anne_from_indiana
Mmmmm Food...
As I have read in other profiles, I am sure my story is not unique. I don't have a childhood trauma that caused me to turn to food; I just like to eat. My parents were sticklers for a clean plate, and I still follow this at 42. I like "comfort food," but I don't BINGE when I am having a bad day... I just like to cook, and I like to eat what I cook. And, I am not good at "healthy choices" -- YET!!!
The BEST Diet Was Painful
When I found out I was pregnant with my first child I weighed about 185 pounds. I was wearing a size 14/16, and I liked myself. I had a good self image and didn't mind the extra pounds. But I developed Gall Bladder problems and only gained SIX pounds the ENTIRE pregnancy!!! When my son was six weeks old, I had my gall bladder removed by laproscopy. My first question to my surgeon was, "When can I eat French Fries again???" I went shopping (and eating) the next day, six week old in tow.
Eating for Four
By the time my first born was six months old, I discoverd how fertile I was. Pregnant with baby number two, I took advantage of being able to eat during this pregnancy!!! I gained 80 pounds by the end of it.
Motivated to Lose it ALL -- Thanks to Redux
When my second born was five years old, I was disgusted with myself. I was 243 pounds and I was able to secure a prescription to Redux from my doctor. Then they yanked it off the market. I made my one month prescription last three months. I started working out and eating better. I lost a total of 70 pounds. ALL on my OWN! I was the Queen of Motivation! I started wearing a size 12 from a size 24! I looked AWESOME.
And then there were TWINS!!
During my successful weight loss--over the course of almost two full years, I divorced and remarried. I was on the fast track to real happiness... Then the doctor told me the reason I was so sick during the first few months of my new marriage and my third unplanned pregnancy... I was pregnant with twins. After watching my diet so faithfully for over a year, my old habits kicked back in, and I started eating as much as possible to ensure the twins would have good birth weights.
My body is Still Eating for TEN
I know this sounds crazy, but when I smell good cooking (ok, fill that in with yummy, very bad for you cooking) I am STARVING!!! I think the receptors in my nose tell my brain, "Hey I smell some food. See what you can do." And my brain tells my stomach, "Food. You need food. You are still nurturing embryos."
Yeah, ok, that is completely my imagination. I realize that. But somewhere in the electrical synapses of my brain, the message never got relayed that I am no longer pregnant with twins. That's my story and I am sticking to it.
For the past eight years (yes, the girls are eight now), I have steadily gained 10 pounds a year. Now I am at my highest weight of 265 pounds. I have a Boobie Do. (a boobie do is when your stomach sticks out farther than your boobies do) My thighs are enormous and I could barely fit in an airline seat in August. I have had to purchase new clothing and I am squeezing in clothes that look very bad -- only because I hate buying a bigger size...
Hope on the Horizon
My surgery is scheduled for March 7, 2008. I am wavering between nervous anticipation -- anxiety about the changes in my diet -- and terror that something weird is going to keep my surgery from happening at all. Like I developed a strange hairball in my colon and no one has discovered it yet or something....
