Annie

Female

37

Carolina, U.S, Puerto Rico

FedEx Handler/DOT

I am a 37yr old mother of 1 beautiful daughter. Her name is Lee-Mei, she is 13yrs of age. I am a single mom and have been since 1995. When her dad and I, decided to go our separate ways I had fallen into a deep depression and from 140lbs. I had ballooned to 210lbs. in my 5'3" stature I was really round. Anyways, I was like that until 2001. I had friends and close relatives who would make me feel as though I was not worthy just because of my weight...bless their souls. I started going to bookstore that was nearby my house and came upon a fitness mag. I started turning the pages and likes what I saw. Seeing fit women and how good they looked with their toned body and all. So, I went to New York for vacation in April of 2001 and decided to go to one of the bookstores they had in Manhattan. It was about a fat loss book, it talked about diets and talked about combining weight loss with exercise and so on. I read that book every single day, even on the plane on my way back to Puerto Rico. So, I started the diet and did not start exercising until I was disciplined enough with the consistency of the diet. Then about a month into the diet I began to go to the local track and field. I started walking, I would not last 5 minutes walking and I would be out of breath. I would walk back to my car and go home, and I would literally drive home crying. This is the honest truth. But I would go back every day to the track and field and every day it was the same thing. I kept going, and in August I signed up for a gym membership. Through all this I was training with the help of the 4 fitness mags I would buy and read and use the routines they had and mix and match. It was not easy. I had a hard time figuring out what machine was for what. By September I had lost a great deal of weight remember my starting weight was 210lbs. and lost 20lbs. That motivated me, I was in the gym doing cardio and weight training from Monday to Saturday and a lot of the gym members noticed how much I had lost and they would comment on how serious I was with my journey to getting fit and looking good : ) So by December of 2001, I had dropped 65lbs. all together. It's amazing how the body works, the more heavier you are the "easier" it is for a person to loose weight because of the work load it goes thru when it starts to really move!!! Anyways, I had kept training for 3 years consistently. I would take a week or 2 from the gym in a 3 month period to "rest" although I would walk in the Old San Juan and around town some days. Then I injured myself a year later and was out for a year. When I went back to the gym I was unable to exercise because my injury (work related) was still tender so I did not go back to the gym until 3 years later. I started to work out again and this time I was able to get into gear. The only thing is that I was so strict about diet and exercise I kind of went the wrong route I wanted so much to loose 20lbs. and lost the 20lbs. in one month and one week. I was able to keep the weight off 2 years. Then at the gym that I was going to they started to remodel and a lot of the machines were not kept up to date and there were only 2 treadmills working, the elliptical machines were breaking down constantly and the stationary bikes weren't better either. Anyways, I got frustrated and left and have been out for a year and a half and guess what I have gained 25 pounds and a little bit more. From 128lbs. I am now weighing 160lbs. And now I am trying to muster up my motivation again and start working out. I enrolled in another gym, this was in May of this year and I started to exercise but the trainers never came to my aid and explained to me the functions of there high tech weight training machines, in other words I felt like Alice in Wonderland and I did explained to the trainers that I was coming back after a long period of time from not working out and with that they left me to be. Pardon me for my frustration. Don't get me wrong there are a lot of reputable trainers and there are others that are not. So now I am trying, trying to go back to the gym. But I feel that I would be lost in the gym. I need to get back on track, it's not an option. Forgot to mention after loosing all the weight the first time my daughter was able to give me a hug. She told me she loved the way I looked and was not embarrassed of me anymore and how she was able to wrap her arms around All around my waist. I have a tween daughter and I do not want her to think it's okay to over weight. Children are frightfully honest and it will be very difficult for her to manage that honesty if she becomes over weight. Children adore their parents and emulate what they see in them. Because we are suppose to set an example to them and she'd think it's okay to be overweight.