Why do you want to lose weight??

I have lost 171 pounds and I am working to keep the weight off because:

1. First and foremost for my health in general.

2. To hopefully not become diabetic like my mother was. I know it had to have played a major roll in the accident that killed her and my dad. She was the one that crossed the center line in the highway. The driver of the first car she hit said she was slumped over the steering wheel. The second car she hit head on. Enough said….it’s a long story.

3. I never want to be in the wheel chair ever again. I want to continue to walk and drive myself where ever I want to go. Which I could do neither of when I was so morbidly obese.

4. In hopes of never having to take meds for high blood pressure again.

5. To never have to sleep with the C-Pap machine on my head to make me breath because I had sleep apnea from being so large.

6. In Hopes of not getting the same breast cancer that killed my great grandmother. (I am her made over right down to her voice) Or any of the other cancers that my family has been riddled with through out the years. Yes obesity plays a big roll in if you have cancer or not.

I want to add here that yes it feels really good to be able to go shopping and buy clothes that really fit and look good on me now. It felt really good the day I walked into The Dress Barn for the first time ever in my life. I was standing there for a minute looking around deciding which way I wanted to go when the sales lady said to me “Hun, your size is over here.” It was the smaller clothes. That was the day I realized I had done it….I had lost the weight….I HAD arrived! I was floating on air. I will never forget that and how wonderful it felt.
But as far as wanting my hip bones to show. No thank you. Can you say “Scary Skinny”!! Scary skinny is just out and out U-G-L-Y and dangerous to do to ones self. I think I will pass.
I want to live and I want to live as healthy as I can what time I have left on this earth.

I wasn’t always big. I started having health problems when I was 23 and my son was 2. We didn’t know it but I had a brain tumor that was making my body act like it was just a hormone problem so the doctor was giving me massive doses of hormones that were doing no good at all. Long story short here I was gaining weight by leaps and bounds. My grandmother said you could see me swell and I looked like some one had a straw in my mouth blowing me up. By the time they did the surgery to remove the tumor I had a lot of weight to lose. Regardless of how or why I gained it I had to lose it just like everybody else. I had to cut the amount of what I was eating. I counted calories and I lost 174 pounds. But the weight came back.
After I had gained the weight back we found out that I have a non-functioning thyroid and it was causing me to gain.
I also have Fibromyalgia which causes fatigue and pain and made it really hard to exercise. I also have arthritis really badly and the weight was really grinding away at my joints causing severe pain.
I have had five foot surgeries and I now have artificial joints in both feet. I couldn’t even walk to the bathroom until my feet healed after each surgery. A friend of mine and my husband had to bring my food into me because I couldn’t get up to feed myself. Just sitting and eating all that time while I healed just helped add on the pounds.
My weight went up to 311 pounds and my blood pressure was out of control. I ended up in the wheelchair and had to ride around on a scooter. It was awful. My life was one big nothing.
I still have several health problems, particularly with my body chemistry. My blood chemistry is one big mess. I counted calories again and the weight started coming off. I reached my goal weight 3 years, 3 months ago and 2 weeks ago.
I realize that the battle with my weight will be an ongoing thing the rest of my life and I sure don’t want to gain it back a second time.
Since I have lost the weight I can now walk and drive myself wherever I want to go. I also am proud to say my blood pressure is now normal and I no longer have to take medication for it.
The amount of medication I was taking has been drastically cut. I had 3 pages of meds I took every day some more then once a day. Now all my meds are printed in bold print on one page.

Those are the reasons I lost the weight and I am working so hard to keep it off.
Anyone that thinks that they can’t do it, I am here to tell you, yes you can. You just have to want to do it, and then just do it.
Hang in there everyone we CAN do this together.
Loretta