A Tortoise Journey

Like an increasing number of people, I have struggled with my weight for as long as I can remember--far into my childhood.  Without any sort of guidance as a child, I did not know what a healthy weight was, and so I was convinced I was fat.  It become particularly bad that fateful year when the school nurse came to weigh us all, and I was over 100 pounds.  I knew I must be a whale.  Chances are, I was just growing like any normal child, but society had made me think that 100 pounds was not the right weight for a girl.  I was still years away from being an adult, and didn't adults only weigh something like 105 pounds?

Soon I also went into puberty, and unlike many of my other female classmates, I grew breasts--large ones.  My friends started making fun of them.  It fueled my growing depression about my looks.  I probably would have gained an eating disorder if it hadn't been for thorough education about how anorexia is not healthy.  If only they had taught us about what is healthy!

When junior high came along, I started having more access to poor food choices, and I started gaining the weight I thought I had.  By my late teens, I was overweight, but not by much.  Yet, the depression still loomed.  I wasn't rail thin, and I did not have the knowledge of how to lose the few pounds that would have classified me as healthy, so I continued to eat poorly.  When I went to college, I also started exercising less.  So the weight bloomed.

As an adult with a job, I had enough money to choose time over health--meaning I ate out a lot.  My weight continued to go up.  At least now I knew that I was definitely needing help, and so I started learning about nutrition and fitness.

Yet, knowledge is only step one.

My mom and me in June 2011.  I'm around 231 pounds.

Step two is actually acting upon that knowledge.  I started step two last April when I hit my highest weight of 242 pounds.  I had the (mis)fortune of losing my job then, and with all this time on my hands, I knew I should take advantage of it to get healthy.  By June, I was down to 231.  By November--220.

Then I got my job back.  Since then, my weight has stayed the same.  Thankfully it hasn't gone up.

Next Friday is my last day at work again (I'll talk about that in another post), and so this is another beginning--hopefully the last for losing the weight so I can focus on other beginnings.

It's been a long journey so far, and it still isn't close to over.  I am definitely a tortoise, but that's a good thing.  I'm likely to keep it off.

To mark this rededication to losing the weight and getting healthier, I've taken some "before" pictures and made some measurements. 

February 4, 2012. 219.4 pounds.

Height: 5'6"
Weight: 219.4 pounds
Waist: 40"
Hips: 48.5"
Thigh: 29"
Upper arm: 16"
Pant size: 18 short

Photos are deceiving, though, so I'm including a picture of my outline below.  That really hits home, if you want to try it.

NEVER AGAIN.

So here we go again, one stubby tortoise leg at a time.  It was a nice break, but I'm not going to get to the top of the mountain by sitting in the same place.

Lots of love,
Katie