#TBT Throw Back Thursday A Special Story

For Throw Back Thursday today I thought I would share with you a problem or perhaps cause that is near and dear to me heart. Granted it is not the only cause that is important to me, but it is one that I have some first hand experience with. Childhood obesity is something that seems to be a growing problem here in the US. Why it is becoming such a problem I do not know. In my personal opinion it is a combination of many factors and there is no one solution.  Regardless I am going to share with you why it concerns me as my piece for Throw Back Thursday.

Those of you who no me well may not believe me but as a child I was extremely over weight.  (See the pictures below)  I am not sure when it started to happen. When I look back pictures of myself I see a rather average sized first grader but then I look at pictures from the fourth grade (around age ten) and I see the extra pounds mounting. In fact in the fourth grade I went on my first diet, the Slimfast diet. If you don’t know that one it is when you have shake in the morning and at lunch and then a normal dinner. Lets just say that even before this the kids at school made fun of me all the time because off my weight and being on this diet did not help. 

Like you may have guessed this diet did not work and by the time I was in the 6^th grade (ages 11-12) I weighed a staggering 160 pounds. That might not sound like a lot to some people, but keep in mind I am short even now I am only 5 feet tall so you can picture how tall I was at age 12. Now you may say I am wrong in doing so, but at least in my case, I blame my weight gain on my family. While my mother was very slim and careful about what she ate she didn’t care what I consumed. If I wanted an ice cream sandwich for breakfast that was what I ate, if I wanted 5 slices of pizza that was fine too. 

While in 6^th grade I tried my next diet weight watchers.  Unfortunately with no help or guidance from my family this too failed for me.

By the time I hit end of the 7^th grade, I weighed 180 pounds, lacked self-confidence, the kids were always teasing me and I was desperate to get rid of the extra weight.  Around this time Nutri-system became very popular.  Although it was expensive my mom agreed to sign me up.  More determined than ever I stuck with this diet and guess what the weight started to come off.

Great, you might be thinking right? Well, yes and no.  I dieted all through 8^th grade sticking to the plan and then something happened that summer before I started high school. I don’t know what exactly but I went in the opposite direction as before.  I started eating less and less and exercising more and more. By the time I started 9^th grade, I was down to about 90 pounds. People stopped making fun of me. They kept telling me how great I looked.  I didn’t see it though. I kept restricting and that December I was hospitalized for the first time at 60 pounds.

Before the end of that school year I would be hospitalized two more times, before I stabilized at a weight of 100 pounds which I managed to maintain until I got pregnant with my first daughter.

Today you may look at me and never guess the problems I had when I was younger.  Trust me though I have never looked at food or my body the way many people do. To this day I still get obsessed the numbers on the scale and how many calories I put in my body and perhaps I always will. Thankfully though I have learned to recognize the signs when I am going to far and I have a supportive husband.

So why did I tell you all this?  Well, only because I do not want any other children to go through this. While yes they might not get teased like they did when I was in school extreme amounts of extra weight is not healthy for them. How do we stop it? Honestly I am not sure, but not letting children bring cupcakes into school on their birthday is not the answer. I know with my girls I try to teach them to eat healthy, restrict, not eliminate, the junk like donuts and ice cream and keep them healthy. I also keep them active.

So why did I share this? Simple because I hope that if you know a child who is struggling with weight problem you will step in an help them. Maybe teach them about healthy eating or help them find some physical activity that they enjoy. 

Thanks for stopping by and reading. If you have any thoughts or comments please leave me.

Father daughter dance in Kindergarten age 5

Before 8th grade age 13 (that is me in the white T-shirt)

End of 8th grade age 14

Fall of Freshman year age 14

May of Freshman year age 15

Senior year of high school age 18