Time to get down and dirty and really honest with you.

 

I have always had a weight problem.

 

When I was in 4th grade, I already weighed over 100 pounds.  I don't know what a 4th grader is supposed to weigh, but I know it's not that much.

 

By the time I was in high school, I ballooned to over 250 pounds.  Do you have any idea how mean kids are?  Were you one of those mean kids?  SHAME ON YOU!

 

When I was a sophomore in high school, my dad made me go on a medically monitored weight loss program called Optifast.  All I could eat was shakes and chicken soup (broth) that you bought from them.  The soup wasn't bad, but the shakes sucked!  I had to slam 'em down so I wouldn't gag.  I lost over 80 pounds the summer between my sophomore and junior year.   As soon as I was off of it, of course I gained it all back plus some.  I didn't do much about my weight during the rest of my high school carrier.

 

Then came college...Freshman 15?  HA!  Try the Freshman 50!  I had a psycho roommate my sophomore year (trust me...she was!) and it didn't help.  I never had a boyfriend in high school...so once I started truly dating in college, well, of course I lost some weight.  My mom told me during my freshman year, "I don't know what you're doing, but keep it up"  If she only knew *nudge nudge*.

 

After I came back home from college, I got a job at Maritz and a partime job at the St. Louis Zoo.  I was working an average of 12 hours a day 7 days a week.  I lost some weight, but still had to order my zoo uniform from the "big mans" section of the sears catalog on my grandmothers credit card (which the Zoo promptly reimbursed her for) because they didn't carry a uniform big enough for me.  I did this schedule for about 8 months.  It was too much for me (I was falling asleep on my job) so I went to special events only at the zoo and went back to my sedative life.

 

One day out of the blue, a co-worker of mine at Maritz came up to me and said, "I know this is short notice, but I am going to go join Weight Watchers tonight.  Do you want to go with me?"  Well, I didn't know her very well at that point and thought, "How dare you!"  But then I realized it must have taken a lot of guts to bring it up, and of course everyone knew I was huge (I was up to 330 lbs by then).  So I called my mom and dad (I was still living at home) and told them I was joining Weight Watchers and wouldn't be home right after work.

 

What a great journey that was!  It was when WW first started using the Points program.  I lost over 85 lbs in about 8 months.  I looked great!  I lost weight so fast that people didn't tell me I looked good anymore because they thought I was sick and didn't want to upset me. 

 

I left Maritz and started Turec Advertising and stayed on the WW program for about another 2 months.  Then I went through a break up and was heart broken.  I went into a slump and stopped going to WW ... honestly, I have no idea why.

 

I then met the guy that turned out to be my husband...then I got settled, started going back to my old ways (and weighs), got married and gained it back the 85 plus another 20. 

 

I talked Craig into going to a nutrionist with me.  We went once a week and met with her her.  She gave us our "diet" to follow.  You had to be a math wiz to figure out all the proteins, grains, dairy, blah blah blah...and it was all the way out in St. Charles.  I lost about 30 pounds, but we gave that up too. 

 

I tried doing the "Fatkins" Diet and it turned my pancreas inside out.  I was in so much pain, Craig had to take me to the hospital on Super Bowl Sunday (Thank Heaven for TIVO)

 

A few years later, we were blessed with becoming pregnant.  (I was diagnosed with PCOS when I was 26, this also contributes to and is caused from obesity)Now I'm 340 pounds AND carrying a child.  SURPRISE SURPRISE, I got gestational diabetes.  I had to go to a diabetes class, take medicine and prick my finger 3 or 4 times a day.  I didn't gain any weight the entire time I was pregnant, which was a BIG blessing. 

 

After the birth of Alex, I went part time and was at home with him 3 days a week.  Sitting on my butt...did I take him to the park and walk?  NO.  DUMB!  

 

So this brings me to now...

 

I have gone to my all time high of 372 pounds.  Most people would never guess I was that high...even me...but then I got some news from my doctor.  I was diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.  This can turn to cirrhosis of the liver.  Not only that, but I have high cholesterol, I'm borderline diabetic, and my ankles are giving out....weeeeeee!!!  Oh, did I mention my mom, grandmother and great grand mother all died of heart disease?  Did I also mention I'm only 34 YEARS OLD?

 

I joined back up with WW on 1/13/07.  This time for good.  I have to be healthy for my son...my husband...AND myself.

 

Check out my Journal & Blog for where we go from here....