This is a picture of my top weight–which was over 350lbs…when you get that heavy, you quit getting on the scale! I am only 5’2″, so I was basically as wide as I am tall! I have struggled with food and fat all of my life – my mother took me to the doctor when I was three years old to find out why I wasn’t walking like the other kids my age…she was told that I was so heavy that my little legs had a hard time holding me up! (in the 50’s, a fat baby was thought to be a healthy baby…and boy, was I healthy!) My mother finally took me to a diet doctor in the second grade who put me on diet medication; I remember my father getting mad saying,
“I just don’t understand. You give her that medicine and she eats twice as much!”
Of course, I was always the fattest kid in school, weighing in at 175lbs in the 6th grade…by my high school graduation, I weighed 290 lbs.
But, in my adult life, I have been a relatively normal body weight four times….going from a size 32 dress to a size 6 dress.
I know! Hard to believe that the pictures on the right became my fat pictures! I lost much more weight and happily wore a size 6 dress!
How did I do it? Easy! A weighed and measured, sensible eating plan, no refined sugars and no flour of any kind. Period. People like me just cannot deal with the cravings that processed foods bring on…but once I got the offending items out of my diet, it was not so difficult….plus, I had a lot of support.
Exercise was a big part of it, but I was astounded to discover that I really enjoyed exercising! As the weight came off, I discovered the pure joy of movement! I know! “Margie the Gym Rat!” How I loved it!
What the hell happened?!!!
Something very, very simple….
I experienced a feeling…
Yes, a feeling…
A bad one!
I got mad at my husband and no longer attended my support group meetings…..”Danger, danger, Danger!!!”
I literally gained 70 lbs in three months….and that was only the beginning.
I am now close to my top weight. …but now I have a new problem to deal with. I was recently diagnosed with a weird lung disease – my doctor’s PA had never heard of it and I have a healthcare background and never heard of it, either. I now see a pulmonary specialist and take a boatload of medication that includes 4 different inhalers….hard to get exercise. I miss going to the gym and hanging out with my buddies.
So, I am going to be trying something new…will write more soon!
I sure hope that with the new support system that I am entering,
“the 5th Time’s the Charm!”
5thtimesthecharm 