new to mfp!

mary_susan

Hello, I just joined mfp last week and am really loving it so far. Here is my story. Growing up I was very active: a cheerleader, dancer, runner, basketball player, and tumbler. As soon as I graduated high school the weight piled on because I was inactive. Then I stumbled into a pageant that was a prelim for Miss America. It was a local pageant and I was overweight, a size 14 barely fit. I knew I had a lot of work to do, when I tried on dresses for the pageant none of them fit. I started jogging that August and pulled out an old workout vhs. Slowly, I dropped some weight. That January I went through an awful breakup and dropped about 20 pounds that month, putting me in the 180 range. I continued to compete in pageants during that time and dropped down to a size 12. I carry my weight all over so I have never looked "huge" at a 12. About a year later I became a vegetarian (been one for 8 years now!) I dropped a lot of weight that year between April and August. I was now in a size 6/8. Fast forward two years and I got pregnant and had a miscarriage at 3 months. I was sad and under a lot of stress, and got up to a 14 again, weighing in the upper 190's. The weight slowly came off over a 2 year period. I worked out a little more and generally tried to be more active. I started using the gym at my college and got down to 182. After a few more months I was down to 178. It took so long to lose those last few pounds, but this last November I was at 172 and working hard. Last summer I would run several miles of hills and the difference in my body from May to July was awesome. In November I started having tests done by my doctor and was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, which they thought was definitely Graves disease. I was put on two medications and between December 1st and January 31st I had gone from 173 to 195! It lierally felt like it happened overnight and it practically did. I just recently started drinking Herbalife shakes for breakfast and keeping track of my calories. I have also tried to be more active, which can be hard sometimes with Graves. I am now determined to come back better than ever!
My goal weight right now is 150.