I can remember a time when I wasn't the chubby kid or the fat guy. Right now, that seems hard to imagine. There was a time when the pediatrician suggested that I was underweight and that my parents needed to fix that! I remember him suggesting that they add Carnation Instant Breakfast to my diet. A the time, I thought that was cool! They were yummy and my brothers couldn't have them! All was well until about half way through middle school.
In seventh grade I remember my clothes started getting tighter. That was weird to me. As the school year came to a close and we went through summer I moved up a size or two in my pants. I was starting to get chubby around the middle. Hmmm? I remember think I would just grow out of it.
By high school, I had managed to take most of the extra weight off by walking every evening with my mom. Ninth grade was pretty normal throughout the year. Then some emotionally stressful things began to happen: my first real break-up, a major car accident and a re dedication to Christianity. I also started my job at the supermarket deli. This was a major turning point. The deli was famous for their submarine sandwiches, of which I regularly partook. By the end of my sophomore year, I was in a spiral. All of my friends (who were older than me) were graduating and moving away. I was left to find a new group of friends, a new youth group and yes, a new girlfriend. My life was out of control. My eating was out of control. I was faced with my first bout of depression, which just piled on more weight. I was up to 215 pounds by the beginning of my Senior year.
I tried unsuccessfully to get the weight off for about a year. I graduated high school and went away to school. This was also the time that Allison and I started courting. We went to school together (she was there a year earlier..remember the friends that left for school). We had a short engagement and got married in March 1996. I experienced the weight gain that is usual for the newly married and the freshman in college weight gain right around the same time.
Almost exactly a year after we got married, we had our first child. Again, more stress= more weight. I got up to 235 pounds at age 22. I remember that shocking me. I tried a lot of diets and unhealthy chemically enhanced powders and drinks and was able to get down to 190 and stay around there for about a year. Then life got harder, I started to let go and the weight came back with a vengeance.
Fast forward about 14 years, almost as many failed diets and you'll be in the present. Only, the weight has gotten higher. 235 was my high point for about ten years, then all of a sudden I was 245, then 250, and now a lifetime high of 263. It is amazing to me, that it has gotten to this point.
On other pages I will talk about what this has meant for my health, my social life, and what I plan to do about it!
