Banach - Miri
July 1, 2010
My name is Miriam, but a friend once started calling me Miri when she found out I was a closet Trekker. (Kudos to those who know the reference) I'm a forty something wife to an amazingly talented musician (who hasn't quit his day job yet) and we've been married for 20 years. We have an amazingly smart son who is a pretty good kid. We've recently entered his adolescent years though and it's looking to be an interesting journey. We have 2 fur babies – 11 year old Belle, yellow lab, and 10 year old Mao, russian blue. We all live in Aurora, Colorado along with quite a few of our relatives. DH and I lived in Europe for 5 years (German-4, Italy-2) while I was on active duty with the USAF, but as wonderful as that was, we both are glad to be back here.
While I was growing up, I was always a little chubby, but never really fat – curvy and mature when I hit high school. When I joined the AF, I finally got truly healthy and active, but even then I was always near the max (145 lbs) the AF allowed for my height (5'4”). When I got pregnant and we came back to the US (at 5 months) I gained 70 lbs and weighed 221 lbs on the day DS was born. Apparently I had decided that I needed to eat at every fast food restaurant I had missed while out of the country and ate and ate and ate – ugh! Then it was time to go back to work (I had taken 3 months off) and I had only managed to get back to 188 and I only had 3 more months to get the remaining 43 lbs off. I decided to not re-enlist instead (there were other reasons as well) and I gave up on myself – at least health and weight-wise. I decided to go back to school and get my bachelor's degree and on my graduation day (2005) I weighed 243 lbs!
That's when I decided to go to WW. My mom is a lifetime member and I started going with her. I had managed to get down to almost 200 when a serious of injuries and surgeries sidelined and derailed me. I gained 25 lbs back but then got back on track. However, after nearly a year of losing the same 5 lbs over and over again no matter how hard I tried, I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome). (It was so nice to know that I wasn't weak-willed and destined to be fat...that there was a reason I was having fight so hard for those same 5 lbs. On the plus side the doc told me that if I hadn't been working so hard, I would probably have gained another 20 to 30 lbs!) I discovered that I had one of the common issues of PCOS – I was insulin resistant. The doc put me on a drug usually given to diabetics. It was a couple of months (the 1st one was not very pleasant) before my body finally began to accept the assistance from the drug. However, I still had to earn 20+ activity points and be on plan and was only losing a couple of tenths a week – but I was finally losing consistently!
Then toward the end of June, I discovered the SOP thread. What they were doing was exactly in line with all I'd learned about living with PCOS. So I lurked for a bit and then joined July 1st. While I had lost 7 lbs from March to June, I lost 7 lbs in July alone! I have found a home in SOP, where the lifestyle is just what I need to be the healthy and fit person I want, and deserve, to be!
While I was growing up, I was always a little chubby, but never really fat – curvy and mature when I hit high school. When I joined the AF, I finally got truly healthy and active, but even then I was always near the max (145 lbs) the AF allowed for my height (5'4”). When I got pregnant and we came back to the US (at 5 months) I gained 70 lbs and weighed 221 lbs on the day DS was born. Apparently I had decided that I needed to eat at every fast food restaurant I had missed while out of the country and ate and ate and ate – ugh! Then it was time to go back to work (I had taken 3 months off) and I had only managed to get back to 188 and I only had 3 more months to get the remaining 43 lbs off. I decided to not re-enlist instead (there were other reasons as well) and I gave up on myself – at least health and weight-wise. I decided to go back to school and get my bachelor's degree and on my graduation day (2005) I weighed 243 lbs!
That's when I decided to go to WW. My mom is a lifetime member and I started going with her. I had managed to get down to almost 200 when a serious of injuries and surgeries sidelined and derailed me. I gained 25 lbs back but then got back on track. However, after nearly a year of losing the same 5 lbs over and over again no matter how hard I tried, I went to the doctor and was diagnosed with PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome). (It was so nice to know that I wasn't weak-willed and destined to be fat...that there was a reason I was having fight so hard for those same 5 lbs. On the plus side the doc told me that if I hadn't been working so hard, I would probably have gained another 20 to 30 lbs!) I discovered that I had one of the common issues of PCOS – I was insulin resistant. The doc put me on a drug usually given to diabetics. It was a couple of months (the 1st one was not very pleasant) before my body finally began to accept the assistance from the drug. However, I still had to earn 20+ activity points and be on plan and was only losing a couple of tenths a week – but I was finally losing consistently!
Then toward the end of June, I discovered the SOP thread. What they were doing was exactly in line with all I'd learned about living with PCOS. So I lurked for a bit and then joined July 1st. While I had lost 7 lbs from March to June, I lost 7 lbs in July alone! I have found a home in SOP, where the lifestyle is just what I need to be the healthy and fit person I want, and deserve, to be!