Pastor’s wife, military wife, mother, daughter, sister, college graduate, teacher, Mexican-American and former soldier. These are the many identities of Maria Smith.

She felt selfish when she took on another: Weight-loss challenger.

“I just wanted to do something for me, but I thought about leaving to go to the gym and the kids being here. Women’s priorities are just different.” said Smith in her home, the Hamlet First United Methodist Church parsonage, on Thursday afternoon. “As a woman, you always put your family before yourself. I had such a hard time even sending my entry in. But as you can see, they’re doing fine.”

Indeed, Smith said her four children - Angelica, 21, Wesley, 15, Christian, 8, and Solomon, 5 - along with her husband, Rev. Adolph Smith, are her “biggest cheerleaders.”

“They keep me motivated and empower me,” said Smith. “They’ll ask me ‘How did it go, Mom?’ Or the other day, my little one, Christian, said ‘You look really nice Mom.’”

With that recollection she smiled proudly, and put her hand over her heart. Smith is currently three pounds away from reaching her 20-pound weight-loss goal.

Family has always been the backbone of her eclectic life. The second of six children, Smith’s father, a school custodian, and her mother, a homemaker, wanted her to have more opportunities than they themselves had been given.

After a childhood of moving from place to place (13 moves by the times she was 16), Smith left home at the age of 17 to help support her family and earn money for her education by joining the Army.

“I wanted to help my family buy a house so they could finally settle down,” she said. And Smith did that - but she, herself, kept on moving.

After getting married at the age of 20, Maria earned her college degree and began living and traveling all over the country - Washington, Illinois, California and North Carolina - with her husband, who was a Navy chaplain at the time.

“ As a military wife, I had to do many things that I thought I could never do alone, but only by God’s grace, we all survived,” said Smith. “And it’s a good thing. I get to re-start and renew; every new situation is an opportunity to begin again.”

One day, she realized that she needed to re-think the way she took care of her body.

“My sister was having a baby, and I almost chose not to go because I had gained weight and I didn’t want my family to see how much I had gained,” said Smith. “I almost jeopardized seeing my niece because of my own insecurities.”

Smith recently wrote a poem that details all the ways those same insecurities have taken some form of control over her life.

“The diets, the pills, the carbs, the teas, the drinks, the scales, the counting calories,” Smith wrote. “I’ve tried them once, and some even twice, the protein shakes, the grapefruit juice, the good advice. The weekly weigh-ins, the cleansing, the fast, the subliminal music, the resolutions that don’t last...The clothes purposely bought two sizes too small, the yo-yo dilemma that makes no sense at all...”

With the support of her family, her church and her community, Smith said she is taking all the information given to her by trainer Richard Ethridge and nutrition educator Amy Hamilton - and creating a new way of life for her and her family.

Smith said her body is like an old friend. One that she had neglected to keep in touch with. One that she had neglected.

“But that was then and this is now,” she wrote. “To myself and to my family I have made a vow, to stop my foolish ways, and be healthy outside and in; to stop wanting to lose, but rather to win. To live life and be whole, to ‘taste life’ and not wait. Because good health is better than anything served on a plate. I thank God for this chance to make a change in me, So that I can finally be everything he created me to be.”