When Liliana Gomez was diagnosed with vertigo at age 25, she decided she needed to do something about her health. Over the course of the next 12 months she lost 80 pounds and 25 percent of her body fat, and has maintained her new size for 6 years. This is how she did it.

In 2010 I was diagnosed with vertigo, a condition that causes dizziness and is associated with nausea and unbalance. I was 25 years old and up until that point had been living an unhappy life. Ever since I was young I struggled with my weight and eventually reached a point where I weighed 232 pounds.

After my diagnosis I said to myself, “I’ve been through a lot. It’s time to learn to love myself and take action.”

At that point I was not exercising or eating healthy, and I was drinking every weekend and smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. So I started going to a gym in Houston, where I was living at the time, and trained with John Kennedy, a fitness instructor who specializes in a type of training he calls “hybrid athletics.” The workouts combine elements of bodybuilding, running and other cardio, and exercises that build balance and flexibility.

Liliana Gomez air split
Liliana Gomez

John started off my training slowly to increase flexibility and mobility. We incorporated things like lifts and squats, but also body movement like calisthenics. That’s when I really started seeing a difference in my weight—I lost more than 20 pounds in the first month of training. More importantly, John made me think about focusing on my health, not just physically, but mentally. I wanted to get healthy from the inside out.

Related: 8 Most Effective Exercises for Weight Loss

About three months into my fitness journey I started gradually making healthier food choices, too. My motto was to make at least two healthy choices each day—that’s the advice I give everyone now, since it worked so well for me.

So instead of eating a burger with fries when out with friends I’d order salmon with veggies. Or maybe I really wanted the burger, so I’d replace the fries with a side salad. Make two healthy choices like that every day, and then eventually you make more and more healthy choices.

Now, I focus on what John calls the “qualitarian” lifestyle—choosing quality food and paying attention to what you put in your body. It’s a lot of greens, grains, nuts, superfoods, and raw foods.

Liliana Gomez weight loss story
Liliana Gomez

The dizziness and nausea that come with vertigo made working out hard. At first I had to hold on to the wall for balance so I could walk, or grab onto a chair. I’ve learned what triggers it over time—quick head movements up and down, certain fragrances in soaps and perfumes, unhealthy foods like red meat and sugar, and lack of sleep—but at first it was really, really bad. But I told myself that vertigo wouldn’t stop me from living a healthier life.

It’s tough for me, but I’ve learned how to make it work. When I’m doing squats, before I bend down I feel the dizziness. But I use mental strength, proper form and technique, and do the squat. Then I take a step back and do it again.

Liliana Gomez strength
Liliana Gomez

While losing weight is not a cure for vertigo, it did help with the dizziness; I don’t have to hold onto the wall so much anymore. But even if I am feeling dizzy, I keep working out, but mindfully. If it’s really bad one day I might just do an exercise that’s not so intense, like yoga. I can’t just say, “Oh I’m feeling dizzy today, I’m not going to do anything.” If I thought that way, I’d never have gotten to where I am now.

When I first started losing weight I set both short and long-term goals for myself to stay motivated. Short-term, I wanted to lose 20 pounds by a certain day, I wanted to run my first 5K, and I wanted to do the Tough Mudder, which is a 13-mile run with 20 military obstacles.

About 3 years after I started losing weight I completed the Tough Mudder. Everything I did to get and stay healthy, like the mental strength I had built up, helped me get through it. It’s that same mental strength that helped me get through my workouts when I first started.

Liliana Gomez tough mudder
Liliana Gomez

Related: This Woman’s Seizure Disorder Didn’t Stop Her From Losing 150 Pounds

After I had worked with John for a while, I signed up for his year-long trainers class. In 2014 I had the opportunity to open up my own gym in Brownsville, TX, which caters to people who’ve been through significant weight loss like I have. I focus on form, technique, mobility, and flexibility. I help my clients get in shape for their own health, and also for the people who love them.

I’m still working on my long-term goals. They’re always changing and now include both personal goals and goals for my business. I want to expand my gym, to be healthy, to maintain my weight loss, and to someday have children and grandchildren and be there to see them grow up. I want to be 89 years old and still active and healthy.

The article This Woman’s Vertigo Didn’t Stop Her From Exercising And Losing 80 Pounds originally appeared on Prevention.

From: Prevention US