Someone recommended this site to me and so far it looks like exactly what I need. Let me give you all a little info about me and what drew me here.
I am *celebrating* (yeah right) my 40th birthday today. I have been morbidly obese for all of my adult life, and it crept up on me starting when I was 18 years old during my first marriage. I am 5'2" and I now weigh 295 pounds. Yikes, it hurts just to say it. Anyway, my ex liked to keep me chubby, exploiting my weakness for food, to keep the men away. How nice of him to help ruin my health and my life because of his insecurity. He would tell me, "no dear, you're not getting fat," and feed me another Big Mac. I was such an idiot, but there you have it. Anyway, by the time I woke up and saw exactly what I'd done to myself, I was horribly overweight. I tried diets, but growing up in an Italian home gave me a love of food that is stronger than my will. I tried diet pills, 3 months on good old Phen-Fen landed me in ICU for a week when my heart stopped. Haven't done diet pills since. Tried Slimfast, tried Atkins, dropped about 20 pounds but sent my cholesterol through the ceiling and then Christmas came....
You see where I'm going with this and I'm sure alot of you have been down this same road that I can't get off of. I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes about 3 years ago, was put on medication for my cholesterol and more recently my blood pressure has gone up so there's medication for that too now. Here comes the fun part. At 30, I'd finally divorced my good for nothing ex-husband and started a new life by moving across the country (from New Jersey to Alaska). After learning how to survive on my own for the first time in my life, I met another man. A truly great guy who sees the me under the fat and loves me completely. Life can play neat tricks too. My new husband of 4 years now, is a full 16 years younger than I am. As I turn 40, I am doing my best to keep up with my 24 year old husband. For Valentines Day last year, my husband wrote me a poem, commissioned a photographer and put together a beautiful plaque with the poem and a picture of a rose in a wooden frame. It made me cry buckets, lol
I tried to think of a gift I could give him that would convey my love for him. I gave him the gift of my life, and I did the one thing he'd been nagging at me to do since we first met. I quit smoking. A 2 pack a day, 20 year long habit, cold turkey...bye bye cigarettes. Of course, whatever weight I'd lost on Atkins came back in a heartbeat. My biggest problem now is that I've tried so many things, that I'm pretty much convinced that nothing will work.
So now, my husband has joined the Army and is about to leave for basic training and tech school in 2 weeks. He'll be gone for 6 months. While he's gone, I want to really try hard to focus on getting back in shape and getting healthy again. I haven't been healthy since I was 18 years old. I want him to come back in June to a thinner, healthier wife who CAN keep up with him. I'm realistic though, and know that I can't lose everything I want to in 6 months. But I want to make a really good dent in it!
So that's me. I'm all over this website to see if I can hit upon the right combination of things to get this job done. I appreciate all advice, comments, criticisms, etc. Thanks for listening all
Hi everyone, I'm new here!
