A little about me......

I used to be fat. There, I said it. There was a time where I was beyond fat actually. Fat was something I wished for. I was technically classified as obese. It was the most depressing time of my life by far. Especially since I wasn't always fat. I wasn't the chubby kid who turned into the chubby teenager and stayed the chubby adult only to get seriously fat later in life. I was the super super skinny kid who could eat 6 huge meals a day and not gain an ounce. I was the teenager who had to try to gain weight to qualify to donate blood. I was the adult who still wore a size 4 at my wedding at age 23. I was the mom who had a baby and gained almost 100 pounds during my pregnancy and lost all but about 15 of those pounds by my baby's first birthday. And, even with those extra 15 pounds, I was still not overweight.

So, how did it happen? How did I get so fat? Honestly, it happened so fast. It wasn't my fault. I didn't eat a bunch of pies and fast food and sit on the couch all day. That wasn't MY story. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't eating super strict and I wasn't killing myself in the gym 24/7. But, I hadn't changed a single thing I was eating or changed my activity/exercise level, yet within a few months I had mysteriously gained 60+ pounds. Naturally I went to the doctor. I felt terrible. My hair was falling out in clumps, my eyebrows were thinning dramatically, I could literally fall asleep standing up. I was so exhausted all the time and no amount of coffee helped. My skin was super dry to the point that I had cracked and bleeding knuckles. Oh, and don't forget the sudden weight gain. 

I begged my doctor to test me for thyroid disease. I could google my symptoms. I used webmd. It had to be my thyroid right? Try telling that to a doctor who's unwilling to listen. It took months of back and forth with him to get him to listen. All the while, more pounds were showing up on the scale all the time with no explanation. When he finally checked my TSH level (thyroid stimulating hormone) it was so far beyond normal he told me I was lucky to be alive. Your thyroid controls basically every function in your body, and mine had stopped working. I could've had a heart attack. I could've died. All because a little butterfly shaped gland decided to quit working. 

It took over a year after that to get my thyroid medication properly regulated to get my levels back to normal. Most people think that once you're on medication to regulate your thyroid, the weight magically drops off. Ha! I wish it were that easy. Unfortunately that doesn't happen. If that were the case, they could simply sell thyroid medication as the new weight loss pill. All that little pill does is keep my thyroid in check. I'm responsible for working my butt off to lose the weight. And, that can be the most depressing part of a diagnosis like this. 

So, this blog is all about my journey and how I lost over 110 pounds and have kept it off. So many people have inspired me in my journey and now it's my turn to inspire others.