How I took control of my body

My name is Laura, and by fashion standards I have always had a weight problem. My Mom has said I was so fat when learning to walk I would knock myself down. As I got older, I obviously thinned out. I look back at school pictures and I look like an average weight child. I was very active as a child playing outside, riding my bike, marching in a baton group and doing things with the Girl Scouts. When I became a teen and didn’t do as much activity, I slowly started to put on the pounds.
I take after my Dad’s side of the family as far as body shape. I definitely got the Jones hips as my family would lovingly remind me. My Mom’s side of the family is very thin and small. My sister and brother took after her side, so that left me to be constantly kidded about how heavy I was. If you look back at my pictures I really was your average weight teen, but when in a small family I always felt as big as a house. I have always had a healthy appetite. My Mom, sister and brother when younger, ate like a bird. I don’t remember using food for comfort, to me it was always a social event. If I am hungry I eat, nothing really has affected me eating.
I was never good at dieting, rarely making through one day. In my 30’s I hit 190 pounds and went on Jenny Craig loosing 30 pounds over a year’s time. I kept it off for a few years but by the time I turned 40 years old I topped the scales at 215 pounds. My GERD was constantly acting up with heartburn feeling like I had swallowed a sparkler. I became winded very easy and when I lay down I felt like I was suffocating.
I finally decided I needed help getting things under control so I went to my family doctor. He was a thin man very athletic and a cyclist. He was not very helpful; he gave me a book on food and talked to me about exercise. I had been walking 2 miles with my friend for 3-5 days a week for about 3 years, by the time I went to see him. He did not address any of the problems I was having, so I left in the same shape as when I went. I never went back to this doctor. I knew everything he was telling me. If you have never had a weight problem, you don’t have any idea what people go through. Addiction of anything else can be avoided, but you need to eat to survive.
I still had the GERD and trouble breathing so I called Dr John Given’s office to make an appointment. I had seen Dr Given for years for another respiratory condition causing me to sit up at night to sleep. Dr Given had diagnosed me and with medication I can lay flat at night to sleep. I went in for my appointment and explained how winded I would get walking up a flight of steps, the pressure that I felt in my chest constantly and how bad my GERD and the heartburn had gotten. He did some breathing tests and came in the room to talk to me. He explained the Asthma I had as a child had returned. I ask him if he thought it was caused by my weight. He seemed to be searching for the right words to soften the reality of the answer, but the only answer was yes. My weight had caused all the symptoms I had been having for years. I ask him how extremely obese people seem to walk around with little or no breathing problems. His answer, they have a better respiratory system than you do.
We started medication for the Asthma. He told me there is a pill for weight loss and weight control that has been through all the trials and had been approved for quite a while. The name of the pill is a Meridia.
Meridia works by acting on the appetite control center in the brain. The active ingredient in MERIDIA, sibutramine, works in the area of the brain that signals the sense of fullness. Meridia does not suppress your appetite. Find more information at http://www.meridia.net/.
Dr Given ask me if I would like to try the Meridia. I started the Meridia in 2003 and went to his office for monthly check ups. I never felt jittery or any side effects from the Meridia. I ate about ½ of what I normally would eat. I would sometimes over eat out of habit, and then I would feel miserable like I had eaten Thanksgiving dinner. I slowly took the pounds off and finally went to 160 pounds. I continued to walk the 2 miles and began to take belly dance class. I wore a size 18/20 pants when I started and dropped to a size 14.
While I was taking the weight off I was very comfortable, my breathing was getting better and I could move easier. The people around me became very uncomfortable the thinner I became. They wanted the old Laura back. I have always had a good self esteem, but I didn’t like making my friends and family uncomfortable. I didn’t see it at the time, but looking back I see I began to slack off walking and dancing. I slowly started to add 10 pounds. I could feel it in my chest when I would climb a flight of stairs. My clothes were starting to feel tighter and I felt lethargic. Everyone around me felt better that I wasn’t taking anymore weight off, but I was feeling miserable. I was just about to accept my inflated weight and my trouble breathing as part of my life...