I know this is supposed to be about wanting to get healthy for my upcoming wedding but for me that would just be the icing on the cake.
A little about myself; my name is Kristalin G., I am 30 years old, currently I weigh 265 lbs., my BMI is 38, I am a first time mom to a lovely little 3 and a half month old daughter and the fiancé of the kindest man I have ever known.
My goal is to lose at least 50lbs by September 1st and to lose a total of 100lbs, however long it takes me.
I have been on the heavy side all of my life. I started my first diet at age 8. It was weight watchers and I went to the group every week with my mom and grandma or my mom and dad. Growing up food was a reward, a friend, someone I could always count on. Both my parents are on the heavy side and have been all of my life. My father suffers from Diabetes and High Blood pressure, they run in his family.
I couldn’t honestly tell you how many different diets I have been on during the last 22 years. But I can tell you that if I was fortunate enough to win this contest that it was only the last diet that mattered.
Just like all the other stories you hear I lost weight only to put in on then gain it and more back. At age 16 I was diagnosed with Poly Cystic Ovary Syndrome. Back then it wasn’t as widely known, or for that matter, diagnosed as it is today.
The “treatment” back then was to be put on medication that only made me gain more weight and the more weight I gained the worse my condition got and the more insulin resistant I became. It was a vicious cycle that I spent the next 13 years trying to survive. In 2003 I was told that due to my PCOS I would never be able to have children unless I had major medical intervention.
I was heart broken.
After living in the UK from 2001 to 2005, I moved back to Colorado, my home. I was fortunate enough to meet John, now my fiancé, in September 2005. Since I was no spring chicken at the time, and he is 5 years older than me, I was very honest with him about my condition and the fact I might not be able to have children. None of it seemed to matter to him, my condition, my size, he loved me for me.
We started to plan for our future together. We tried to take things slow as we had both been hurt badly in the past.
Between 2006 and 2008 we had some pretty major medical things happen. I had spinal fusion in 2007 to repair a back injury I suffered at 18. He had 2 knee surgeries for an accident he had in early 2007. We were the walking wounded. It seemed every time we got well and were ready to start getting healthy something else would come up.
Finally, in March 2008 we started planning our wedding for July 2009. We both started dieting and I had lost 20lbs. I was so proud of myself.
I then starting feeling unwell and being sick in the mornings. I couldn’t figure it out. Someone asked me if I could be pregnant. I told them not to be silly. I believed I couldn’t have children and for what it was worth I was on birth control to help my PCOS anyways. There was no way I was pregnant.
Then when I missed my monthly cycle I thought well I must just be late. It had happened before when I wasn’t feeling well. I bought a test anyways to just make myself feel better.
I sat and stared at those two blue lines for 20 minutes before I could even move!
This wasn’t supposed to happen; it wasn’t supposed to be possible.
After the shock wore off, I realized it was such a blessing.
When I went to the doctor for the first time he told me that when I lost that 20 pounds it was enough to jump start my cycle naturally and that the weight loss was probably the reason I got pregnant.
We were so excited and so were my parents.
The only problem, I knew that we wouldn’t be able to have the wedding only 6 months after my due date.
So we push the wedding off. Hoped that we could get it together by September of 2009.
During my pregnancy I watched my weight and only gained 14lbs. My doctor was actually proud of me, because I followed his recommendations.
Keeping true to form our daughter decided to surprise us again by coming four weeks early on December 24th, 2008. She is the best Christmas present we have ever received!
As soon as I got home from the hospital I started trying to lose weight again.
Not only so I could look nicer in my wedding dress, but so I could be healthy and there for my daughter.
Life with a baby and a full time job is a lot harder than I ever imagined. It is hard to find time to take a shower let alone work at a difficult weight loss program.
I need help. The problem, I can’t afford to pay out the nose for prepackaged foods, meetings, pills, shakes etc. Not with a new baby and trying to save for a wedding.
My hope is that if I can start to lose weight that it will encourage my fiancé, my mom and my dad to do the same.
I know that you will get lots of sob stories and probably a ton of stories just like mine. I can only hope that I will be lucky enough to be one of the six women you chose.
Please see the pictures attached to this email.
The first one is of the wedding dress I would love to be able to wear, I know it won’t be a size 2 but I hope to get down to at least a size 16 by my wedding day.
The second is of my daughter. The real reason I would love to have help to lose the weight. I want to be able to chase her, play and break the cycle of family obesity so I can be here and healthy enough to see her walk down the isle one day, without her having to diet to get into the wedding dress of her dreams.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
I have put a picture of my daughter in my profile
Beautiful Brides contest
I find during the week it is soooo much easier. I WI on Saturday too, down 6 lbs. and my home scale this morning said 7lbs. I will post the essay here. Thanks for the words of encouragement. Anything helps
You can do it!!!!
