Dona L.
WOW...where to start...i guess at the beginning. I was born a happy healthy baby of 7lbs 4oz. Although i didn't stay that way long. I remember being overweight by the age of 5 and getting teased in kindergarden for it. There was no kids in my neighborhood that were my age and my mother did not drive, so i was stuck at home with mom. I think she felt sorry for me and with her being overweight herself (about 40 pounds or so) so she gave me food to try and make me happy. By the time i was 8 we had moved to a different town, I was so hopeful things there would be different for me and that i would have friends and quit getting teased. I did make a few friends but the teasing remained. By the time i was 10 my father stepped into my life with trama for me. He began making me weigh myself in front of the family every evening. If i gained any weight he would beat me. This of course just added to my obsession with food and gave me very low self esteem. I hated my father and my mother for allowing him to treat me this way. I hated my brother and sister for being so skinny. But most of all i hated myself. This treatment went on for the next 7 1/2 yrs, till i graduated from high school and moved out when i was 17.
When i was 23 i met a man that i thought i would spend the rest of my life with. We had 3 beautiful children together, Nick who is now 20 and the twins Jacob and Brittany who are now 18. When the twins were 3 months old my husband cheated on me and we eneded up getting divorced. Forced back out into the work force with no education i got a job in a local grocery store in the produce department. I started taking weight off like crazy. I lost 90 pounds the first 3 months and then over the next 3 months i lost 20 more. I was looking and feeling good. Over the next year i dated and had a great time going out dancing...yes shy me learned to fast dance even. And during this time i finally started to believe in myself and came out of my shell. I was a new person. a whole new me and was happy for the first time with my life.
Then things came crashing down again, i found out that my twin boy who was 1 yr old by then had a emtional handicap and that it required for me to be a stay at home mom to be with him 24/7. I was dating a man at the time that asked me to marry him and feeling stuck to stay at home i did so. Don't get me wrong i loved him but i just wasn't ready to remarry. The next several years my life was devoted to my kids (especially the handicapped one). I slowly began gaining my weight back but i tryed not to fucus on that but on the kids instead. I made sure my kids had a whole different life then i did. Made sure they were hugged and kissed all the time and they knew and was told how loved they were.
Once the kids were in school and after years of devoting my life to them i decided it was time for me to do something for myself. I went to college and got a degree in marketing. Three months before graduation i developed OCD (obsession complusive disorder). I did mange to graduate but i must say this made my life hell for the next year. I was finally put on the medication Prozac. I was even excited, heard that alot of people lost weight while they was on it. However, that was not the case for me. Over the next 8 years i gained 150 pounds that put me up too 457. By this time i was needing a wheel chair in order to do most things. I couldn't stand for any length of time or walk very far either. My back was deteriating and my knee's were shot. Decided it was time to do something to change all of theis and thats why i am here today!!!!
Next step.....to be on the losing side
