My story.....Obese since 2003

When I started dating my husband in December 2002 I was 172 pounds. That is 18 pounds over the "normal" BMI/WW weight of 154 for my height. I had started the year as a "normal" weight but by spring I was overweight. But by the beginning of the following year I would be obese, not to venture back into "overweight" except for a few short periods of time over the next 16+ years.

When we started dating, I was burnt out. Burnt out from working 12 hour days. Burnt out from house repairs. Burnt out from training for months at an end. I was ready to relax. My husband's eating habits were horrible. He liked to eat dinner at 9:00 at night. I'd go home because he didn't get home until 7:00 and then we'd meet up and I'd end up having a second dinner. And staying up late and drinking way more than I was used to, all I know is by the time I got back from France in early June 2003, I was 196 pounds.

August 2003

June 2004 - Newly engaged

In May 2004 we got engaged - I was 184 lbs by then and didn't lose any weight in the year before our wedding.

May 2005 Wedding

Hawaii honeymoon

Since I was almost 35 when we got married, we weren't going to wait to have kids. Honeymoon, work stress, stress of the thought of getting pregnant, I was 206 in November 2005 when I did get pregnant.

Last picture before I got pregnant - November 2005

I felt so ill my first trimester that all I wanted to eat was Ritz crackers and pasta for the first 13 weeks. And the last trimester was summer and I over indulged with ice cream. My last weigh-in at the OB I saw 249 on the scale. To this day I've told myself I don't ever want the scale to say 24_, which is part of why I'm lighting a fire under myself now.

2 weeks before she was born - July 2006

I seem to recall that I pretty quickly got back to my pre-pregnancy weight of 206, but when I stopped breastfeeding (at 6 months) the weight quickly came back on to 216.

I joined WW At Work that spring and pretty quickly lost I think 20 pounds, so got under 200 (Time #1)

Her 1st birthday - I got pregnant again a month later

I got pregnant again at the end of August 2007. I had the same 1st trimester food aversions and gained weight my first trimester. Unfortunately we lost the pregnancy at 13 weeks in November 2007. I was pretty desperate to get back to that pre-pregnancy weight as quickly as possible. I know I was about 196 at Christmas time.

July 2008 - I was pregnant again and didn't know it yet

I wasn't in a huge rush to get pregnant again, despite my age, and I was stressed about getting pregnant again, so I was 206 when I got pregnant again. Again I gained about 10 pounds in the first trimester. I was on modified bed rest from Weeks 22-25 and 28-36. I was very concerned about weight gain, so I really watched what I ate so I probably lost some weight. My last weight in at 39 weeks was 231. So yes, right now I am the same weight as I was 9 months pregnant.

March 2009 - 1 week before he was born

Same thing happened with my son - pretty easily got down to 206 (pre-pregnancy) and re-gained once I stopped breastfeeding. I was 216 at his first birthday (March 2010)  and joined WW At Work the next week.

March 2010 - His 1st birthday

In 11 months on WW I went from 216 to 181 - 35 pounds. (in Onderland time #2)

March 2011 - His 2nd birthday

 

At that time life took a turn in my husband got laid off from our company in March 2011 . We chose for him to stay home for 10 months to further his education on-line. Obviously money was a stress. We had always planned on moving in Spring 2012 and I was devastated to think that might not happen. I also asked my husband that I would like him to come up with new ideas to add to our menu planning. He chose to come up with these elaborate, not healthy meals. 2 meals in 10 months got added. I felt like I was at a restaurant and also felt like I needed to eat a lot because he had worked so hard. And then in January 2012 we figured that if he got a job in the next month, we could still feasibly move in spring/summer 2012. 2012 was spent with the stress of getting our townhouse ready to sell, finding a new house, moving, having 2 mortgages for 3 months, and settling into a town where we knew no one. At to top it off, we lost my mother-in-law in November 2012. In a period of 20 months I had regained the 35 lbs I had lost + 15 more. I was 231 when I re-joined WW on December 2012.

New Year's Day 2012- My 3rd 5K before taking a 13 month break from running

One of the "ah-ha" moments from Disney - November 2012 - 2 weeks later I re-joined WW

I lost 35 lbs in the first year (in Onderland time #3) and in July 2014 I received my 50 lb charm.

2014 was a fantastic year from a exercise stand point. I ran 21 races - I PRed 5K (31:30) and 10K (1:07) and ran my only official 1/2 marathon (2:32:30). But it was also the year we lost my father-in-law and my dad was diagnosed with cancer. I had pledged that I wasn't going to let his illness affect my health. Late September 2014, 2 weeks before my 1/2 marathon, I saw the scale hit 180. That was the beginning of the "end".

December 2013

March 2014 - His 5th birthday

1/2 Marathon - October 2014

Disney November 2014

When I gain weight I do it in leaps and bounds:

• In the 2 weeks after my 1/2 marathon I gained 5 pounds
• On November 1st we spent 9 days in Disney - another 5 pounds
• In January/February my dad's healthy really started to decline (adding to that, we had an Armageddeon of a winter in February and March) and on May 4th he was gone. I was probably about 200 at that point. We had lost 3 parents in 2 1/2 years.
• I rejoined WW in September 2015 at 203 lbs. But then I got bronchitis and was sick for a month - Next thing I knew I was 215 pounds by Christmas. And then I got bronchitis AGAIN in late January. By President's Day I was 224. Also during this time we were closing down my parents house, a process which took 18 months. While I missed my dad, packing up my childhood house was devastating. Life was in turmoil - my weekends were not my own, I was at my mom's house every Sunday, my house was a mess from all the stuff I was bring home. I did a 3-day Cleanse during President's Day vacation and saw 219.
• The "good news" was that from February 2016 - August 2017 my weight was pretty stable - I fluctuated from 219-224. In that period of time we remodeled our basement and family room and basic normal family and work stress.
• In August 2017 we went on a fantastic 2 week vacation Out West to Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. I hated all the pictures of me. Every.single.one. I gained a few pounds during the vacation, but dropped back to 224. But that fall my weight bounded back up to 231. I can't remember the exact time frame, but knowing me, 7 lbs probably came on in a month.
• I joined WW again at the beginning of 2018 and went diligently for 3 months, losing 5 lbs in the process. But I stopped going at the end of March 2018 because I was frustrated. I would lose the first 2 weeks of my cycle and then regain. It was just a viscious cycle. I have this fear that "perimenopause" won't let me lose weight, but at the same time I know if I don't lose it now, I never will be able to.

August 2015 - Back to 200

April 2016 - Disney Cruise - About 220

Arches National Park - August 2017

Back in front of the fountain at Disney - 50 lbs heavier

So here I am back where I started, or a little more. 233.2 on my scale on Saturday, 235.0 on WW scale.

But the fact that my weight had only fluctuated by 10-15 lbs in the last 3 years is not the worst thing in the world.

But now it is time to get it off again. 1 big pound at a time and if that means if takes 83 weeks, then it takes 83 weeks. In 83 weeks I will be 50.