I started to gain weight in the 4th grade. In the 6th my parents took me to the doctors to see if there was a medical problem that was causing my weight gain. I was then put in the hospital for a week for tests. They gave me some pills for thyroid. Which, by the way didn't work. I kept gaining weight. By the time I was in Jr. High I was over 200 lbs. In the 7th grade I tried Weight Watchers. You have to remember that at this time you still had to eat at least 7 meals of fish and they didn't have all the pre-measured items that they have today. I lost 19 lbs in the first week. But, after that I didn't lose much. Anywhere from 1 to 2 ozs. I was following the plan to the tee. I got discouraged and quit. My weight kept rising. If it wasn't for Music I think I would have been one of the teen suicide statistics. They say that kids can be cruel. I have first hand experience of this. I heard it all... Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert, etc. Well, enough of that. When I graduated High School I was wearing a XXXL shirt and size 58 pants. There was a clothing store in Charleston that sold 'big' men's clothing. They had a small truck that had a pair of pants stretched across the back with a sign that said, "If you can wear these, you can have them free." I was almost there.
In my first year of college, Mother took me to see Dr. Smith. He tried to weigh me on his scales. I topped the scales. At first he said that he couldn't weigh me. Mother worked for the post office and said that if it was necessary she could take me there and weigh me on the big postal scales. Dr. Smith said that he would try to weigh me by adjusting the scales, instead of putting me through that. He took off some of the weights so that it was 100 lb. under. I then got on and I weighed a little over 350. He said that this wasn't an accurate reading but it would work. He then said that 'We' were going to get the weight off. There was something about his attitude that clicked within me. He put me on a mild amphetamine, called Tenuate Dospen. I would go to him every week for a weigh in.
I didn't go on any diet*. If I wanted something I had it. I just watched how much I ate.*Diets don't work. You have to have the desire to lose the weight. You also have to change your eating behaviors. Sure you can lose weight on many of the diets that are out there. But once you go off of the diet you will eventually go back to your old eating habits. You've heard of the Diet Yo-Yo syndrome. You lose the weight then gain it back and a lot of times you gain even more than when you started the diet. I would weigh myself every Saturday morning. I would get up and go to the bathroom and then weigh myself. It is best to pick one time a week and check your weight weekly, instead of doing it daily. Because daily weights can fluctuate with the fluids in your body.
If I lost any weight I would reward myself by having a special treat. Like Garfield, I love lasagna. I would have some just about every Saturday night. Notice I said 'some'. I would have a regular portion. If you cut out all the things that you like you will resent the diet and chances are you will go off it and give up. If there was something that I wanted I had it. I just watched how much I ate of it. If I did 'backslide' I would adjust what I ate later.
Well that was over 20 years ago. At 45 I am still doing the 'watch the weight thing'. Over that time I have gained and lost weight. I have been down as low as 180 and up around 250. Most of the time I stay between 220 and 240. I guess this is where my body wants to be. There are several things that I would like to talk about. One is, that even though I lost the weight I still feel fat! This is called 'Weight Loss Anxiety'. I thought that once that I lost the weight my life would change. It did. But not the way that I thought it would. I no longer had to worry about breaking chairs when I sat down, I could now go to a regular store to get my clothes, and people didn't do the "you need to lose weight thing anymore.
I still have the same problems that everybody else has. I learned that No matter what weight your at, you need to be comfortable with yourself.
This is just the start of this page. I will be adding pictures so you can see the progression of weight gain and weight loss I have had over the years.
Here's the first pic, I was in high school here,
I'm not sure of the date.
This was sometime in the 60's before I started to gain the weight
this is a few years later when you could tell that I gained weight
Then in the '70's you could really tell!!
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