Hi, everyone, I hope that you are having a great day so far. I will try to be as quick as possible, but I thought I would share my story. That way you can see where I struggle and maybe know that we are not alone in this. Growing up I was always a chunky kid, not fat, but just had a lot of muscle. My parents did not understand nutrition and so I was never raised knowing what to eat, how much, etc. I had some things happen when I was about 6 that stayed with me for life. The household I grew up in was stressful, emotionally abusing. I know that there is worse things that could happen, and there are worse situations out there. But where I was I did not feel it could get any worse. So as food was used as a reward tool, I turned to food. To help when I was sad, or when I was happy about something. The emotional problems only got worse. Eventually it came to a head when I was a senior. To give you an idea, my parents sent me to live with my grandparents my freshman year, so that I could lose weight (both my grandparents are skinny; my grandmother weighs 98n pounds). They started me on Weight Watchers which worked. I lost 15 pounds that summer. Which was not good enough for my dad, he also refused to help. So when I got home there was soda, ice cream and pizza. That is how much support I got. So then I gave up, I had no one believing in me. I did not know that I had to be the one to believe in myself. When I got to college there was no one to stop me and say hey, that is not healthy. I was on my own. So I gained weight. I was about 250 at this point. Then in 2011 I got married, the stress did not go away it only got worse. My husband has gone through 9 jobs in three years, and there was a period of about 4 months of no job or income of any kind between those jobs. I was 6 months pregnant and we were practically homeless, living in a RV that a boss lent to him. I was in a new area, and since I was pregnant no one would hire me... so that added to the stress. I then could not find a doctor to even see me. Finally, at almost 7 months pregnant I found a doctor that would see me. We were eating canned soup because that is all we could afford; and we did not qualify for food stamps because making 300 every two weeks was too much money. WIC would not work either, though I tried. So my husband would go days without eating to make sure that I would eat. This only made me more stressed, and very sick. I threw up so much that I lost 20 pounds in a month and had to be hospitalized. Finally I had my baby, but was still stressed because I had been in the hospital for almost a week, and my husband could not be there with me when I was home. So I spent the first night at home with my baby all by myself. We had no friends or family. After that he was fired again, so we went another month before he found a job. Then in December of 2012 I found out I had gallstones. I was in so much pain, and we did not have the money to get the surgery. In June of 2013 I found out I was pregnant again with our second child. My husband job was more stable, and so I did work at home and he went to work. I worked randomly on the side to bring in money. I could not have fried, spicy, or carbonation, which is hard because I love spicy, and I love soda. After my son was born in Feb of this year I had to wait four weeks and then have my gallbladder out. It was another 6 weeks before I was allowed to do anything. I have had very little soda, and no fried food. Yet, it is still hard for me to lose the weight. Even though the stress is not as much, the damage it caused to my body is still there. I have been to the hospital already for stomach issues. There are days where I have to stay next to the toilet because I could get sick at any moment. They have no idea what is wrong, I have been on several different antibiotics and they are not working. I was able to lose 30 pounds after I had my daughter, but after my son, it is like the weight just sticks.
I know that there are people out there that have it a lot harder, and I feel so bad for them. When I was in college I learned something; that most people that are obesely overweight are usually struggling through something. It is like anorexics, only the opposite, so instead of not eating obese people over eat (or do not eat the right foods). I am also not trying to offend anyone by saying any of this. I just feel that in order for us to move on, we have to take control back of our lives. For me, I had to forgive my dad, which is very hard, but I was never going to be able to take control unless I put it in the past. That is why I feel so much more confident about this time around. I have been on pills, on calorie restrictions, on WW, there is not much that I was not forced to try. The reason I am trying to loose the weight is for me. I want to be able to run with my kids at the park, I do not want to be having to go to the doctor because my weight is effecting my health. You do not have to post your story, unless you feel inclined to. If you do, or if you don't think about three questions. 1) Why now, 2) What is different 3) What got you here (stress, life experiences,) Life is stressful, but if we learn how to be healthy then hopefully we can turn stress into something good.