Your Story
 

I found a thread (now closed) that was totally devoted to your weight gain/loss stories. I was so excited, only to find it was closed, so here's a new one!!

My name is Amanda, I prefer to be called Mandi. I am 32 years old and have struggled with body image confidence all my life. I wouldn't say I was overweight throughout my childhood or teenage years. (Back then I would have, but when I look at pictures now, I wish that I could have been more pleased with myself) However, when I was 17 I got pregnant with my first daughter. I was approx 120-125lbs when I got pregnant and when I delivered her I weighed 212lbs.. I did have toxemia with her that attributed to some of the major weight gain, but mostly poor diet choices on my behalf. About a year after her birth, I was finally back down to approx 130lbs and was very happy with myself. But eventually life happened, a very abusive and failed relationship with my daughters biological father, the loss of my grandfather, break up after break up, just lead to me to a spiraling path of terrible choices. I was eating like crap, drinking more than I should have, and not nearly as active as I would have liked to have been. Until January of 2010 I had been able to keep my weight between 160-180lbs. Then I got pregnant with my second daughter. At delivery I weighed 207lbs. It was after the birth of my daughter in August that I really looked in the mirror and wondered where I had gone. That December, we hosted the K9 Group (DH is a police officer) Christmas party at our home. I had seen advertisements for IP in our local newspaper and DH mentioned that another handlers wife had had HUGE success with the program. Soooo, I talked to her. I loved IP from the moment I started it in February 2011, but after the sudden death of my uncle and some major issues with my teenage daughter I lost my way. But I'm proud to say that I am back, committed more than ever, and even have my DH joining me this time!!! I've been back on plan for 1 week now, I've stuck 100% to protocol and become a 3fatchicks junkie. I'm on here looking for ideas, tips, hits, and recipes as often as I can. You ladies and gentlemen are my inspiration! :hug:
Today (my tomorrow as I work third shift) will be my first official weigh in, and I'm super stoked to share my results with you all!! :flow2:

Hi Mandi,
I closed the thread yesterday by accident. I apologize for that. Thank you for starting a new one. I didn't get to it yesterday. Thank you for sharing your story.