| Kim's Story | |
My name is Kim and I am 31 years old. I have many titles but my proudest are wife and mother. I live in north central Massachusetts, in the city that I was born and raised in. I was brought up with a strong sense of family and friendship and these are the things that I value most in my life.
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I suppose, because I never really understood the value of good nutrition, that my weight problem started when I was a child... and only grew worse through adolescence. I was always active which kept me thinner during a few of those years anyway. But, after I met my husband at 17, we fell into the "comfy couples syndrome"... and even more poor habits. That's when the weight really started coming on. Over the next 10 years we experienced some of life's greatest joys, including the birth of our children, as well as some of our deepest heartache. All of these things, good and bad, impacted my weight. In a sense, I guess the focus came so much off of me and that, combined with all of the poor behaviors, led me on a path of self-destruction.
So here I was, just 27 years old... and over 350 pounds now, not having the energy to do much of anything. My joints ached when I moved... and I had to avoid going places for fear I wouldn't fit. I could barely sit behind the wheel of my car... or get up and down the stairs. I didn't have a lap for my kids to sit on and they couldn't get their arms around me. I was kept from doing many of the things that I enjoyed because of my size and had to resort mostly to mail order catalogs just to get clothes that fit. I was well aware that I was extremely overweight... and knew what that meant for my health. I could already feel the damage I was doing... and it was confirmed in my bloodwork. I would look in the mirror and wonder how I got that big... I also wondered how I would ever lose so much weight. I always "'planned" to do something about it... but it was overwhelming even to think about having to lose over 200 pounds. Although I considered myself a happy person... I honestly had no idea how much happier I really could be. " It is also useful when I am feeling overwhelmed and can look back at how far I've come."
I had tried to lose weight before... I had even been a Weight Watcher, but never really followed the program as it was intended. I had what we call "free days" where I would eat everything in sight simply because I had just been weighed... and I focused much more on what the scale was saying each week instead of the positive changes I was making each and every day. This all catches up to you... and here is where I lost my motivation and fell right back into old behaviors. I had lost 50, and even 80 pounds at one point in my life... only to gain it, as well as another 100 or so pounds back!! The way society conditions us regarding weight loss, while stuffing fast food down our throat, didn't help matters much either. We are taught that by simply eating less and moving more we lose weight... and that is not all it takes. I think, in my case, it had alot more to do with what I wasn't eating. There was a lot for me to learn, and a lot for me to change. Weight Watchers offered the tools to help me, as well as the support... but ultimately it was all up to me.
Because of my mother's success of having lost 40 pounds and keeping it off for 10 years, as well as the success of others I am close to... I understood that it was more about learning to make choices that work for you and your lifestyle... and that in order to achieve long term success, these changes would have to become a permanent part of my life, which meant I would have to find ways to make changes I was happy with. I had to be ready to make these changes... and I had to learn how to treat myself as well as I would my best friend, ecspecially during those times I wasn't so perfect... not such a simple task. I knew it wouldn't happen overnight and I also understood there would be times I didn't have as much motivation. I started keeping a weight loss journal my very first night at WW. Over time this taught me alot about myself... and a lot about my eating patterns. It is also useful when I am feeling overwhelmed and can look back at how far I've come.
