Welcome to my weight loss journey!

This is a chronicle of my current (and hopefully last!) weight loss journey. I'm telling my story here in the hopes that it might help others, who have experienced the same struggles, realize that there is hope and a light at the end of the tunnel. For me, that light is Weight Watchers. I began living the Weight Watchers lifestyle in August 2005 and, as of this writing in January 2006, have lost a total of fifty pounds. I'm by no means at the end of my journey, but for the first time I believe I will reach my final destination.

My story... Though I've been heavy most of my life, I didn't come into this world as an exceptionally large baby nor did I develop any specific health issues in those early years which would have led to a life of obesity. As a matter of fact, I started life as an average middle child, in an average middle-class family. The picture above, taken when I was about three, shows just how average I was. Not too fat, not too skinny...just average!

Family Christmas letters describe me as happy-go-lucky and, for the most part, I believe that's how I spent the first years of my life. Nothing terribly exciting happened. My Great-Grandmother helped to take care of me in those years between birth and kindergarten while both of my parents worked as educators. She did introduce me to the delight of sugar sprinkled on corn-on-the-cob and hot oatmeal swirled with butter and brown sugar, but I hardly think that was the cause of my future weight issues. However, somewhere along the line, I did become a worrier. Those who know my mother and maternal grandmother might say that I was predesposed to this particular affliction, but I took it to new heights. By the time I was in fifth grade, I had become what kind people would say was chunky and I had developed the beginnings of ulcers. At this same time, I went on my first diet taking only half a sandwich to school in my lunch box.

The years between fifth grade and high school graduation were spent growing in size and shrinking in self confidence. Issues with friends in junior high, troubles dealing with puberty, and living in the shadow of an exceptionally talented and intelligent older sister, quickly took their toll on my self image and self esteem. By graduation, I was no longer chunky or pleasingly plump...I was fat! And, I worried about everything. Give me a list of symptoms in the morning and I'd develop the disease by sundown. I was lonely, scared, and eating for comfort. Food was a friend who was always there.

Not knowing what I wanted to do with my life, I enrolled at the University of Arizona and began my eight year college career. Somewhere between the College of Anthropology and the College of Education, I decided I wanted to tend bar. I found a local trade school, enrolled, started classes and dropped about twenty-five pounds in two weeks. I got a glimpse of what the world was like from a thinner perspective and I liked it.

Bartending, teaching bartending, and bar hopping became my new liefstyle and, though not thin, I was able to keep the weight at bay long enough to meet the man of my dreams. However, by the time we were married my weight was on its way back up. Through those first tumultuous years of marriage, then years of infertility issues, my weight continued to climb. By the time our son arrived, I had gone from fat to obese and what was left of my self esteem had vanished.

I continued to use food for comfort as I dealt with the trials and tribulations of parenthood and marriage. Emotional eating and yo-yo dieting became a way of life. I tried every diet from low-fat to low-carb, Atkins to the Zone, and even one go'round with Weight Watchers, but nothing had a lasting effect. By July 2005 I had ballooned to my highest weight yet. The picture below was taken that summer at my mother's 70th birthday party.

Then in August 2005, my mom wanted to try Weight Watchers again and she wanted company. I definitely wasn't interested and came up with all the excuses I could, but maternal guilt is an amazing thing. So, on August 16th we attended our first meeting and my true weight loss journey began.

I've been blessed with an incredible support system - my Weight Watchers leader and staff, my Second Chance sisters and Baddy Buddies on the Weight Watchers Message Boards, my parents, and my wonderful husband who is taking this journey with me and finding his own success along the way! I hope that by sharing my story in these pages, with all its ups and downs, successes and failures, I might help others along their way to a happier, healthier life.

Again, welcome. I hope that you will find here just the right mix of encouragement, motivation, advice, and knowledge to help you reach your own weight loss destination. Good luck and let me know how it goes!

Here I am with my husband and son,
three months into my journey and thirty pounds lighter!

Here I am, March 2006, almost sixty pounds lighter!

It's all about making choices and learning to balance the outcomes!
March 2003 - March 2006

UPDATE: 60 pounds gone, as of March 21, 2006!
UPDATE: 70 pounds gone, as of May 23, 2006!
UPDATE: 80 pounds gone, as of May 30, 2007!

The Journey Continues...

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