My Story

Spreyton22K

Hi everyone! I have been trying to pluck up the courage for some time to introduce myself and put my story out there for others. In doing so I may to hopefully help those with similar struggles and maybe get some support from what seems to be an awesomely eclectic group of motivated, inspirational and damned funny people here on this site.

My name is Karen, I'm 48, 5'5", have a wonderful husband who is working hard on his own weight loss journey and 2 beautiful children, well no longer children but young grown-ups a married daughter of 26 and a son 23.

Over the years my weight wasn't really an issue till 1991 when I was put on some 'HEAVY' medication then the kilos piled on so bad, I basically more than doubled my weight up to a horrendous 126 kgs (277.2 pounds) I was on this cocktail of drugs for 7 horrible years till I finally said no more (they weren't helping anyway). It took 4 years for my own metabolism to even begin to be bothered to work again and slowly I started to lose weight.

By 2003 I was back down to about 68 kgs (149.6 pounds) but by this stage had been diagnosed with a severe chronic pain illness and my weight has fluctuated up and down from that point on till August of last year. After a really severe honest talking to myself i realised I was drowning my sorrows, depression and pain with a diet that was just making my life more miserable so I got tough with myself.

Right here and now I am the lightest I have ever been at 53 kgs (116 pounds) and have lost 21 kgs (46 pounds) since August of last year. It has been really tough - every day is a challenge and the pain makes this journey even more difficult (feeling tired and stressed makes me long for a junk fix).

I was wondering if there were any other people who can relate to the following problems I am REALLY struggling with - 1. Borderline Eating Disorder it's been a life long problem (my family was extremely abusive in all ways and a fav mind game was to tell me how fat I looked even though looking at photos I am extremely thin) Now everyone keeps telling me I am looking good but all I see is a big blob of fat and I would really like to lose another 10 pounds, I don't think that for my height and build that would be too light. 2. How to keep motivated with a quite restrictive diet because alot of food seems to really flare up the pain response. Finally problem number 3. - Is it possible to tighten up a stretched out body like mine at my age - poor thing has been thru the wringer and out the other side and the droopy skin is soooo blah - I honestly think I could make a floor length coat out of it. Maybe my body was the inspiration for the Silence of the Lambs coat.

I hope I haven't come across badly or pathetically - I would dearly love to hear from anyone with similar problems, stories etc and how they have managed to overcome, live with it, deal with it, whatever. And it would be especially nice to make some friends at this site for mutual support.

Cheers to All!!! And Success on your own Journey.