Losing Weight Circa 2006

This is a repost of something I wrote in 2006 when I began the first successful weight loss program of my adult life. I thought it was valuable to take a look back now that I am in a similar mental place with my current weight loss. I'll be following up over the next week or so about what has been happening since then.

Losing weight is hard. Being fat is hard. Now, pick your hard.

I pick losing weight.

I have had weight issues since about sixth grade when my family moved to a new town right at the beginning of summer. I did not know anyone in town and spent most of the summer eating to stave off the boredom that came with my loneliness. That began a pattern in my life of turning to food to solve all sorts of emotional issues. I was rewarded for good deeds with food treats, anything from a simple desert to a special meal out at a restaurant. I was told to cheer up and have a cookie; it would make me feel better. (Note: I'm not complaining about my parents. Hi Mom. Hi Dad. I know you did not know better and just wanted to make me happy.)

I gradually gained weight through high school and then even more through college. I just wasn't sure how to make healthy choices and thought that a $0.29 hamburger was a good choice because it saved money! I could eat three hamburgers for just $1.00 and that was the cheapest dinner I could find. Well, besides the free pizza that you can always find on college campus! Eventually, my breakfast became a bagel with cream cheese, my snacks became a Snickers bar and Dr. Pepper, and dinner was a box of macaroni and cheese with tuna mixed in. Talk about healthy! There was not a single serving of fruits or veggies in my diet at this point. It is amazing what age will let one get away with.

Time Marches On

Believe it or not, I managed to get through to the end of my sophomore year of college and landed me a man! And not just any man, but just the man God wanted for me. I was approximately 170 lbs by the time we married a year later. He had big plans for us to live a healthy lifestyle and for me to lose weight. I had dreams of cooking great dinners like my mom had done with the prerequisite meat, starch, starch, veggies, and ice cream for desert. He thought I bought him ice cream because I loved him. Eventually, after a visit to my parent's home our first year, he realized I bought ice cream because it had always been around and that was what we were supposed to put in the freezer.

After being married for a year, I gained about 10 pounds by keeping up with him at every meal. Once I graduated from college the end of our first year of married life I accepted a position that required I travel out of state for an average of 22 days a month.

Life on the Road

Imagine having someone else pay for all of your food for seven years... that was my life. I had an expense account and that meant appetizers, entrees, deserts, and alcoholic drinks at just about every dinner when I was on the road. Had my job not been as physical, I would have gained a lot more than the 30 pounds I did in those seven years.

Finally though, I am ready to start our family and know that change is necessary to be the kind of mother that I want to be. I joined Weight Watchers on January 2, 2006 and am learning to eat for my own health and not to use food as medicine for my emotional ailments.

(Picture at the top is from the week before I wrote this letter. It was taken on a trip to DC in which I was physically miserable from all of the walking. My body just couldn't handle it.)