Elysia Morgan

I have struggled with weight most of my life. I’ve dieted since I was age 11. I had real problems with food in high school & my first year in the military. I thought I was fat at 155 pounds & sizes 10 to 12 at 5’7”. I may have been slightly overweight, but that was nothing compared to 2003 til now. When I was ‘normal’ sized I thought I was really fat & dieted to such extremes that I would freak out if I ate more than 900 calories a day & I would exercise 3 hours daily at the least. I didn’t eat beef or pork for about 7 years & I have trouble eating mayonaise & butter to this day. During the later 3 years out of 4 in the military, I had started to eat red meat & pork again & stopped dieting so extremely & seemed to gain a little weight each year until I got out in 2002 when I weighed around 180 pounds. I got pregnant shortly after leaving the military & stopped taking my depression meds & the weight just started piling on. I ended up weighing about 240 pounds by the time my son was born. I got married & after about 8 months of marriage my weight hit it’s all time high at 287 pounds. I became extremely depressed over being so close to 300 pounds & it was at this time I went to a doctor & I had realized that when I was younger & thought I was fat I had been at a relatively healthy weight & I wanted so badly to go back to being that size once more. During these truly heavy years I have been sick more often than I have been well & I have had more & more health problems discovered that I’ve had to try to work on such as low blood sugar, high blood pressure, asthma & gallstones. I tried workout Dvds & walking with a buddy for exercise, which worked well when my back, knees, & ankles didn’t hurt & I wasn’t ill, which wasn’t often enough. I spent most of 2003 thru 2005 sea-sawing the same 5 to 8 pounds. During the beginning of 2006 I more or less got to 283 pounds & kept it around there, but I couldn’t lose any weight past that. I saw a nutritionist & still couldn’t lose weight. Then I found I was getting sick even more often & had pains. I learned I had gallstones & had to have my gallbladder removed. I had it removed the first week of December & after a couple of weeks for healing I found that the weight started to come off on its own without doing much. I was so excited when 12 pounds came off all on its own that I had found the encouragement to start walking more & doing my dance Dvds again & found I did’t get hurt as often & before I knew it I had lost 30 pounds total by the end of March & I have kept that weight off all April & took off 1 more pound. I am now at 252 pounds. I went from sizes 26/28 & 4x to my current sizes of 18 & xL. I feel so much more energy than I had in a few years now & I haven’t gotten sick in about 2 months time. I am finally well on my way to better health & a better outlook on life & of myself. I am happy with myself even at size 18, but I still want to strive for even better health. I don’t really count calories or anything anymore, instead I try making healthier substitutions. Whole wheat breads, noodles, tortillas & cereals. Adding veggies to dishes my family already likes. Low fat dairy products. Meat that is grilled rather than fried or breaded. 1 or 2 squares of dark chocolate instead of other sweets. Having popcorn or a handful of nuts every once in a while. Separating chips & other less healthy snacks into individual servings to 2 servings per bag rather than sitting down to an entire 7 to 14 serving bag & eating it all at once. I just go at it 1 day at a time & weigh myself frequently to keep up on my weight fluctuations. I weigh myself every 2 to 3 days. I used to weigh myself only 1 time a week & found my weight staying stagnant at one place. I am super happy that I am finally getting results & I am feeling worlds better already. There is never any harm in asking for help & encouragement from others, as a matter of fact, it will help you to be honest with yourself & to keep trying when things get difficult. Nearly all of us need support of some sort to succeed at most things in our lives, especially if we want to be happy doing those things. Everyone have a very wonderful week!