I am 27 years old, living in suburban Minnesota with my girlfriend, Lacy, and six year old son, Nathan.
Yes, this is us in all our super-stereotypical lesbian glory.
And this super-stellar lil' fella is Nathan.
I’ve pretty much been overweight my entire life. I wore the special “1/2” sizes in elementary school, and I wore misses sizes by middle school. In 8th grade I weighed 205 lbs. I made a vow to myself that I would get skinny and I’d get this one person to notice me when I got to high school. I spent the rest of that year starving myself. Skipping lunches, hiding food, I had a problem. But I made it. I entered my freshman year of high school in a brand new pair of size 9 Tommy Hilfiger jeans.
Of course, once I began eating again, that charade was up and I gained it all back, wham bam, thank you ma’am. I eventually evened out and was around 180 lbs. when I graduated high school in 2002.
After high school, I mostly lived on cigarettes, pot, and Diet Coke. Needless to say, I dropped a few sizes and was somewhere around 150 lbs. and happy with my body for a while. In November of 2003, I got pregnant. I was barely 20 and it threw my life up in the air. I had a complicated pregnancy and a “rush rush, hush hush” wedding, and I ate my way through the pregnancy, coming out the other side over 200 pounds and in a size 20.
I knew I was a lesbian trapped in a heterosexual marriage with a baby – it wasn’t easy! The one thing that saved me was my best friend. We each topped the scales at a whopping 253 pounds, and on New Year’s Eve 2005, we promised each other we’d do it together. And we did. We started eating healthier, and we dropped weight like it wasn’t anything! We got a yoga DVD and the pounds came off quicker. After I had lost 75 pounds, I joined a gym, and in 6 months I weighed in at a very tone 140 lbs and a size 8.
Things back then were simple. I was a stay-at-home mom, with an unemployed bestfriend… He and I would wake up, get stoned, do yoga, he’d babysit, I’d go to the gym for three hours, get stoned, come home, do pilates and ab workouts together, make a healthy dinner, smoke pot, get sleep, and do it all over again.
I know pot wasn’t the healthiest thing out there, but for me it was a vice, I didn’t have food to turn to, but I had that… and I had unlimited time….and a babysitter…and support!
I moved out and on to my own at the end of 2006 and the weight started creeping back…My best friend got a job and wasn’t around a lot, it came back faster. Mid-2007 I got a full-time job working for a law firm in Minneapolis– lots of hours and stress! I had quit smoking pot, couldn’t get to the gym, had no support and a desk job.
The pounds are back. All but about 15 of them. Weighing in at 238.9 as I write this, I am sick of being the fat girl. I had that taste of that other life and I want it back, so bad! I want to be able to feel good about myself, wear what I want, and do the things a mother should be able to! Like run around after my son!
Lacy is in the same boat I am, weighing in about 5 lbs more than me at last check. We together have decided that it’s time to take the bull by the horn and make realistic lifestyle choices. Choices that will help us to lose weight, be healthy and set a good example for Nathan.
I think I’m a little more motivated than she is, but I’ve worked hard and tasted the glory before and I am ready to make healthy part of my lifestyle. Kiss these pounds goodbye, baby!
