Let me introduce myself and tell you my story in a nutshell... I am a 49 years-young retired paramedic who suffered a devastating back injury when a 461 pound man fell on my lower legs and ruptured two discs in my back. I then developed diabetic neuropathy and spent the most part of two of the last three years in a wheelchair. I have always battled with my weight. I grew up on a farm and we always had plenty to eat and it was GOOD! I lost weight my senior year in high school and reached 165 lbs and boy did I feel great. I battled with a 10 lb weight gain-loss situation for six years until I gave birth to the only birth child I was blessed with. Then the real weight gain began. I was in a doomed marriage but "stayed for the children." When my son was six, I was blessed to adopt a sibling group of three-six-year-old twin girls and baby brother who was 15 months younger. To make life really interesting, my birth son's age was right in the middle of the group so I was raising four children with ages between 15 months. Life was great. I had a home-based business at the time that afforded me the luxury of really being there for my kids. I home-schooled them, raised 85% of what we ate including pork, beef, goat's milk, homemade breads from fresh-milled flour and organic fruits and vegetables. The problem was that the food was so great that I continued to put on the pounds until I reached 252 pounds. As my business began to show subtle signs of decline, I went to EMT then Paramedic school. While learning about diabetes in EMT school, I realized that I possessed most of the signs/symptoms of a diabetic and began checking my sugar only to realize I was a diabetic. After a visit to my general doc, I began a diabetic diet and walked and lost 86 pounds in 9 months. Boy I felt wonderful! I began to work constantly because the kids were older teenagers now and were never home anymore. I realized that nobody really needed me anymore and I focused on work. I realized that my marriage was truly done when he would bring me clothes to work and tell me to stay there and make more overtime so that he and the kids could buy the newest Big Boy Toys or repair the ones they had that they didn't take care of so I finally sought out a divorce lawyer. After divorcing him, I had more expendable money so I went to a great plastic surgeon and had Around-The-World Body contour surgery. They removed 7 inches thick of hanging skin from my abdomen that hung down to my thighs and my self-esteem was finally back. I kept the weight off pretty well till my back injury in 2008. Since then I have not been able to exercise in any way. I can't even walk a majority of the days. My weight was back up 38 pounds. Last month, my neighbor asked me to go to the local Metabolic Research Clinic with her because she was re-joining and wanted me to be her support person so I went with her and learned a lot about their program. To me it is much like the Atkins Diet I used several times on my diet roller-coaster of the past 25 years. I made a copy of her program and began to follow it. Since then I learned that I didn't have to join the program to purchase the protein drinks and supplements so I am doing those as well. Since January 15th I have lost 17 pounds.
We have also resumed water aerobics exercise at the county pool that we started last summer but gave up when I had foot surgery. They have a therapy pool that is heated to ninety degrees year round and it is covered with a dome in the winter for added comfort. I try to go 3-4 times a week. It is amazing that on really cold days I can't hardly get up and move around, but in the pool, I jog and march for 30 continuous minutes of aerobic exercise. I also add stomach and arm exercises and leg stretches for a nice rounded exercise program. DH (Dear Hubby) and I are helping raise two of our small grandchildren while their mom goes through a divorce so the exercise time gives me a break from the noise and congestion in my home as an added benefit.
Well, that about sums up my story, I look forward to reading about the rest of you fellow losers (LOL) and "hearing" from you as well. I am looking for support here to help me get these last 26 lbs off and keep them off, but I will also look forward to giving to support to you all that are looking for it as well.
Hello my fellow losers from this GA Newbie!
