On My Weigh

Welcome to my web site! Thank you for joining me on my weight loss journey. My name is Anna. I joined Weight Watchers on November 16, 2000 and I’ve lost over 75 pounds! On Thursday, August 2, 2001, I reached my Weight Watcher’s goal. This website truly was a big part of how I managed to lose the weight.

Since I made Lifetime, I have had two more children and have gotten back to my Weight Watcher’s goal weight after each one. Unfortunately, after reaching goal the last time, I pretty much shot right back up. It was somewhat gradual, which made it easier to pretend it wasn’t as bad as it was. And in that time I gave up on this site. At first I pretended that I stopped maintaining the site because I’d kind of outgrown it, but the truth is, I was embarrassed.

I’m still embarrassed, but I have got to do something about this weight. I am not who I want to be right now and it’s affecting more than my clothing purchases. It’s affecting my psyche. So here I am again. I’m going to keep up with this site and let it help me get back to goal. If you’re trying to lose weight, too, I hope you find use for something on this site.

If you have any problems or questions, email me at Anna @ this domain name. If I haven’t responded after a couple of days, try again. I respond to every personal email… well, everyone that I manage to read. Oh, and I used to have this statement on my web site and it was a big fat lie for the past year. But it’s the truth again. I *will* respond!

Not enough about me? Okay, here’s some more…

My name is Anna and I’m a Campus Instructional Technologist at an elementary school in Central Texas. I’m a graduate of the Univerisity of Texas in Austin with a degree in Communication Sciences & Disorders. I’ve been married eleven years to Jonathan. I plan to be married to him for at least until forever. We have two beautiful daughters, ages 6 years and 4 years, and one handsome son, who is very very two.

When I was a young child, I didn’t really have a weight problem. I think Mom was really good at limiting snacks and having healthy food around. I’m guessing that, anyway, because I just don’t remember. The first time I remember being aware of my size and feeling big was in 5th grade, but frankly that was because I was developing a bit faster than my peers. :-O In middle school, I felt chunky but not huge or anything. In high school was when I started being very conscious of my body and size. I remember myself being very chunky. When I look at photos, I wasn’t… I had more weight than I needed, but I wasn’t as big as I remember feeling. My junior and senior years I was a good weight though.

Then I graduated high school. Freshmen year of college I was proud that I didn’t put on the “Freshman 15.” Heck, I’d only put on five! And then another five my sophomore year. And basically, about five or six pounds every year after that. Five pounds isn’t so bad is it?

I was wearing a size 12 or 14 wedding dress when I married in ‘95. I don’t remember exactly when it was that I had to stop buying 12’s and realize I was a 14. It was the size 16 though, that really made me cry. What had happened? I remember my favorite skirt my junior year of high school - a seven! Now, all along, I’d “tried” to lose weight. I can’t tell you how much money I dumped into SlimFast shakes - it was that “sensible dinner” that wasn’t so sensible. I tried the soup diet, but you had to have grapefruit and grapefruit quite literally makes me gag. I tried Dexitrim. I tried eliminating snacks. It just wasn’t working. I would feel deprived and then feel like I really deserved to eat all that garbage. I tried telling myself that I was happy at my weight. Besides, Jonathan loved me and that’s all that really mattered, right? Uhh… no.

In July of 2000 I got a good look at myself and I was ill at the sight. I realized that the photos weren’t lying. I really was a fat girl. I had a five month old daughter then, that I couldn’t blame for my weight gain - I’d gotten back to prepregnancy FAT weight within a week or two after having her. But I gained my five pounds over that. From July to November of 2000, I really hated myself. At least my body, anyway. I avoided scales, I avoided mirrors. I glanced away from windows and doors that I could catch my reflection in. It was in November that it finally clicked for me. My daughter was starting to express herself more, and I realized that one day she would have to descibe me to someone. I cried at the thought she might use the word “fat.” So I decided I really needed to do something about it. I needed a life change.

On November 16, 2000, I went to my first Weight Watcher’s meeting. I did it for me. I lost the weight pretty quickly and it was because I was pretty good at sticking to the program. I got to goal in August, 2001. Then I had a baby in February, 2002. I got back to goal with a bit of work but not too hard. Then I had a baby in March, 2004. And I got back to goal after a bit longer time… and then I got a bit crazy. So here, about five years since I reached goal, I’m not back where I started, but I’ve been headed in that direction for far too long. Probably 9 to 12 months. So I’m back.