My Story

I've always been overweight - at least, I always perceived myself as overweight. I have not-so-fond memories of having to shop in the "husky" departments as a child; being limited in my clothing options because of my size. I developed by age 10, reached my full height of 6'1" by the time I was fourteen, and felt like the biggest bull in a china shop you could ever imagine. Looking back, I was never more overweight then than I am now (less than 20 pounds) but at the time, it could have been 100 pounds for what it did to my self-esteem and self-image.

I joined Weight Watchers for the first time in high school - I guess it was senior year. At the time, they set my goal weight at 165. I think I had about 25 pounds to lose then. I got to about 10 pounds from goal and quit. I don't remember why. All I know is I was happy to be wearing sizes 12-14, and I know I felt the goal weight WW set for me was unreasonable. So I never got to goal, never got to maintenance.

I went away to college in the fall of 1988, and moved home in 1991 weighing in at 206 pounds. I didn't stop at the freshman 15 - I packed on the sophomore 16 as well. I was then 41 pounds over what WW had said I should weigh, and wasn't really happy about it. So that year I went back to WW, but that didn't last long. I don't remember if I lost much weight at all, but I do know I finally got frustrated, and quit. Again.

Slowly but surely the weight kept creeping on, and in 1999, I decided to do something. I saw an infomercial on the Richard Simmons FoodMover and thought it would be an easy plan to follow, so I bought it. I dropped about 30 pounds on that program, but I didn't stick with it, dated two men that year who liked me the way I was and liked taking me out to dinner, so I got complacent, gave up the foodmover calculator, and packed the weight back on once more.

In 2001, I started noticing I was running out of breath trying to have a conversation. I was extremely sedentary, was wearing clothes ranging in size from 18W-22W, and even though I could find cute clothes in Lane Bryant and in Burdines' Women's section, I was starting to worry how my weight was affecting my health. I was closer to 300 pounds than 200, and starting to really get scared. My brother was taking Metabolite at the time and said he had no adverse effects, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

One week into Metabolite, I started having chest pains in the middle of my Medieval Literature class. It was March 6, 2001. My instructor called the paramedics, who established I was NOT having a heart attack but they recommended I see my doctor immediately. The next morning, I did. I learned I had a heart condition (probably from birth) called Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome. My doc sent me to a cardiologist, who told me that while my heart condition was mild and not life-threatening, my obesity was. I weighed 261 pounds at the time. The cardiologist suggested I develop an obsession with getting my weight down to 180. So I broke out the FoodMover and decided to try again.

Two weeks later, I knew there was no way I could go it alone, and a co-worker mentioned Weight Watchers and the new Points program. They were starting a new session of an at-work and I decided to check it out. I joined up March 22, 2001, and never looked back. I'm now 66 pounds lighter than I was that fateful day at the doctor's office, only 18 pounds from my goal weight of 177. And I'm so inspired by WW that I plan to become a leader when I get to lifetime, whenever that will be.

It hasn't been easy. I had a rough period where I gained and lost the same 4 pounds for 4 months, ending with a net 12-week loss of 0.9 pounds. It was horrible, but I never would quit. The program WORKS. I knew it then, I know it now, and my success shows it.

April 25, 2002