Hi all!
Just turned 49 and I'd really like to have escaped obesity once and for ALL by my 50th b-day (next January). Yikes! 50!
I'm a happily married SAHM of two really wonderful girls, ages 13 and 16. I'm really blessed in spite of the fact that I suffer from moderate depression/anxiety which I can manage for the most part tho' you can pretty much count on me to drop out from the world one week of every month. I'm peri-menopausal too so I get to experience the joys of hot-flashes and mood-swings.
I never had a weight problem until I had my first baby at 32 (even though you couldn't have convinced me before that that I didn't have 20 lbs. to lose because of the brain-washing of our thin-obsessed culture!). Was married one year when I had my baby girl and gained 75 lbs.! Never lost that weight (tried and tried desperately) and had my 2nd babe at 35. Only gained 15 that pregnancy but after all was said and done, still needed to lose 75.
-Lost 80 lbs. from '95 to '96 using Slimfast and counting calories and walking then running 5-6 times a week plus strength-training 3 times a week. Gained a lot back (grrrrr!).
-Found Medifast in '98...lost 45 lbs. and kept it off for two years....then gained it all back.
-Found a Medifast doctor in 2000 and lost 80 lbs. in eight months. I realize now that I got about 15 pounds too skinny that time----you know how it is, you get addicted to the compliments and it's a little heady to actually BE a stick--a mere SLIP of a girl!
Fought tooth and nail but gained it all PLUS ten by Jan. 2003 when I found TSFL.
-From Jan. to the end of May I did great---I was a weight-loss STAR--followed MF perfectly, never deviating ONCE (ominous music). I'd lost 63 1/2 lbs. with only 12 1/2 till goal when my hair started falling out by the handfuls (like rats abandoning a sinking ship) :p Had to quit the full-fast and because I'm SUCH an all-or-nothing perfectionist and felt like a failure for not reaching goal (!!! can ya b'lieve it?! WHAT a head-case!), started gaining it back.
You should see my chart at that point:
up, then down, up, down, up, down...each up being a little MORE up than the last up...you know the drill. Struggle, struggle, struggle, all the while feeling the shame and very public failure and humiliation gaining it all back and THEN SOME. Gee, d'ya think I have a little transition/maintenance problem? It aggravates me just to even write this!
I've had so many restarts that I claim the crown of the Restart Queen.
-All of 2005 I languished in bloated despair reaching an all-time high of 223 (over the holidays) on my petite 5'2" frame. Being fat for me is TORTURE a living hell. My tiny little delicate feet can't stand it---literally. Achey-ness, tiredness, can't-tie-my-dang-shoes Fat Hell. I've been thin 4 times in the last ten years, and the difference in quality of life between fat and thin is, well,....there aren't even WORDS to express it!! I've been thin and I've been fat, and all I can say is that being fat IS NO WAY TO LIVE. That's why I'll NEVER give up trying to lose this (now 70 lbs.)weight!
Since the first of the year I've lost 13 (almost) painless lbs. making small, achievable changes, and not worrying about doing MF perfectly (just doing my best)....didn't eat in the evenings after 7:00, drank plenty of water, slowly incorporating walking, etc. Last fall I was diagnosed with Pre-Diabetes and that was my wake-up call. My cholesterol is borderline-high (218) and my blood-pressure was a little high. since Jan. with my small changes, my bp is back to normal (120/75) (don't know what my
blood-sugars and cholesterol are doing since the test costs about $400).
On March 31st, I decided that it was Do Or Die time and I decided to bite the bullet and commit 100% to Medifast protocol for 30 days come heck or highwater! I felt like 30 days was a doable time period that I could actually DO. I know this program backwards and forwards and I decided that it's time to pee or get off the pot!
Well, I've been sticking to the 5 & 1 like glue for 12 days now and hoping to find others here in the same boat I'm in cuz MISERY LOVES COMPANY, don'chaknow?! Seriously, I just need to know that I'm not alone.
Joy
Motto: The time will pass whether I diet or not.