My earliest memory of weight loss was when I was 8 years old and my grandmother took me to join Weight Watchers. At the time, I felt like I was the fattest person I knew. In all honestly, I probably weighed about 90 pounds - but if you remember women from the 50s (both of my grandmothers time periods) appearance was very important - too important. My mother was put on diet pills when she was 12, and has struggled with the issue of her weight all her life. She's now 56 and still dieting, even though she only weighs 120 pounds. As a result of her childhood and teens she wanted to make sure that I never suffered with the issues she did. The problem was that the women who did that to her, were doing it to me, and I didn't want to upset her. Another consequence is that she never made an issue of the food I ate. While her intentions were good, the downside was that I never learned healthy eating habits.
In my teens I was always self conscious of my weight - again - I only weighed 120 when I was 15, but thought I was a cow 
so I continued all sorts of diet attempts. Weight Watchers, Atkins, Grapefruit diet, cereal diet, jello diet, SlimFast, pills, even Zenecal - which leaves "oily residue" when you have gas!!! anyway, you name it I tried it.
When I got married I was a size 14 and weighed 165 lbs. I looked good (voluptous is the term I liked to use) and my husband loved (and still does) me. After my 2nd child was born I ballooned up to 200 lbs and couldn't seem to break through. I'd diet for a while, have success and then go back to doing it "on my own" and regaining the weight I had lost. I felt like I would be struggling with my weight my entire life.
In 2004 I decided I was tired of struggling with my weight and began researching gastric bypass surgery. I checked with my insurance, and it was covered. I checked with my doctor who, while not supportive, had seen me struggle with my weight for years - the only caveat was that I had ot be at least 100 pounds overweight. I was already 65 over my ideal weight (of 135) so I began working in earnest to gain the additional 35 pounds. We all know how easy it is to gain weight and by living on fast food twice a day and eating whatever I wanted, within 3 months I packed on the requisite 35 pounds to make my official weight 235. Yay me.
The downside of this weight gain was reflected in an annual checkup I had in August 2004. My doctor was so worried about my blood results that he demanded I come in to see him. Bad cholesterol was up, good cholesterol was down - everything that was good was bad and everything that was bad was elevated! He spoke with me in earnest this time regarding gastric bypass including requesting that I investigate the downside and negative results from this surger. I took his request to hear and realized that post GBS was not a lifestyle I would ever be able to live with. Not even a glass of wine at Christmas? No way! I realized I needed to gain control over myself once and for all and joined Weight Watchers (for about the 42nd time) in September 2004.
When I joined, the Core plan had just been introduced and really seemed a lifestyle I could follow and I have. I've lost 65 pounds and am counting. I've fallen off program a couple of times, but have picked myself back up and continued on. My goal is to make Lifetime, and to stop paying Weight Watchers my weekly meeting fees! If you're tired of being overweight, and your health is going down hill, please take control of your life. Do not let food control you anymore!
