I always knew, I mean, I was obese to the point of being in sniffin’ distance of “morbid”, my blood pressure was high, and my blood sugars, while not “high”, were creeping toward high-normal. Clothing was tough to find, as I was getting toward the higher end of what even “women’s departments” in department stores would carry.
What finally got me started on the path of weight loss was life insurance. I had plenty of insurance through my job. Our company was sold to another company. Health insurance was grandfathered in. Life insurance was not. I was turned down because of my weight. This was 3 months after we’d bought a new house, and with insufficient life insurance, there was the real risk that if I croaked, Papa Zappa and the kids would lose the house. So I joined WW, and after 8 months reapplied for insurance, and got approved. Phew!
I remember exactly what I was wearing. Jean shorts with a belt (that were, of course, too tight) and a pink tank top. I was walking with my boyfriend down around the beach. We stopped at a light to cross the street (I even remember it was Garnet Avenue and Jewell Street) and because I was warm from walking, my shorts felt even tighter. I’d been dealing with this for awhile (all my life, really) and was just SICK OF IT!!! I’d seen hideous pictures of me before, and was well aware I was overweight, but I was just so bloody tired of always feeling uncomfortable clothes.
I decided right then and there that I needed to go home, look up WW in the phone book, and find out when their nearest meeting was. Two days later, I was in a meeting and getting started.
I started having chest pains, but my EKG was normal. Turned out to be acid reflux because my pants were too tight.
It was already in the back of my mind to try to lose, though, especially after I caught my reflection in the wall-size mirrors of a dance practice room.
You know…I’m not so sure I want to lose weight. For years I was around 5’10", 175 of mostly muscle but I looked kind of thin. At 200lbs I just look like a big dude (and most people don’t think I look 200 lbs). I wouldn’t mind losing about 10-15 lbs around the middle though.
My defining moment was when I went to the doctor and found that I’d gained nineteen pounds since the last time I’d been there just a few months before. If I’d kept going at that rate I’d have ended up as wide as I was tall in about no time at all. I dropped 30 lbs. and have been keeping it off. I ain’t going back. I felt and looked like a blob.
