Here's my story:
Ever since puberty, my
body has always been a bit flabby and wide for my liking, however, I wasn't classified as overweight until I was about 18. That's when I joined the Air Force. When I weighed in at my recruiter's office, I was 150
pounds on the dot, which for a 5'5" female, was the maximum weight. So I lost 10
pounds before going off to basic training, expecting to lose more. But guess what? I actually gained 20
pounds in six weeks of basic training! Okay, most of it was muscle, but I was also stuffing my face whenever I could. Afterwards, I was sent to technical training school to learn my job, and ended up gaining another 10
pounds. For the next few years, I hovered at or around 170
pounds, but completely unaware of it. My
body is well-proportioned and I gain weight evenly. When I came up for promotion, I was temporarily denied after weighing in at 175
pounds, which was 25
pounds over my max. So the Air Force, in their infinite wisdom, put me in the
fat girl program, better known as the Weight Management Program. They gave me three months to lose the weight...
three months! I don't know how I did it, but I dropped 30
pounds in those three months, but it quickly came back, and then some.
After another few years, I decided to have another go at losing weight, but I still didn't know much about
diet and
nutrition. I put myself on a dangerous 1000-calorie-a-day (usually less)
diet complete with three days of 45-minute stints on the elliptical machine per week. Needless to say, I lost so much weight so fast that I scared my co-workers. I went from 185 to 135 in just four months. Of course, I was starving myself without knowing it, and as soon as I "celebrated" my
weight loss, it all came rushing back with a vengeance.
I separated from the Air Force back in June 2005, but wanted to continue my military service. I ended up joining the Army National Guard in January 2006. At the time, the Army was so desperate for recruits, they didn't even bother to weigh me, because if they had, they would have rejected me for being
46 pounds overweight... that's right, I had ballooned up to 196
pounds. Over the next few months, I started losing weight in preparation for Army training, and lost about 24
pounds. When I came back from Army training, I had lost another 6
pounds, putting me at 166
pounds... a 30-
pound loss. But, of course, I was still undisciplined and over the next 6 months, I put most of the weight back on.
Then, in February 2007, I had finally had enough of all that yo-yoing. On 28 February 2007, I started my
weight loss journey at 191
pounds. I put myself on a 1200-calorie-a-day
diet, and started moderate workouts on a stationary bike. I quickly grew bored of the bike, but I didn't stop my eating plan. Ironically enough, I found that I lost the same amount of weight whether I exercised or not. Proof that I had finally committed to healthy eating was when I would go away for vacation, splurge a little, then come home and jump right back into my
weight loss state of mind without blinking an eye. I was very proud of myself. I lowered my
goal weight from 130 to 120, and was certain I could reach this
goal in a year.
Well, a year has passed and I'm not at my
goal yet. How disappointing. Today is 6 March 2008, and I have lost 44
pounds with another 27
pounds to go. My
weight loss has slowed up considerably. Before I would lose anywhere between 3 and 4
pounds per month. Now I'm lucky to lose half a
pound per week. In an effort to jumpstart my metabolism again, I started working out regularly again last month, but I'm not seeing any real results yet. I try to remain patient, but I had hoped so much to be at my
goal by this summer, and I'm not sure if I'm going to accomplish that.
So that's my story. Welcome to me: 27-years-old living in Oklahoma City. Currently unemployed, but an IT professional by trade. Unmarried, no kids, 3 cats, and all my
energy goes into focusing on my
weight loss.
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