(Hi Amanda! Hi everyone!)
Hey ladies! As I said, I'm Amanda, Manda, Mom, Honey, Babe, YOU, girl, trainer, whatever you wanna call me, I will most likely answer to!
I have stumbled over this board before a few years ago and lurked a bit but never joined. I've been a member of a few message boards in the past and found them to be wonderfully insightful and very helpful with some specific things I was dealing with at the time, so I am sure I will find the same here. I'm excited to jump in and join you all!
Let's see-about me...I am 30 years old, born and raised in central Alabama. I'm married to J my highschool sweetheart, mommy to O, my 5 year old daughter and human to my three kitties Emmie, Rox and TD (short for Tiny Dancer-she's the baby and she thinks she's either a puppy or a 3 year old boy-basically, she's insane and hilarious).
I'm a trainer for a bank antifraud software. Love my job. I've been in banking/training for about 7 years. I also do freelance photography. That was something that started as something to do while O slept when she was a newborn. I'd just take pictures because I didn't have anything else to do! It turned into something I got kinda good at. My best friend trusted me with her engagement photos about a year and a half ago and since then, I've been doing it for friends and family on the side. I absolutely love taking pictures!
About my weight-I've been overweight pretty much my whole life. I was a normal sized small child I guess-I really started to gain around 5 or 6 years old. I don't remember a point in my life where I can honestly say I was "thin". I think the smallest I ever achieved was when I was 11 years old and fit tightly into a pair of "relaxed fit" size 10 jeans. Other than that, I've always hovered from a 16 to a 24 in pants.
When I was 17, my father died of a heart attack. Oddly enough, he wasn't even overweight. He was a victim of genetics, salt, stress and smoking. All of those also reside in me. I am currently on meds for blood pressure, anxiety and cholesterol. I know that if I don't make some serious and permanent changes, I will die. It's true and it's honestly, just that simple. I'd like to see my daughter grow up and spend my golden years with my sweet husband, so I am beginning again to get on the track to being and staying healthy.
I've done many diets. Starting when I was 11, my pediatrician put me on 1600 cals/day (which is the summer that I wore those relaxed fit, but still tight size 10 pants with PRIDE!
), naturally, I gained most of that back. When I graduated high school in 1998, I was a size 16 and weighed probably around 180. Funny how I thought I was SO fat back then but would give anything to be there now...When I got married in 2000, I was at around 220 and a size 18 or 20. I remember getting upset buying my wedding dress because they ran 2 sizes too small and I had to get a 24. I thought-I'll never be that size. (Yeah, I made it to that size eventually). When I got pregnant with O in 2005, I was 255 lbs. When I gave birth, I was 280. A week after giving birth, I was 250! I was on cloud 9! Well-fast forward to Christmas Eve of 2007, I got on a friends scale and I had hit 294. Lots of stress from being a mom, comfort eating and binging had gotten me to that all time high.
I had tried LA Weighloss (with success as long as I was on it-once I stopped it all piled back on) and Weight Watchers (same situation) at this point and couldn't keep it off. I had and still have bad habits to break and truly, a sort of eating disorder to fight. I sleep binge. According to my mom, my dad did it and now my younger brother also does it. We wake up, eat and go back to bed without realizing what we've inhaled. I've been known to take in about 1000 cals in my sleep. I take meds to help me stay asleep, but they don't always work.
Anyway-back to Christmas 2007-I was a size 24 (tight!) at that point and felt like poo all the time. I hated myself in photos and just wasn't happy. I vowed to do something about it. I joined the local YMCA and put myself on a diet of moderation and cardio at least 3, if not 5 days each week. I started getting involved and walked my first 5k in December of 08. By the next year, I'd completed 6 5k's, but all of them walked because I was still too heavy to run. I lost about 30 lbs on my own. I did eventually lose momentum I went to the doctor in tears. I know I am addicted to food. He put me on adipex, a strong appetite supressant with amphetamines in it. It worked. I'd go ALL day without eating (note: not, not, not a good thing!), however, after about 6 mos, it lost it's potency. I'd lost about 20 more lbs and went off of it hoping I could keep on and do it myself. I kept working hard. I started a small group at my church for people to come to the Y 2 mornings a week and work out with me. One woman joined me everytime. We became great friends. She encouraged me and I still do the small group every week to this day.
Since the beginning of that journey on Christmas eve, I reckon I've probably lost a total of about 70-75 lbs and have gained back 45. I am starting again, today because I know I CAN lose it. I know if I work at it-it will work. So, with all of that said-thank you for having me! I look forward to starting this journey again with all of you! Here's to 2011 and getting healthy!
PS: Yes, I am a SUPER long winded writer-comes from the job of writing instructional docs all the time! lol