Introduction to Me...Learn from my mistakes and successes

Not all that long ago, I was a fat girl.  I spent most of my adult life (and parts of my childhood) fighting weight.  I have lost close to 300 lbs over the last 25 years, not all at once, but 40-60 lbs at a time only to regain it again.  I have done Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem, Jenny Craig, SlimFast, South Beach, Atkins and a half dozen other diets that are cleanses for anywhere from 3 to 21 days at a time.  Each time I lost weight.  Each time I gained it back. 

At one point I had given up.  I was over 200lbs and my back hurt from carrying all the added weight. I had no energy, no will power, and no drive to work out.  I had a BMI of 32.  I had seriously contemplated just giving up altogether and just getting fat enough for bariatric surgery. I only had to make up 3 points in BMI to be eligible (at the time the cut off was 35. I believe now you can have a BMI of 30 to qualify).  Then something happened…I got pregnant.

Getting pregnant at 203 lbs was not the best nor healthiest way to start, but it was done.  I tried walking but started having contractions, so any hope of working out was dashed immediately.  I ate very healthy and gained only moderately through the first 7 months.  Just as all seemed like clear sailing, I ended up with toxemia, also known as pregnancy induced hypertension.  It was monitored and at 37 weeks it was determined that we needed to induce labor (my doctor, not the best with her bedside manner, told me we needed to terminate the pregnancy…termination and delivery are apparently synonymous in her book).  I ended up in the hospital and had a beautiful baby boy via caesarian.

I spent the next year heavy but in no pain. I got back to my pre-pregnancy weight within 6 weeks, but my dreams of breastfeeding to a size 6 was not going to happen.  When my boy was a year old, things changed dramatically.  My blood levels reduced back to normal and all my bones seemed to grind together all at once.  Particularly bad was my back. I couldn’t pick up my son or pull up my pants without sever and debilitating pain.  A visit to the doctor resulted in a cortisone injection in my SI joint, which alleviated the major pain but cause me some concern.  Utilizing cortisone regularly causes the ligaments to become brittle.  One shot was no big deal, but continuing on this path would be dangerous to my long term mobility.

That’s when I began my journey to a healthy me in earnest.  I wanted to take advantage of my ability to move to start to get healthy.  I cleaned up my eating.  I utilized Weight Watcher principles and purchased a work out program I could use at home (I had no clue there were babysitters at the gyms who would watch my bundle of joy while I sweated).  I worked all day, would come home, take care of my boy, put him down at around 9pm, and then I would start to work out.  It sucked.  I hated working out that late, but that was the only choice I could find.

I was writing for a magazine that I owned with my then husband and ended up doing an article on a local boutique gym.  At that point I had lost 30 lbs and still had a way to go to be where I thought was healthy. I interviewed a man named Sherman, who was a manager and a trainer.  He informed me about the KidsClub (there are such things!) and I signed up immediately.

I have been an active member of a gym since that day over 8 years ago.

But my story doesn’t end there.  There were so many things that I had yet to accomplish, and still so many things that had yet to go wrong to get me to where I am today.  I will continue to share as I blog, but I wanted you to know that I am not a skinny girl who has always been skinny spouting advice on how to be thin.  I have struggled. I have hated myself for so many reasons: lack of ability to control my weight being the primary personal sin. 

There is the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel…education is the first step in gaining control over your weight.  I am going to cover everything from diet (duh!), supplements, oil consumption, carbohydrates, PH balance, cleanses, labs, doctor visits and so much more…I am a nutrition junkie.  I make it my personal business to know everything I can about food, nutrition, and exercise to do my best to reverse the aging process and improve the quality of my life, which I hope to be as long as it is healthy. I have a lot of things planned before I go visit the crematorium. I need to be mobile and active to accomplish all I want to do and see in this life.  

Knowing what to do to promote these goals is important.  The will power to accomplish this lies in knowing WHY these recommendations are important.  This is not a one size fits all recommendation.  I did not get here overnight. You will pick and choose the things that make sense for your life. You will ignore or contemplate the rest until such time that those recommendations may make sense for you too. 

My struggle with weight, and ultimately health, was not an overnight success. I have spent the last 8 years working, learning, and struggling to get to where I am now.  I am happy.  I am below the goal weight I put on my drivers license some 15 years ago.  I am able to maintain it with moderate exercise and conscientious food choices. Nothing hard.  Nothing dramatic. It can work for you too…