I love how comfortable DDP makes me feel in my own skin.

My name is Alyssa Adamson and I am a stay-at-home mom/writer/artist living in Pittsburgh. I met my husband, Westley, in college and we were friends for a few years before deciding to be together. Our daughter is 19 months old and extremely active and fun to spend each day with. I am originally from Brooklyn, NY. My roots are Finnish and German, as well as Italian so I have always been a pretty hefty woman, usually looking like I was in shape even though my thinnest had always been about 200lbs. My weight first fluctuated with a diagnosis of thyroid disease in 2008, where I ballooned to 290lbs in a matter of months due to water weight and the disease ravaging my metabolism. It took me a year and diet meds to get back to a healthy weight but I was even more out of shape and the diet meds were not good for me (but the doctor was more afraid of the diabetes I could develop if I didn't lose the weight fast). I had thought I was out of the woods but I ignored the fact that I still was not in the shape I should be and my lifestyle wasn't very healthy. I met my future husband in 2009 and we bonded right away, especially in our creativity and in our love for wrestling. He would eventually be the one to introduce me to DDP YOGA later on in our lives. When we got together officially and I was pregnant with our daughter, it was apparent that I was not in the shape I should have been to carry a baby. I was an okay-235lbs before I was pregnant. 

By the time I had her, I was unable to walk so they induced me. The weight on my pelvis was too much and I felt like my muscles were atrophied. My knees, which were already in trouble from the age of 13, were almost non-existent and after 12 hours of labor I could not go on. Scarlett was born by C-section at 5:49am on Dec. 5, 2012. I was 331lbs. Weight loss took a back burner to learning how to be a mom, planning a wedding and moving my family. We had tried to live in NY again with the birth of my daughter but it was much too expensive and we decided to settle back in Pittsburgh. The apartment we found in the city seemed perfect. Second floor two bedroom apartment with a small deck/balcony deal in a safe neighborhood. What we did not know was that the house was under investigation by the Department of Health. They let us move in without telling us there was an open investigation and two months into living there, on June 27, 2013, I crashed 15 feet through the deck and almost died. My husband jokes now that my weight saved my life and he is probably right. At the time, though, I began to grapple with the idea that I would not be here forever and my daughter deserved me as long as possible. 

The accident caused a big traumatic affair. A trip in an ambulance, the sirens, the neck brace, cutting off my clothes in the ER. I couldn't believe it was happening. When it was done, I walked away with painful and permanent damage to my right leg, my right hip and my lower back. The ribs that were bruised still hurt sometimes. It was difficult as my daughter became more active to chase her around and pick her up. I was still about 293lbs and in the worst shape I had ever been. With the injuries, I was sure that I would be stuck like that forever. I got married in a plus size wedding dress on November 2, 2013. I thought I looked pretty but it bothered me that I didn't (and in my mind, couldn't) slim down enough in time. All the while, amidst wedding, holidays and planning my daughter's first birthday, I struggled with the idea that my health was in decline and became afraid of how many birthdays I would actually be able to plan. It was an eye-opening year to say the least. My husband had DDP YOGA and I had known about it, always saying I would do it but I just felt like I did not have the time or the confidence to commit. I was afraid to start and then give up because of not seeing results or the pain in my hip or leg being too great. The final straw came sadly on January 1, 2014. My cousin's 7-month-old daughter lost her battle with cancer. I was devastated for her and I spent the day on the couch in tears. I had already said I was going to try to do better for myself

in 2014 (I said that every year) but after this tragedy which followed a traumatic few years for me, I finally said enough. Starting on January 2, 2014, I made drastic changes to how I ate, how I did housework (no more lazy shortcuts), and how I lived. I have always been a fairly confident woman when I wanted to be but now I was going to let it all out. And I started DDP YOGA. I have done DDP YOGA every other day at my own pace for the past six months. I was 288lbs when I started this journey and now I am 231lbs, 100lbs less than I was in the hospital delivering my daughter. I still have trouble with some moves because of my own personal injuries but I love how comfortable DDP makes me feel in my own skin. When I fall, instead of giving up, I get back up. When I need to take a break, I just take one. I don't feel the pressure of other fitness programs to push myself to the brink. When that sentiment is put out there, people feel like if they don't push themselves too far it won't work. I am here as proof that you don't have to kill yourself to get where you want to be. DDP YOGA has changed not only my weight, but my pain management. I stand up straighter, I can run faster, and I can keep up with my daughter, who is now the most active child I have ever encountered in my entire life. My quality of life has changed drastically and I don't think I would be sitting here with a new outlook on life if it was not for DDP and DDP YOGA. !Thank you for the opportunity to share my story.