MY JOURNEY TO ACHIEVE
AND MAINTAIN A HEALTHY WEIGHT...

Gail, Sheila,& Marian on the island of Inishmore

I moved from Daytona Beach to Virginia Beach after college to teach and again my normal weight stabilized at about fifteen pounds too much. I looked fine though and wasn’t embarrassed to spend much of my time in a bathing suit. It really wasn’t until I married my husband that I lost the battle of the bulge. He seemed to think I was beautiful regardless of my size and we ate most of our meals in restaurants. Within a couple of years, I gained eighty pounds!!!

Like many overweight people, I’ve tried every diet out there. I lost weight on most of them but eventually put the weight back on. I went on sensible diets (Weight Watchers) and on ridiculous diets (The Hot Dog Diet). Fortunately, I seemed to have what my mother referred to as a “cast-iron stomach” and never suffered any outward ill effects.

I have to say that my favorite diet, and I know this is heresy, was Fen-Phen. I lost 65 pounds before they yanked the good (a.k.a. BAD) Fen off the shelves. What I liked so much about this drug was that it enabled me to eat like a normal person for the first time. I had always been a volume eater. The beauty of Fen-Phen was that I didn’t want much of anything. A few bites satisfied me. I didn’t have to worry about counting calories, fat grams, etc. I just had to make sure that I was eating food with nutritional benefits since I didn’t want much to eat. It was almost like gastric bypass surgery in pill form.

Amy, Katie, and Gail enjoying beautiful Sedona

As was my pattern, the weight came back on and eventually I joined Weight Watchers for the second time. I was at my heaviest weight and feeling desperate. I was also well into my forties and beginning to feel concerned about the long-term effects on my health. I had started exercising fairly regularly in my late thirties, thanks to my friend, Marian, but while I was strong and toned, I was still fat. I jumped into Weight Watchers with both feet, going to weekly meetings and diligently keeping my food journal and following the program. Within fourteen months, I lost 85 pounds! That was an amazing and powerful experience! When you feel that good about yourself, you can’t imagine ever going backwards again.

Sometime late in that second year, I gained ten pounds while on vacation in Puerto Rico. For the first time since starting Weight Watchers, I didn’t come home from vacation and jump right back into the following the program. I played with those ten pounds for the next year, losing four and gaining three, losing five and gaining four. I wasn’t really worried, as I still looked good and healthy. I felt certain that I’d eventually get serious and get to my goal. A gain of another ten pounds came in the fourth year, and an additional ten each year after that, until I found myself with half of the 85 pounds back!

As I write this, I am in my sixth year at Weight Watchers. I pay every week and continue to go to meetings each week as well. I have an extraordinarily supportive leader, Eileen, who never fails to encourage me, and a wonderful Weight Watchers friend, Elaine, whose journey has been similar to mine. Thank goodness for their laughter and support! The program didn’t fail me. It works beautifully. The knowledge and support that I’ve received is invaluable. Once I quit following the program as written, I quit being successful. My body has simply gained and lost weight too many times to lose weight on a “partial diet.” Following the program five days a week instead of seven isn’t good enough for my metabolism. I know myself well enough to know that if I quit going to meetings and if I quit having to be accountable for my weight gain, I’d gain all the weight back—and fast!

Gail and Marian braving the wild Irish coast

When I made the trip to Jamaica in November 2006, with my good friends, Lisa and Steve, I was in what I called a “crisis mode.” I had put enough weight back on so that I felt “fat” again. Lisa and I talked incessantly about our weight issues, as we tend to do when we get together, and she had recently undergone gastric bypass surgery to help her lose weight. At our resort, we were naturally surrounded by all the food and alcohol one could want. The more I watched her eat (post-surgery), this idea of 5-4-3-2-1 formed. I needed something “new” to get me excited again about eating right, and I needed something that was going to enable me to be healthy. Click the button below to learn more about the 5-4-3-2-1 diet plan.

The Journey continues...wish me luck! Gail
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