Terry Cieniewicz
I was overweight as a preteen with the usual taunts and teasing that went with it. At the age of 13 the boy I had a secret crush on called me “fat” and I was devastated. It was with that embarrassment that I was able to lose 45 pounds by the age of 14, unfortunately it was using the usual teenage girl method…starvation. I was able to keep this weight off for about six years. When I became pregnant with my first child I gained 63 pounds. I had a very bad case of “morning sickness” throughout this pregnancy. After painfully throwing up “nothing” for months I discovered that the pain was not as bad when I had food on my stomach. Thus, I learned food was my friend. Over the next three years I was able to lose about 30 pounds on my own but it was much harder this time. When I became pregnant again I gained back all the weight I had lost plus some. After having my second child I weighed in at 211 pounds. I was overwhelmed. I had never weighed that much in my life. That much weight loss seemed like an unattainable goal. After a couple of years of trying to on my own I realized I needed help. I joined Physicians Weight Lose Center. With their help I was able to lose back to 144 pounds on an ultra low calorie diet. I was not able to maintain the low calorie intake to maintain this weight lose and slowly gained the weight back over the next year. And so began my cycle of yo-yo weight lose. In 1994 I graduated from nursing school at 220 pounds and would have been higher except I had lost some weight from the flu a few weeks prior. By 1996 I had gained to 250 pounds and, in a moment of panic, I called and made an appointment with the Bariatric surgeon to discuss the Gastric Bypass. Over the next week I fully thought it through and cancelled that appointment. It was a radical step and I did not believe I had exhausted all my other options for weight loss. I began looking for a non-surgical way to lose the weight. Since then I have tried Weight Watchers (with the food exchange system), Professional Health Center, University Hospital’s weight loss program supervised by a dietician, a doctor’s supervised diet with Dr. Vitkin who specializes in non-surgical weight loss programs, Nutrasystem, the Mayo Clinic diet, the grapefruit diet, the diet where you eat only fruit the first day and only veggies the second…It changes daily for 10 days…I didn’t make it passed day two. Over the years my Primary Care Doctor has also prescribed Redux, Adipex, an increased dose of Prozac with the Redux, and Xenical with little success. On January 5th 2002 I joined Weight Watchers again, the online version, after seeing a commercial about the points system. Horrified, I weighed in at 274 pounds. Over the next year I was able to lose down to 243 pounds and hit a plateau which lasted for several months. I became discouraged and slowly slid back into some of my old habits but I was able to maintain most of the weight loss. On September 1, 2004 I began attending the Weight Watcher meetings. In October 2004 I joined the Family Y and began exercising. I was amazed; I began losing weight again and it seemed effortless. I was at the gym for 2-3 hours every day that I was not at work and loved it. I attended my Weight Watchers meeting weekly. I thought I had found my answer. I was able to lose down to 209 pounds over about a year and half . Then my life fell apart and I was not able to spend as much time at the gym. My attention was needed elsewhere. I felt cheated and depressed. I turned to my old friend “food” for support. Eventually I gained back up to 254 pounds which is where I am now.
