WildCats' Stories- Getting to know you!

Hi everyone! My name is Amanda and I hope that I am doing this right! I don't really post on the Forums but I do want to get better at it and make it a regular thing. Well....I am new to the Wildcats Team but I am SOOOOOOO happy to be here. I feel like Buddy Slim is a great support system and the Wildcats can only help me do better.

I have two kids, a 6 year old and an almost 2 year old, both boys. I have been married to my husband for over 2 1/2 years but the two of us have been together for over 9 years. He is a wonderful man and has always been pretty supportive of me. He has NEVER EVER made me feel fat and has always supported me on my many weightloss journeys!

Okay, so here is my story...

I have always struggled with my weight. Even when I was in elementary and junior high, I was overweight. When I got to High School, I started to have self esteem issues and lost A LOT of weight. BUT...I didn't do it the right way. I would not eat and when I did, I would make sure that I either worked it off or got rid of it any other way that I could. The pounds dropped off quickly and I went from being like 180-195 pounds to being like 115-125 my senior year. I had a stupid boyfriend who would remind me when my weight was coming back and a friend who helped me keep it off. We were both on the same boat and doing the same things to lose weight, so we found that if we stuck together, we were supporting eachother and nobody else would find out how unhealthy we were really being. I remember there were days where we would have band practice in the like 105 heat and then leave there to the running park and just run and run and run! I played soccer at the time so this really helped me get my weight down for that. And I honestly believed that I was healthy. People would compliment me, guys started to pay attention to me and all the attention was everything I needed to really give me the boost of confidence. THEN....My little sister found out that I wasn't losing the weight the right ways. She noticed that I was throwing up alot and working out a lot and not eating enough food. AND...she told on me. I hated her at the time but now I see it was a good move. My mom sat me down and talked to me about what I was doing and why it wasn't good for me. She told my friends about what I was doing and they would go to lunch with me and make sure that I was eating and keeping it down. She threatened to put me in some rehab thing. Anyways, it worked. I gained weight and got to like 145-150 which wasn't so bad.

I stayed there until my second year in college. I will admit, I started partying and drinking, and eating ALOT!!!! I met my husband and got comfortable and started not really caring about what I looked like or how big I was. I have always been pretty fashionable and I would dress and look nice even as a bigger girl (which has recently changed) so I always thought that I looked nice but started not realizing that I was getting big. Well I guess I realized it but didn't really care.

I had my first son when I was 22 and gained a lot of weight. I got up to 260 pounds. After having him, I just totally lost control of what I ate and didn't ever work out! I was over 300 pounds by the time that I was 24. I saw a doctor and got on Adipex and joined curves. I lost about 60 pounds over a period of time and got down to about 240 pounds. I stayed at that weight for a while but would fluctuate to about 260. I weighed 260 when I stepped on the scale the day I went into labor with my second son in 2007.

So...Over the years, my weight has fluctuated up and down and I have lost it the right way, the wrong way, the diet way, the pill way, and every other way you can imagine. I have recently lost a little over 20 pounds the RIGHT way and I feel very good about myself. I have realized that although it is slower to come off, it feels great! I have been at the gym almost everyday and have started really paying attention to what I eat. I have started to enter all of my exercise and food consumption into a cool application on my Ipod Touch and it calculates everything for me. It feels so good to be doing this the right way now and I am really feeling confident about what Buddy Slim can help me do and especially about what the Motivation from all of the Wildcats can help me with as well!

So...you wanted to get to know me so, there you go! YOU KNOW IT ALL KNOW!!!!!!