Copyright © 2011 by Melissa Tucker
Weight Loss
My name is Melissa. I am a mother of two young boys and have been married for almost twelve years.
I have never been the “skinny” girl. I have been big as long as I can remember, or I was lead to think I was anyway. I was picked on in high school, due to my weight, which led me to develop a very low self-esteem. And, being told things by my family like, “You'd be such a pretty girl if you'd lose weight.” didn't help. I know they were trying to help in their own way, but it just made things worse. The more I was reminded of my weight, the more I wanted to eat! Finally, I turned to food for comfort. Comfort is what I thought I had, until one day I was weighing 366 pounds!
I have a strong family history of cardiac disease, stroke, and diabetes. It seems I have tried every diet known to man and every pill. A few of the diets worked for a while, but eventually I would gain the weight back. Being a Respiratory Therapist I knew I had to do something or the the rest of my life was not going to be good. I see people come into the hospital all the time with hypertension, stroke and diabetes. I knew I would end up just like them -- if I didn't do something!
One day I went to the doctor for some medication due to high blood pressure. I knew exactly what he was going to say, “You need to lose weight!” Well I'd heard it before, except they never tell you how. I thought well, if it was that easy to lose weight I would have never gotten this way in the first place. This doctor started me on some HCTZ and it's in the fluid pill family. He wanted to see me back in 10 days. After I left his office, I went to Wal-Mart and bought a lot of the Lean Cuisines and Healthy Choice meals. I had no idea how to cook “healthy.” Since I have always heard watch your portion size, I thought these meals would help me get used to just that.
In those ten days I lost eleven pounds! WOW! That really gave me the jumpstart I needed! I don't know if it was just the pills or a combination of the two. I knew I suddenly had a new outlook on weight loss! I was excited about trying to lose weight. I slowly added my own meals. We found a website to track calories and exercise. As of now, I have lost 178 pounds and I'm not done yet. I still have 40 more I would like to lose. I have a renewed self-esteem. Before I did not realize how miserable I was in my own body. The person I saw in the mirror did not match who I was on the inside. Now the outside is starting to match the person inside and I feel so much better about myself. I have even inspired my family and the people I work with to lose weight. My husband has lost over 100 pounds! We are better spouses and better parents for losing weight. It breaks my heart to think of my children being overweight; because I know the heart ache I went through. I now know how to teach my children the proper things to eat.
Christmas was a few months ago. Around that time, of course, there were many temptations. I had to keep asking myself, “Do you want that dessert or do you want to lose weight?” I did get little nibbles of things that seemed irresistible, except I held myself accountable on those things too. Many people said, "Oh you are just depriving yourself." My conclusion was I had deprived myself my whole life by being overweight!
In a way I am glad I was overweight, because I knew who my true friends were and who loved me for just being ME. God uses many things in our life, good and bad. I'm glad He has used me and my weight issues to help other people in their weight loss journeys. This is something I will have to do the rest of my life. I have learned there is no quick fix in weight loss. It's a continuing process. Once I lose the weight, there is constant maintenance!
Warning: Weight loss attempts are serious life changes that require professional medical attention before starting and constant monitoring during the program. The information provided on this site, is not to be considered as medical advice, nor a substitute for compentent medical assistance during weight loss efforts. The information provided is with the implied understanding that changes in your lifestyle should be attempted only as directed by your physician and/or health-care-professional.
Melissa Tucker
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