September I always loved school. I loved learning, and shopping for all the new school clothes. But I hated having to buy clothes in sizes that were bigger than last year. When I became a teacher, it was very depressing trying to find anything to wear because I continued to get bigger and bigger. It was the perfect month to “start a new diet”—a fresh school year, and a fresh start at my attempt to lose weight. October Halloween is the first of the year’s events that I think of as the food addict’s “Trifecta,” a term used in horseracing in which a bettor wins by selecting the first three finishers of a race in the correct order of finish. Halloween has always been a favorite holiday for me, not only because of the sweets. I love disguises and costumes, but I could never fit into any of the good-looking costumes... Continue Reading
Summer. Season of fun, right? At a little over 5’3″ tall and at least 170 pounds, summer fun was not as simple as all that. There was always the question of what to wear, for instance. In New England, summers are hot and sticky. If I decided to dress appropriately for the weather, I had to endure the pain of my thighs rubbing together, or walk like a penguin to keep them apart. If I couldn’t face the pain or the penguin walk, I had to decide between my black jeans, my dark blue jeans, or my dark green jeans. No matter what I chose to wear from the waist down, I always wore the same huge, black, tattered T-shirt that made me feel thin as it billowed around me. Swimming was its own story, of course. To wear a bathing suit or not? I lived in an area where... Continue Reading
Thanks to this wonderful program, I spent this past summer in a bikini, traveling to Mexico with a fellow. We danced on top of a boat to oldies and pumpin’ music. We hung out in our bikinis all day long, every day. It was hot and muggy and I was loving it, because parts of my body that used to chafe in the heat no longer touch. You see, when I was a teenager, my dad took me to Greece every summer. Huge blessing! I had amazing summers in Greece. We would walk and walk, visiting the ancient sights of the Oracle at Delphi or the ancient theater of Epidauros. We’d stroll all evening amongst the whitewashed buildings and marble streets. It was heaven. What my dad doesn’t know is that I had to have my plus-size aunt buy me cotton biker-shorts underwear, made for overweight people, to wear under... Continue Reading
Five years ago I came into FA, desperate to lose weight. I weighed 330 pounds and was ravaged by medical complications. I had sleep apnea, hypertension, fibromyalgia, renal failure, incipient heart failure, premature osteoarthritis, and pre-diabetes. At the age of 55, and after decades of obesity, my body had lost its ability to buffer any further insults. It had lost its functional reserve to the point where organs were starting to fail and show the clinical effects of longstanding food abuse. The only option open was bariatric surgery. Nothing else had worked and I thought nothing else was available or would work. I had reached rock bottom. Some would say that it was serendipity that I heard about FA while driving home. For me it was nothing less than a miracle, because the week before I found FA, I was on my knees crying and praying to God to give... Continue Reading
I went to my first FA meeting in Virginia—only three miles from home. I felt self conscious in my 51-year-old, 5’ 6”, 206-pound bloated body, next to those lean, healthy women. Relief came when they said I didn’t have to speak, only introduce myself. I tried to get comfortable on the grey metal chair and listen as a woman who had lost 100 pounds talked about what FA had done for her life. I was magically motivated by her story and decided to stop eating flour and sugar. When I got home, I found a diet on the Web that excluded flour and sugar products and I woke up the next morning determined. After a few days, my husband asked, “What’s wrong with you?” I was experiencing withdrawal symptoms, including headaches and a short temper, but I didn’t let that stop me. The second week, I went to another FA meeting. ... Continue Reading
