Hi everyone,
Thought I would take the opportunity to introduce myself to the rest of the group. My name is Amy, I am 28-years old, I am 5ft 5, not been brave enough to actually weight as of yet and I live in Cardiff.
Just to tell you a little about my journey to date:
During my childhood I was always on the larger side. Everyone came with the old cliche that it was 'puppy fat' and that I would grow out of it. Well at the age of 16 i still had the so called puppy fat so decided to join weight watchers where i discovered i was 11st 7lb. Between the ages of 16 and 21 I managed to lose a respectable 3st and 7lb
maintaining my weight at 8 stone
. When I was 21 me and my husband, then my fiance moved to Orkney, where my health took a massive decline because i became paraplegic. Despite this i managed to maintain my weight for a further year until I was 22 years old.
When I was 22 years old we embarked on an IVF journey which last two years. During which time I reacted very badly to all the medication which resulted in a very rapid increase in my weight. Over the two years i gained 8 stone! I now weighed a staggering 16 stone!! double my weight at the start of our journey. After two years of failed attempts, and because of my decline in health we decided to give up on treatment. Once again I decided I needed to embark on a weightloss journey and fast.
Repulsed by the sight of myself I joined scottish slimmers, as it was my local slimming group as we lived in Orkney at the time, and once again embarked on a weightloss journey. Within a year I had lost 8 stone
, now weighing in at a respectable 9 stone
. This time I was left with an unsightly amount of excess weight, I had a little before from previous weightloss and treatment but nothing like the amount I was left with now.
My husband and I moved to Cardiff in South Wales 5 months after the end of treatment for a fresh start. Two days after moving we both applied to Cardiff University and become adult learners embarking on undergraduate courses. We are just about to go into our third and final year. I have found it somewhat stressful to juggle full time education with home life. As a result mealtimes quickly become about convenience, in particular i have found myself turning to things like yogurt flapjack and kidding myself it was a healthy open. My weight seemed to be slowly increasing and those around me began joking about my 3 a day flap jack habit and that was before going home for an evening meal.
I am not as big as I was at 16 stone, my guess would be that I am about 12 stone
. I am too ashamed and embarrassed to weight myself. I am currently in a size 14 clothes
. I feel absolutely disgusted with myself
. It hasn't helped that since moving here I have made no friends
and my only comfort particularly when my husband is out is snacks in front of the TV. I go to uni and I didn't realise that i could be surrounded by so many people yet feel so alone. I am often the eldest in my classes by 10 years and being in a wheelchair and having a different support worker every 5 min pushing me around has made me somewhat unapproachable.
I've told myself that today is the first day of the rest of my life
. I am drawling a line in the sand. I need to make a change. If anyone was interested enough to actually read my journey then I would love to hear from you
. About your journey, where you are now and what you have found that has helped you?
I wish you all every success with your weightloss journeys, hope to hear from some of you soon x
x
Newbie
