craazyquilt's Journal

Craazyquilter's Journal
Jul 04 2009 02:06

I'll be 64 in August 2009, and weigh 383 lbs as of last Thursday (June 26, 2009) in my doctor's office. I decided that this is the last straw for me and I absolutely have to do something about it. I suffer with osteoarthritis and my joints have been really painful these past few weeks. I actually had gained ten lbs from the previous doctor's appointment earlier in the year which was actually a surprise, but it explains all the extra pain I've been suffering...and fatigue. This is the most I've ever weighed, but I also have diabetes II, which is another reason I MUST lose this weight.

I started gaining weight after I had my tonsils out at age seven. People told me that my tonsillectomy didn't have anything to do with my gaining weight, but the same thing happened to my brother. My other brother and sister - neither had their tonsils out and neither gained weight until they were in their 50s.

I've tried all sorts of diets, even doctor-prescribed diet pills before they became a controlled drug. At age 14, I weighed in at 205 lbs. A doctor put me on diet pills and I started losing weight. I thought Wow! This is great! I feel wonderful and I'm not hungry and I have all this energy. Once my body got immune to whatever pill I was on, it didn't work anymore, and I started gaining weight. The doctor would give me a stronger one and I'd lose a little more. This went on for almost a year. I was in tenth grade and I began to get paranoid and emotionally unstable. I quit school and wanted to be transferred to a different school that I attended in eighth grade. I liked that one better, so my dad fixed up a car for my brother to drive both of us to and from the other school. The same thing happened to me there, only worse. I couldn't face people and had no self-esteem.  I was an emotional blob.

In that one school year I quit tenth grade twice. I had gone down to 156 lbs, close to my goal weight, which at that time was 125-130 lbs, but that didn't help my self-esteem after being on those diet pills. That was the year when we moved and I decided I would never take another diet pill. The following year I repeated the tenth grade at the new school and finally graduated in 1964 (instead of 1963). It also opened my eyes to how good the other schools were compared to the new one. It was the diet pills that clouded my vision of reality, and sense of worth.

Needless to say, my weight has gradually increased over the years. When I was in my early twenties, I lived alone for a few years. I was able to maintain my weight at 200 lbs, give or take a couple here and there. I watched what I ate and didn't allow certain “no-no” foods into the house. I had no one around me all day eating in front of me and tempting me. Then, after marriage, having a baby, and trying to work, take care of a house and a family, then a divorce, I lost track of dieting. The stress of being a single mom and all other stresses from then on got the best of me and all the diet plans I tried, I could never stay with. I'd lose 15 lbs and then the plateau would stay forever and the only thing that I lost was an interest in going on a diet.

I joined CC on Thursday, June 26, 2009, after my doctor's appointment and I'm glad to say that I've lost seven pounds so far. I realize that the pounds will not always be coming off at that rate, there will be times I will gain, and times when I will lose more. But even the plateaus won't be as hard because having all the information in front of me concerning nutrition, calories, activity chart, etc. will help me to keep up with my diet and nutrition plans.

I have talked too much, but I wanted you to know that on Thursday, the day I started CC, I promised my grandson pizza when we got home from the doctor's office. So with the pizza that I ate, plus three meals within the next three or four days consisting of chicken dumplings...listing everything I ate, and reaching around 3000 calories on two of those days, I still lost. I am restructuring my food intake and watching my nutrients closer, as well as calories. I've been able to find the calorie and nutrition information for such things as pizza slices, homemade dumplings, and things that don't actually come with a “label of nutrition facts” and that, in itself, is extremely helpful.

Start Weight: 383 lbs (June 26, 2009)
Entry on July 2: 376 lbs (Jul 02 2009)
Goal Weight: 149 lbs (Jun 23 2012)

Status as of July 2, 2009: Lost 7 lbs total, 234 lbs to go! A great start!

Status as of July 3, 2009: Lost 10 lbs total, 231 lbs to go!