Introduce yourself

Hi all,      I'm a married (Mark) 41-year-old with three kids (Brendan 14, Caitlin 11, Erin 7).  Mark's a school teacher/wheat farmer, and I'm a Physician Assistant.  I'd always been in orthopedic surgery, but my surgeon moved away, and I haven't gone back to work yet.  (7th grade is looking iffy for Caitlin now anyway, so we may be back to homeschooling this fall)  I'm not listing all the pets cause that gets insane around our place! LOL  Let's just say there are MANY.  :-)  My 18th wedding anniversary will be this December.        I have never remembered a time when I didn't have a binge eating disorder (picture a 4-year-old sitting on the floor and shoveling an entire 20" cheesecake tray down until she exceeded her stomach volume and spewed it back up all over the floor), but I was always so active (swimming, horseback riding, hiking, etc...) that I maintained a normal weight until about the age of 27.  I just waffled back and forth between 120-125 and never would have believed in a million years that I was going to allow myself to become fat.  Enter my pregnancy with Brendan.  I'm one of those people who had morning sickness 24 hours a day and literally wouldn't get off the couch unless I was on a sugar high.  The nausea kept me from exercising and boom...by the end of that pregnancy I was 175.  Tried to re-start exercising too soon/too fast/too hard right after childbirth to take the weight off and broke a bone in my right foot that has interfered with exercise ever since.  Follow that up with another pregnancy that got me to 200 and then PCOS, and I just kept climbing.  I made an attempt at rapid weight loss in 2000 (ate no sugar and ultra low-fat) which resulted in an emergent case of gallstones and the loss of my gallbladder.  It also temporarily reversed a few of my PCOS symptoms and boom...pregnant again.  I think I was probably around 225 by the end of that one.  Then I think I just quit caring and kept climbing.  The highest weight a doctor caught me at was 244, but I was probably higher numerous times.  I'll never know though since I stop weighing myself anytime I'm out of control.  Starting with the HMR medically supervised program in 2003 (I went from 222 to 180 in about 12 weeks) and then a number of solo attempts on my own, I have slowly see sawed my weigh downwards. I re-started my current attempt on August 28th (the day after my birthday) and have gone from 216 to 152 so far.  Each time I've re-gained, it's been to a lower high.  And each time I've lost, it's been to a lower low.  I'm hoping that this time, since I've finally come to grips with staying on Wellbutrin forever, that I won't lose control of my compulsions again in a major way.      I basically eat between 1,250-1,500 calories most days with no sugar and keeping the fat low.  I shoot for 100-120oz of water each day.  Most weeks I make it to the gym twice for two hours of cardio and weight training.  The rest of my exercise is mostly on my treadmill which I have sitting in front of the TV.  I do it 1-2x/day for about 50-55 minutes a session while I watch movies.  Since my knees are trashed, I walk at 3.8 mph rather than running. I keep a 3# dumbbell in each hand the whole time and work my arms constantly.  I need to get up close and personal with my stability ball, but for now, it's still gathering dust in my corner. LOL For now I'm still shooting for 2#/week in the weight loss department, but as I get closer to goal, at some point, I'll probably reduce that to 1#/week since I'm aiming for a pretty lean BMI.

 This was a great thread.  It's amazing to see the different personalities and get to know everyone better.  Well, I guess I better get off the computer and get ready to go to work; I haven't had a computer at work, except for a couple of hours yesterday since Thursday.  I miss checking in with you guys, so I got up early to do that. LOL.  Anyway, hope everyone has a GREAT day. Angie P.S.  Maybe my computer will be back this morning, I sure hope so!!!!! I'm a board junkie.