ild.I was a slim younger child, chunky during those awkward pre-puberty age and finished high school a skinny size 8. I really thought I was fat - and looking back at pictures now, I wonder what fun house mirror I was looking in :)! Here is a photo of Senior Prom and my girlfriends Chris and Kim.
Having children seem to wreck my body. I was a slim 140 lbs at age 20 when I got pregnant with my first daughter. After gaining 37 pounds in the pregnancy, I never saw 140 again! I stayed at about 150 or 155 for years after that. At my height, that was not too bad so I enjoyed life. I ate and drank what I wanted and did not worry about it. I stayed at a size 10 to 12. Here is me when Taylor was little.
Rock along several years, add in the stress of being a single parent, stressful jobs, and
meeting a great guy I started to fall apart! I started gaining weight and my health was iffy. After discovering a thyroid issue, possible chrohn's disease, appendicitis, and tons of food allergies I put my attention on getting well. I spent a year off of wheat, the appendectomy was good for two things - getting my appendix out and finding out that I really did not have chrohns! After all of that, a naturopath helped get me on the road to feeling better.
I took a break from all the supplements I was taking and gave my body a break - it was just hypersensitive to anything I put in it. I did the low carb thing - yea, roll your eyes, but it was suggested for treating excessive yeast - yeast loves carbs. It did help and melted a few pounds off as well. I continued to avoid wheat and added coffee, green beans, vanilla, eggs, dairy, and brewer's yeast to the avoid list. I lived off of corn tortillas, chicken and tea. I guess this was when I was 28-31 or so. I was getting rather large with my weight and did not really see it. There is where the bad fun house mirrors reappeared - this time I did not see how big I was getting. I was feeling better though!
I then was pregnant with my second daughter. My start weight with the pregnancy was 178 pounds. It was a struggle to get enough protein with all of what I had to avoid. So to my excitement, it was suggested that I try different foods and just eat what I could. The pregnancy shifted my system and I was ok eating all of the bad things I avoided. At delivery I was a whopping 219 pounds!
Postpartum I got down to around 200 and never really got significantly below that. I just ate (living in the south - lots of BAD for ya foods) and drank. Never gave much thought to what I was putting in my mouth and how many calories it was. I had a great time, but looked like crap! I played at exercise, but not consistently and had no idea of what I was doing.
Next blog...... Moving to Scottsdale and the motivation of the beautiful people!
