SpringChic67

[size=4][font=comic sans ms,cursive]My weight problems began probably as a child. We were very poor and didn't have food in our home. We would go to either Grandparent's home and get to eat all kinds of wonderful things. Homemade french fries, hamburgers, ice cream, etc. At home we would have tuna casserole 7 nights a week. I was very thin until I got pregnant with my son. I gained 75 lbs during my pregnancy. I lost all of the weight after that, but on a crazy liquid diet. In fact, I went down from 220 to 132 lbs at 5'9".

When I hit 30 I had a bad back injury. At the time I had a very physically demanding job where I would go up and down 3 flights of stairs pulling auto parts all day and filling orders for fleet customers in a warehouse. Then I got pregnant with my 2nd child. I gained over 70 lbs with her and at the time I was already a good 50 lbs overweight.

My husband and I were arrested for drugs and subsequently I got charged with something else a few months later. I was able to get all that dismissed, but not without taking a huge toll on me emotionally. I ate for comfort. I ate out of anger. Food became my constant companion and my nemesis. My marriage dissolved and I was left with utter brokenness. Then more trauma hit my family through other relatives but it devastated me. I couldn't get much lower. I was at an all time high of 300 and thought that was it. I was ready to die. It got worse before it got better. I continued on and gained up to 355. In March of 2009 I had enough. I went to Mexico and got the LapBand. I didn't have any counseling really and not much support from anyone anywhere. I also didn't understand the band or really how it worked. My frustration grew with each fill and not being able to eat anything or so it seemed. I wasn't losing weight. I was eating whatever I wanted and quite frankly the BAD foods went down easier than the good ones. In 2011 I had all the solution removed from my band. I blew up to that 355 mark.

In August of 2012 I got Chemical Pneumonia. I nearly died. I spent the next 4 months in the bed. I resolved that if God saved me from this terrible state that I was in, that I would do whatever it took to live a healthy lifestyle and live each day of my life. So on June 6th, 2013 I went and got a fill on my band. I also joined a water conditioning class at my local college. I worked out every single day. I would leave there and go to the gym at my church and do the elliptical for 50 minutes as well. I have lost 68.5 lbs as of today. I am learning how to live with my LabBand and how to actually utilize it. It is only a tool. It is not the answer to my problems. My problem was attempting to fill my soul with something temporal. God has filled those holes in me that kept me going back for more food. [b][url="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+34:8&version=NIV"]Psalm 34:8[/url] [/b][color=#000000]Taste [/color][b]and[/b][b]see[/b][color=#000000] that the [/color][color=#000000]Lord[/color][color=#000000] is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Now I drink water instead of anything else. I rely upon this verse to remind me that anything else is not going to satisfy: [/color]
[b] John 4:10-12 [color=#5C1101]John 4:10-12 [/color]10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." [/b]

[b] [color=#222222]My advice is don't give up! NEVER give up. Trust God and if you don't know God, as Him to come into your heart and make Himself known to you. If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, that is all it takes. [/color][/b][/font][/size]