Story of Me

So...welcome to my Blog.  This is the story about my journey back to being healthy.  I've always been a little on the chunky side...even as a kid, a teen, and young adult.

In 2009, after over a year as a auditor, traveling and eating out constantly for weeks at a time, I had gained a significant amount of weight.

Spring 2007

Winter 2008 (Dec08)

I was sick of being fat and having to shop in the plus-size section, so I started Weight Watchers online.  At 227 pounds, I started slow...walking once, sometimes twice daily for 30 minutes and trying new eating habits like relearning portion size and which foods were healthy.  I bought the exercise videos, Hip Hop Abs, and did them in the basement.  Trust me, they're actually pretty fun and reasonably easy to do!  Even for a beginner!  After just a month, I could see the difference in my body and my face. I just kept plugging along....week by week I got results.  Each Sunday when I weighed in, the scale moved - whether it was 1 pound or 3 pounds, I was getting healthy.  After about 2 years, I was finally at my goal weight of 135 pounds and I looked fantastic.

Summer 2010

Fall 2010

One thing I didn't realize, though, is that being skinny and fit wouldn't necessarily make me happy.  I hated my job and was anxious and stressed every day I went to work.  My marriage wasn't great either.  I came to find out a philandering husband definitely adds stress to your life.  In the fall of 2010, I quit my job with no new one in it's place and for about a month, I felt a sense of relief.  That was until I realized finding a new job would be more difficult than I had anticipated.

I was a bachelor's degree Accountant (CPA) with about 3 years experience.  Very few positions opened up that met my desired salary and qualifications.  And thus began my credit issues.  I had always used credit cards....responsibility.  Charge, pay it all off.  That was my process.  With no money coming in though, I had no choice but to pay bills and living expenses with my credit cards.  Whew, boy.  Money stress is like no other.  And did I mention I'm an emotional eater? And so the gaining of weight began.  It wasn't fast - just 1 or 2 pounds a week, but it snuck back on.  By the next spring, I'd gained back almost 30 pounds.  I was still in the range for my height of 5'4" and I still looked pretty good.

Fall 2011

But by now something terrible had happened...I'd stopped tracking my foods, stopped exercising regularly, stopped eating nutritious foods.  Life was stressful.  I had found a part-time job in January 2011 but it still didn't cover the bills so I was in debt.  By fall, I was offered a great position.  The only catch was a 50 minute commute each way, every day.  I loved the job and the people, but my personal life was still a mess.  I was disappointed in myself for gaining weight.  I couldn't get motivated to exercise.  I had some serious debt to deal with.  I suffered episodes of extreme depression which required time off work.  My marriage was bad.  And I kept gaining...and gaining.

Summer 2012

Winter 2013 (Jan13)

And more stress in my life...in April 2013, my husband decided he wanted a divorce.  I was devastated. That summer was super hard.  It was the first time I had lived on my own.  I had to deal with the courts for all the divorce paperwork.  And we had to figure out the housing situation since we owned a house together.  It was a nightmare.  I tried to concentrate on work, but my depression and anxiety flared again.  Taking days at a time off work wasn't uncommon and my health was not good - headaches, stomach issues, etc.  The only saving grace was my friend, Michelle.  She tried her best to keep me busy and motivated.  We went on walks once a week and she even got me to do a couple 5K races (walk/run).  I was still not back in my healthy routine though.  Luckily, over the summer, I pretty much plateaued on my gaining.

Then, something GREAT happened.  I met Dave.  We were both divorcees with no children looking for a stable, loving relationship.  I think we knew almost immediately things were going to work out.  I had never felt this way with my 1st husband and dove straight into the relationship.  The only bad part about dating and new love is that you spend A LOT of time together and a fair amount of that time is spent on dates, a.k.a. eating out.

Fall 2013

So, my gaining started again.  My divorce finalized in September 2013 and I had to move to an apartment (out of the house) in October.  Moving sucks.  A LOT.  And the whole housing situation became a fiasco.  I'd tell the whole story, but it just ticks me off too much.  Suffice it to say, for about 10 months (through now) no one has been living in the house and my ex is paying the mortgage until the sale closes at the end of this month.  And while selling the house was supposed to be my ex's problem, it became mine and now we have to pay to sell the house.  Not cool.  Obviously, this house stress weighed on me.  And I lost my job at the end of 2013.  Yep, more stress.  Did I mention I'm a stress eater? Gain, gain, gain.  Right now, I'm at my highest weight ever.  The number on the scale is just ridiculous...let's just say it's a good 50 pounds higher than my previous start weight in 2009.  But I did get engaged on Valentines' Day 2014 so the year hasn't been a total loss! :-)  

July 2014

Cue another move in June - into Dave's house.  Moving sucks.  And with the wedding coming up, I wanted to become motivated to get back on track.  Unfortunately, Dave hasn't been the most helpful in this regard because he thinks I'm beautiful always, loves to eat out, and has been living a mostly-unhealthy bachelor lifestyle for several years now.  But a couple weeks ago, a coworker of his convinced him to try my Fitness Pal (free app) and he's been at least trying.  And his trying motivated me to try again too.  I'd never stopped WW online - at only $17/month, I figured I'd keep it on standby.  So, this week I started tracking again.  So far, so good.  And did I mention that I'm finally feeling a little happy again?!  The only bummer is that I'm still without work so money is tight and my debt is hanging around.  But I'm getting married in August!  Yay!  And I'm ready to get healthy again!

Join me on this journey.  I'd appreciate any encouragement or stories of success.  I've got Dave on the Weight Watchers bandwagon too - I love their plan, I just have to remember to keep it up...always.  My hope is to post a photo a week and give you an update of my progress.  This will be my place to post my personal successes and shameful failures. I'll post some of my favorite recipes, snack ideas, and probably just stuff about me.