When I started with this site in Dec 2007 I weighed 185. My goal weight is150! After gaining 18 pounds of 38 pounds previously lost, I was determined to retake my ground by eating for health and dropping my weight in the process.

At my highest weight I weighed 205 pounds.

I can proudly say that not long ago I reached my goal weight!!!!! Thus far, I have lost 35 pounds on this site and now I am maintaining.

That is why I want to take this time to ...

When I started with this site in Dec 2007 I weighed 185. My goal weight is150! After gaining 18 pounds of 38 pounds previously lost, I was determined to retake my ground by eating for health and dropping my weight in the process.

At my highest weight I weighed 205 pounds.

I can proudly say that not long ago I reached my goal weight!!!!! Thus far, I have lost 35 pounds on this site and now I am maintaining.

That is why I want to take this time to thank each and every one of you who has been here for me when I really needed encouragement and a listening ear! Spark People friends have been and remain my lifeline.

Here is my story and I hope it will encourage anyone who has had problems with weight.

I had always been rather slim and had not had much trouble with weight gain until when several years back I suffered separated cartilage in my ribs and have had to deal with chronic pain. To help deal with that pain I was given medications which caused a lot of weight gain. In 2 months I had gained 30 pounds and my weight kept rising.

At first I didn't understand what was happening. I tried to diet like I had done in the past to get rid of 5-10 pounds, but even on my old standby diets I only either held my own or kept gaining. I couldn't understand why these trusted diets were not working for me anymore! I finally found out from my doctor that it was my medication. She had given me antidepressents to "help" deal with the pain, but they added pounds and subtracted willpower.
She tried several other medications but they all had the side effects of possible weight gain.

When normally I would have said to my self "Hey, you better get yourself together before you start having bad health problem!" I was instead lulled by these meds into not caring about my weight at first and then not having the willpower to do anything about it once I realized what had happened.

With the accident that brought this on I had to quit performing due to pain at first, but then afer the weight gain I lost my desire to go back to performing on stage. I was a singer and musician, but the larger I got the more embarassed I became about getting up in front of an audience. I had always been thin. I didn't want to be seen on stage any more for fear people would make fun of my weight, and some did. So with pounds gained I lost, no just gave up, a performing career that I had enjoyed for a large part of my life.

My highest weight was 205 pounds. At that point I decided even if the pain had to stay... the meds had to go! It was not helping to try to solve a health problem by creating more serious ones (high cholestrol, high blood pressure, foot surgery, etc.)

I changed doctors. Under my new doctor I received meds that weren't antidepressants and didn't cause weight gain. His treatment for FMS was aimed at the cause which he believes to be a central nervous system problem. He gave me medication that I could take as needed and were aimed at helping relieve muscle spasms which was one of my predominate and most painful of symptoms.

I was referred to a weight loss clinic and lost 30 pounds using a diet similar to the one found here on SP. Unfortunately after I lost that 30 pounds the clinic abandoned the diet plan that had worked so well for me, replacing with plan that not only didn't work, but on which I gained a few pounds. I quit the program and struck out on my own!

Because the plan that worked for me was a lifestyle also, I kept the weight I had lost off and lost 10 more pounds in subsequent years. This worked well for 3 years until I lost the last 5 pounds I would lose on that diet. My schedule and life had become extremely busy. I was eating out for almost every meal, at times for a week or two solid, and my unwise food choices, along with not knowing how to calculate in my head the calories I put onto my body, led me to gain 18 pounds.

For me it took that 18 pound weight gain to realize what was happening. I was in trouble and needed help! I searched the internet for that help and prayed a lot about it. Then on My Points I was refered to a site called Spark People and it was FREE! I decided, why not give it a try? It certainly couldn't hurt.

Now I have been here on SP since Dec 12, 2007 and I have used SP guidelines ever since. The SP program is a support driven, factual, POSITIVE, and uplifting program that really does work!

One of the biggest aids to me here on SP has been the motivation I have received from SP information articles, tracking methods for fitness and nutrition, and the personal support I have received from my many spark friends on my team message boards.

Also motivating me are the spark goodies, spark page, comments on my blogs, and the spark mail I receive daily from all of the wonderful and true friends I have made here on this site, and have learned I can count on.

I have come to learn that with these tools provided here any goal can be reached, not just weight loss goals, but any goal. The nutrition and fitness trackers may be weight specific, but the motivational and support tools for achieving goals provided here on SP are applicable to achieving success in reaching any goal.

Now I know for sure the SKY IS NOT THE LIMIT they claim it to be, but a doorway to our dreams. Thank you SP for teaching all of us here to open and walk through that door!

YOU ARE THE GREATEST!!!
SPREAD THE SPARK!

Read More About CINDERRELIC (Updated October 31)

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