Success Stories - KathyPlease click on thumbnails to see the full size photo. When Dotti asked me to write a success story, I said sure...then my brain kicked in. Now what have I gotten myself into? So here goes. I wasn't always overweight. I was 4 lbs 3 oz when I was born. I don't recall anyone ever telling me I needed to eat more, it just came naturally! But I don't think I was overweight until about 2nd grade. I remember getting my first pair of jeans...and they were "Chubbies". Didn't you hate that word? I still get a sick feeling inside. And then there was always that "weigh in" in PE Class...no wonder people develop neurosis early in life! When all the other kids were wearing hip huggers, I was wearing "Chubbies". By the time I was in 8th grade, I was just plain FAT! I was active, but it didn't seem to make any difference. I moved during my freshman year of high school. What rotten timing to have to change friends, schedules, routines. I quit being active and just got FATTER! Then my sophomore year, things changed. That was the year that the federal government demanded school busing. I got to stay at the same school, but most of my new friends got transferred to other schools. Those incoming were not happy about their lot and spent most of their time trying to upset everything and everyone. School violence is nothing new, and there it was routine. I quit going to the cafeteria at lunch because it was just plain too dangerous. My one new friend, Bonnie, was just as paranoid as I was and we stayed in study hall instead. One day, I put on my favorite brown plaid dress and discovered it was getting way too big! Somehow, I was losing weight! So I made up my own "diet" and got down to 105 lbs. This was not a smart diet...it consisted of one can of Metrical per day. No one ever said anything about it, I didn't see anything wrong with it. The summer before my senior year I got a chance to be a live in babysitter for some friends who were moving to Birmingham. Boy was it hot! So the kids and I spent a very quiet summer...and I started eating home cooked meals and gaining weight again. I was granted early admission to a small Christian College so I never went back to the old high school. This was a very small school (400 students) and we had the best cook in the south there. You've heard of the freshman 15...I gained the freshman 40! I met my fiancé there and ended up moving to IL when we got married. This was not the smartest move I ever made, and two children later (and at 185 lbs) the marriage was a total loss. I went back on "my diet" using 1 package of Slender Bars a day this time and by the time my divorce was final, I weighed 95 lbs. I met my husband thru work, and we were married in Spring 1985. I weighed 115 at our wedding. Slowly and steadily over the years, the weight just crept back on again mainly because even though I thought I was trying, I didn't have a clue about good nutrition. By February 2000, I was back at to at least 190. DH had also gained from about 150 to about 195. His mom joined Weight Watchers and asked us to follow the program with her for a while for support and I said sure...thinking, yeah right...2 weeks of this and we'll kill each other from starvation. She gave us her materials to read and an extra calculator she had and we set in. Neither of us weighed that first week. The first time we stepped on the scale I weighed 183, and DH about 187. The next week I weighed 177, he about 183. This was working! We weren't hungry, we were having a ball getting on track and getting results! So we have kept on. I finally set my goal as 120 after looking back and realizing I probably have a tendency toward anorexia! So that weight (at 5 foot 1) is about middle range. I don't want to do anything stupid. DH would like to reach about 155-160. As of this writing, I am at 124, he is at 161. So we are about to reach goal and embark on the maintenance voyage. I found Dotti's website from a mention on another board about a "calculator" for the computer and have been a "resident' since. I have met so many wonderful people thru her work and effort. I really feel that this is a Lifestyle now and not a diet and that this time...it is permanent! Kathy Update - 6/28/01 - Still hanging in there at 115 lbs for 5 months and counting! Update- 3/12/02 - Still hanging in there! :-) Photos
- L-R: May 1955; Christmas 1971 - after
the diet; Christmas 1999; "Baggybritches" on our Message Board! |
