My Dieting History

My name is Jessica I have been yo-yo dieting for 19 years.


I was a skinny little kid, so skinny in fact that my family referred to me as Tiny Hiney.  I stayed skinny up until I hit puberty at age 13.  It was like a switch went off when I got my first period I began gaining weight.  I went from a size 14 little girls size to a size 14 junior size in the course of a year, that is about a 50 lb weight gain.  I didn't feel fat at that time, I just felt like I was growing up.  I was getting curves, I finally had boobs and my butt was nice.  I had no problems with my weight or how I looked until I was around 15 years old.


When I started high school everything changed.  Suddenly every girl I knew was talking about how fat she was and how she needed to lose weight, and most of them were much thinner than me.  So obviously if they were fat and needed to lose weight, I must be a whale.


When I was growing up my mother always had weight issues.  Over the years she has lost and gained 100+ lb multiple times.  She was a member of Over-eaters Anonymous for years and had tried the Cabbage Soup  Diet among others.


When I was 15 Mom decided to start going to Diet Workshop meetings and was losing weight pretty easily.  I asked if I could join too and she said ok.  I was 5'2 and 150 lb wearing a size 14 jean.  Over the next year I reached my goal of 122 lb and was in a size 5 jean.  I did not follow the plan exactly, in fact I didn't really follow it well at all and it is amazing that I lost weight at all.  Probably the one thing that really helped was that I was very active going hiking with friends, riding my bike, taking weight training and aerobics classes at school, etc.  Unfortunately within weeks of reaching my goal my boyfriend was killed in a car accident and that sparked a period of binge eating for me that lasted over a year.


When I was 18 fen-phen became well known and my mother and I went to the doctor and got our prescriptions.  I didn't lose any weight at all and the doctor kicked me off the program.


When I was 20 I had my first child and was disowned by my parents.  I had a very difficult pregnancy and lost almost 50 lb due to a condition known as Hyperemesis Gravidarum.  I was on my own and had lost my job so was depending on food stamps and WIC to feed my baby who needed special formula.  For about a year I survived on 1 dry bagel a day and tap water to drink.  I lost even more weight and was back down to about 125 lb.  Gradually things got better and when I was able to eat well again I did.


When I was 23 I was up to 178 lb and I decided to go to Weight Watchers.  By this time I had been reunited with my family and I was going to meetings with my mother.  I lost 30 lb and got down to 148 lb.  Then I met my husband and I stopped going to meetings because, well, you know, he was more important *eye roll*.  Anyway, I kept the weight off until I had our twin boys.  I actually gained weight during that pregnancy even though it was another difficult one.


After the twins were born when I was 26, I started back at Weight Watchers right away.  I was 190 lb.  I lost 32 lb and got down to 158 lb by following the plan and working out regularly at Curves.  Then my work hours changed and we bought a house.  I could no longer get to Curves during their open hours- I swear, they had really weird hours!  And with a new mortgage to get used to paying, the $12 a week WW fee was hard to come up with.  So I quit.  And I stopped following the plan.  And I gained weight.  Then I got pregnant again.


After I had my son at age 29, I tried to go back to WW but my heart just wasn't in it.  So I just did nothing for 4 years.  During that time I had another baby, a little girl, when I was 31 and her pregnancy was another rough one and I lost weight.  I started the pregnancy at 245 lb and ended it at 230 lb.  I managed to maintain that weight for 2 years but then I felt it creeping up again.


When I was 32 I went back to Weight Watchers.  I went for about 8 months and lost a whopping 18 lb.  I went from 238 lb to 220 lb.  And I got tired of going and of counting and weighing and measuring.  So I quit. And I gained every ounce back.  I was still on the scale every  week and when it showed me 238 lb again, I decided not to let it get any higher.


Last year, at age 33 and 238 lb, I decided to give Atkins a try.  Diabetes runs rampant in my family and while I don't have it yet, I figured a low carb diet would be the best way to go.  It has taken a full year but I have lost 20 lb.  But its too slow for me and I have been stalled at 218 lb for almost 4 months!  Its time for a change.


I have a friend named Helen who decided about a year and a half ago to do something about her own weight issues.  Over the course of about 6 months she lost 50 lb and has kept it off for a year now.  She eats tons of food, doesn't count calories, weigh, or measure.  She is never hungry and the pictures she sends me of her food are amazing!  She has done all of this on a program called Slimming World.  She lives in the UK and was able to go to meetings.  SW is still new to the US and they only have meetings in Texas.  Since I live in NC I couldn't very well go to a meeting.  They now have a USA website and I was able to join online and get all the information I needed as well as books and tons of recipes.  I can't believe how easy this looks like it is going to be!


So, I will be using this blog to keep myself accountable.  I will be posting what I eat each day as well as my feelings and frustrations.  I will update my weight each week and I will post recipes that I like.  I don't really care if anyone else reads this or not, but if they do and I can help them, then Welcome!  :)