This Is My Story

My name is Mary and my alter-ego is Poochy.  I would like to say I was born fat but I left my mother's womb at a normal 7 pounds 6 ounces.  I didn't start to see an issue with my weight until I was about 4 or 5 years old.  I could safely say that I was one of the fattest girls in my class throughout grade and high school notwithstanding that little bout at the beginning of 7th grade when I'd lost weight over the summer.  It's funny how I knew the secret to weight loss back then and and still thirty some years later like to fight it. Eat less and move more. How boring, right?

I've tried a ton of diets even at a young age.  I think my first Weight Watchers meeting was around 10 years old and then there was TOPS and when Jane Fonda had me making it burn, I was busy analyzing if taking laxatives to lose weight was really that dangerous.

I have spent tons of money on diet products from hypnotists, Deal a Meal, books....OMG do I have books!  I never did diet pills much maybe once or twice and I never had my jaw wired shut because when I was researching that, I realized that I, too, could suck raw cookie dough through a straw if I really wanted to.

I'm now on this new weight loss surgery kick.  I had the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy (VSG) in October of 2011 weighing in at 431.2 pounds and I'm down roughly 150 pounds.  It's by far twice the most weight I've ever lost.  I'm in the 2nd year with my opportunity to lose closing in and I need to make sure that I don't lose my focus.  You know that phrase I wrote above... Eat less and move more.

Some days I do really good and others well, I'm normal.  I like my Reese Peanut Butter Cups just like some of you do.  I definitely move more but I'm not a gym rat.  I am fortunate to have a wellness trainer where I work and he's so proud of me, he asked me to shoot a video for their website.  He's also the one that told me to buy the little black dress and to not give a damn what other's may think. Wow was he right!  I never had so much attention.  I felt like a million bucks.   I often tell him that I wish he was that little guy on my right shoulder shouting these things to me every time my inner-voice keeps trying to tell me the opposite.

The Little Black Dress
279 pounds December 2012
152 pounds lost. 

My goal weight is between 140 and 150 pounds but I really try to not concentrate on the number on the scale, there's so much more important things like Reese Peanut Butter Cups  living life and doing what makes you happy.  It really is important.  I've spent so many years trying to figure out what made me fat that I could write about it for the next 50 years or so.  If only I had concentrated on what truly makes me happy and then doing it.  I encourage you to do the same.  Dig down deep and find your happy.  I promise it will make your journey so much easier.

I should admit my downfalls... let's see you know about the Peanut Butter cups and no, I do not like them with my eggs.  Catsup or Ketchup is for eggs. I suffer from Squirrel Syndrome - dogs playing frisbee sees a squirrel and runs... that's me. It is also known as "something shiny syndrome"  I will try to stay on topic but I can't make any promises.  Especially, if Shameless is on Showtime or Jax does something on Son's of Anarchy, or I must rant or rave about The Biggest Loser.

I have a family.  A super, great family.  I am on my second and last marriage for the last 4 years.  He would have been my first, but he wasn't old enough.  That officially makes me a cougar. He brought to the marriage two wonderful children I have the pleasure of helping raise.  We are a normal family that fights one minute and loves the next.  My husband has a few television obsessions as well.  The Food Network being one. I fondly refer to it as Food Porn and the second, being Dr. Phil.  I haven't nicknamed this obsession yet, because I can't gauge how long it will last...