My Weight Loss Journey

Lindsay is a Lifetime Member started in January of 2013 when I moved my blogging from freewebs to blogspot.  You can view my weight loss page at http://www.freewebs.com/lihli25/apps/blog/

My weight loss journey began in January of 2007 when I walked into my local Weight Watchers center, signed up and began attending weekly meetings.  My starting weight was 304.8 pounds.

I had dieted off and on during my teenage years and had even attended WW once before with my mother and sister.  My last known real diet was during my junior year of high school following The Prism Diet.  It was a diet plan where you cut out refined sugar and flour for six weeks.  You were allowed 1200 calories a day but we ate 1000 calories so we could “get the weight off faster.”  It was miserable but I lost 30 pounds and was wearing a size 14 jeans.  Soon after I had to have my gallbladder removed and poor eating led to gaining the weight back…and then some.

College was a very social time for me.  I lived in the dorms and made a lot of new friends.  I never focused on nutrition despite being encouraged to take a nutrition class.  With $5 pizza delivery to the dorms and trips to the bars it was no surprise the pounds started to settle on.

I broke my foot in college, yes at a bar, and the doctor recommended a boot instead of an actual cast.  He said I wasn’t active enough that just having the boot would be plenty.  I guess that was a sign that he was telling me I needed to lose some weight and start to exercise, even if he didn’t come right out and say it.

I didn’t own a scale so the only time I weighed myself was during my annual visit to the doctor.  In the days before digital scales the nurse would try and be polite in starting the weight at 200 pounds.  I would laugh and tell her to move it to the 250.  On one visit she moved it to 300.  I was shocked.  I knew I was gaining weight but seeing it right there in front of me still wasn’t enough motivation.

My sister and I flew to Las Vegas in December 2006.  I could barely buckle my seatbelt and worried I would have to cover my lap when the flight attendant came by to check.  I walked all over Vegas hoping I had lost enough weight to get the seatbelt to buckle easier on our trip home.  The following month I joined WW.

I lost my weight on the Momentum program using points to calculate food.  I ate out about 95% of the time so I started to make different food choices and go to different restaurants.  I started to look at nutrition labels and calories.  Eventually I started cooking at home and experimenting with new recipes.  I enjoyed learning how to make WW fit my lifestyle.

I didn’t date much in high school and college.  When I was rejected I would tell myself “I want somebody to love me for me.  Not for having a perfect body.”  I met my husband Kenyon when I had lost 50 pounds.  He had just gone through cancer treatment and was embracing life.  I was also embracing life so we clicked instantly. 

I had lost 80 pounds by our wedding and was able to buy a size 20 dress off the rack. 

After I lost 100 pounds I went to my annual doctor visit to discuss what my goal weight would be.  I knew I didn’t want to be 155 pounds, which was the top of the WW goal range based on the BMI scale.  My starting BMI was 49 and my doctor wanted me to be a BMI of 28 or under.  We decided on 175 pounds.  I took my note to my WW meeting and filed it away.

In March 2009 I met my goal weight.