Now Departing

Hello!


A good friend encouraged me to start blogging about my weight loss journey to keep me motivated and provide encouragement to others paddling the same boat. This is my very first blog, and I have no idea how faithful I'll be in my posts.


I went to my doctor on January 6th, 2012 and was horrified as I watched the nurse slide the counterweight on the scale to the 300 hash. "Ouch!" I thought, "Am I really that heavy? I definitely don't see a 300 pound woman when I look in the mirror." Boy, did I feel like I dodged a bullet when the scale tipped and the nurse moved its counterweight back to 250 adding 39 - 289 pounds. Woah! How did I let myself get this fat? I'm only 5'6". Ideally, I'd weigh 150.


I made the appointment to get my prescriptions refilled and have an A1C, a blood test that averages blood glucose levels over 2-3 months. A couple years ago I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. Of course, the warning signs were present a few years prior when my doctor called me borderline or prediabetic and began closely monitoring my blood pressure.


I kept telling myself I needed to lose the excess baggage, but weight loss just never became a priority. I continued with my poor eating habits and failed to exercise on a regular basis. I was busy with two kids and running my own business. I didn't have the time to workout or eat breakfast every morning. In fact, some days I only made time for one meal.


Who am I kidding? I've been skipping meals since childhood rarely eating breakfast and missing lunch to hangout with friends in the band room. I was part of the "no lunch club" in high school. One of the guys cut weight for wrestling while I hoarded my lunch money to buy soft serve ice-cream cones at the Buy Low after school. At home dinner served as the main meal of the day and was commonly meat and potatoes. I always had seconds.


I grew up on an acreage in Iowa attending school in a small town nearby. Several towns merged into one school district resulting in my high school class size of 64. I went out for nearly every sport and filled my mornings and evenings with extracurricular activities that included band, jazz band, choir, swing choir, speech, theater and other clubs. I wasn't obese by any means, but I always felt like my weight was an albatross.


Once I got into college, my physical activity level dropped significantly. No longer playing sports on a regular basis, I spent a large majority of my time sitting in class and studying. Of course, there was also the obligatory college drinking and partying, too. My eating habits continued to decline, more skipped breakfasts and lunches followed by high fat and calorie late night meals. With college culinary staples like deep fried french fries and cheese curds, burgers and pizza how could I not gain the freshman 15 plus some? I couldn't fit into my clothes anymore. I didn't have any money so my cost effective solution was to buy men's boxers and wear those to class with an oversize tee or sweatshirt.


The summer between my freshman and sophomore year at college I returned home for a summer job at a thermopane window factory. I lost 40 pounds that summer by limiting myself to beef broth and Diet Coke for nearly a month. The sweltering heat at the factory and physical demands helped get me back into my jeans. Alas, the return to campus and continued bad habits meant the rebirth of my muffin top.