slug":"bell-smith-lost-67-pounds-i-will-never-be-skinny-but-i-can-still-carry-weight-and-be-healthy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/07\/bell-smith-lost-67-pounds-i-will-never-be-skinny-but-i-can-still-carry-weight-and-be-healthy\/","title":{"rendered":"Bell Smith Lost 67 Pounds – “I’ll Never Be Skinny But I Can Still Carry Weight and Be Healthy”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bell Smith is a belly-dancing beauty who embraces her curves because she knows they belong to a healthy body. For a time in her life, Bell let stress and grief take hold and she forgot to focus on her own well-being. Not anymore. After a 67-pound weight loss and mind-shift, Bell has transformed her life and<\/em> her body.<\/p>\n

More from Bell in her own words –<\/p>\n

\"Bell<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Tell me when your weight struggles began. <\/strong>As a child, I could eat what I wanted and get away with it, but when I lost both my parents in the span of two years and then job stress piled on, so did the weight. \u00a0I experienced out-of-control eating, excess carb intake and I really overdid the fast food.<\/p>\n

What caused you to realize you needed to change?<\/strong>\u00a0I saw a family picture of myself in 2026 and thought, “I’m fat.” Since my dad’s side of the family carried a lot of weight and both parents had high blood pressure and diabetes, I knew I had to take charge.<\/p>\n

How did you lose the weight? <\/strong>I knew I had gained weight, yet I had been belly dancing since 2001 and my troupe accepted me as I was. I didn’t realize how much weight I’d gained. I started off by walking in the early morning with friends while it was dark so no one could see me, then signed up for a gym membership.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

After seeing the photo of myself in 2026, I said, ‘I’m done’ and joined the Medifast plan.<\/em><\/p>\n

Through Medifast I dropped 50 pounds but then, BAM, I had a medical scare from a blood clot. I had to change my diet, gained some weight back, but then recovered. In January 2026, it was time to serious again. I hired a local trainer, increased my workouts, and signed up with bodybuilder, Big Frank<\/a>! As a bodybuilder and lifestyle coach, he not only helped with workouts, but with my nutrition goals, as well.<\/p>\n

Did you have any “ah ha” moments along the way?<\/strong>\u00a0Being aware of my body, learning not to weigh every day, that the scale does not show inches lost and using side-by-side pictures of myself and the fit of my clothes as a guide.<\/p>\n

I know I’ll never be a skinny size, I’m fine with that, yet I am amazed I can still carry this weight and look so much different because I’m healthy.<\/em><\/p>\n

Current\/future goals?<\/strong>\u00a0Big changes, great results and loving life. I’d like to build more muscle to squeeze out the fat, be comfortable in a bathing suit and continue to get healthy with yoga, weight training and belly dancing.<\/p>\n

No supplements, no pills – all my nutrition comes from food on the advice of my doctor.<\/em><\/p>\n

Advice you’d give to other people struggling to lose weight?\u00a0<\/strong>Don’t let your mind trick you into quitting. You owe it to yourself to have the best healthy life possible<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Also Read<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kara Allbaugh Lost 80 Pounds – “I Was a Food Addict”<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Mayo Clinic Diet Launches today – A Customizable Weight Loss Plan That Gets It Right<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Four Keys to Real Fitness: Start with Strength Training and Food Quantity<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bell Smith is a belly-dancing beauty who embraces her curves because she knows they belong to a healthy body. For a time in her life, Bell let stress and grief take hold and she forgot to focus on her own … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3695,18,804,58],"tags":[8440,156,10697,3043],"class_list":["post-99282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diet-and-nutrition","category-fitness","category-heart-disease","category-womens-health","tag-homepage","tag-medifast","tag-true-weight-loss","tag-true-weight-loss-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99282"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99288,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99282\/revisions\/99288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}