,My name is Barbara, and I am a 43 year old housewife/mom. When I'm not busy cooking, cleaning, taking care of my family's needs, and running errands-I work part-time as computer data entry operator.
The reason I decided to join your wonderful forum is because I have been struggling with my weight ever since I was a child. I succeeded for many years until I became pregnant with my first child, when I gained 60 happy pounds
. A few weeks after delivering my first born, I marched over to Weight Watchers, and lost the excess weight. I was doing very well as long as I attended the meetings, and measured my food etc... But after a while, I slacked off, and stopped attending the meetings. Not surprised, the weight slowly creeped up again- even though I was taking daily walks with my daughter. Then I became pregnant with my second child, and gained an additional 30 pounds. I realised that I was not going to succeed unless I resumed attending the Weight Watcher meetings and eating healthy meals. Unfortunately, this time around it was apparent that I was not committed to losing weight, because I kept going off plan, making excuses left and right to not attend meetings, etc... So I left Weight Watchers. Although I briefly returned a few years later- but losing weight became so difficult. I would spend literally weeks trying to lose 3 lbs. Week after week of being good, and following the program did not result in weight loss. Depressed, and angry at myself, I walked away from Weight Watchers. I could not justify paying people to tell me week after week that was gaining weight instead of losing it. I decided that I was going to go back to basics, eat healthy, exercise at least 30 minutes a day, and see what happens after that. I ran on our treadmill 5 - 6 days a week for 45 minutes.After doing this for 2 years, I still did not get results
During that time, I noticed that I was feeling very wierd. I was limiting my calories & fat, and not losing weight, I felt like I was constantly walking around in a fog, and I was EXHAUSTED. I knew something was wrong, so I went to the doctor for a checkup. While at the office I begged to have my hormones tested. I wanted to make sure my thyroid was functioning well. At first my doctor was reluctant to test me because 95% of his patients that claim to have a slow thyroid are simply not exercising or eating right. In my case though, after a simple blood test, my doctor told me that my thyroid was indeed underactive, and he immediately put me Synthyroid (sp?) for the rest of my life. Three years later, I feel great. Although I have yet to lose all the excess weight - I am not giving up. I still jog/run 6 times a week, and I have incorporated weight resistance as part of my daily routine. Ever since I started using weights, I have lost inches and look slimmer. The only thing lacking from my life is a place where I can go for support, to to hear (and learn from) other people's experiences, and share my own experience with everyone.
Thank you for taking the time to read my story. I hope your eyes do not hurt from all the reading
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