Anyone out there struggling with health or weight issues? No doubt we all do! I wasn’t sure what all to include in this post, but I feel compelled to complain to someone. LOL! So let me start where I’m at right now and then I’ll go backward and then forward to what I’m hoping for.

I started by challenging my husband to see who could loose 5 lbs first. Now, I knew he would probably win, and he did, but I didn’t expect to read the scale every morning for nine days and find I weighed exactly the same every day! (Okay, this is where I may be going into TMI and I may regret sharing.) So here is my profile: I’m 55 years old, 5’5″, and weigh 160 lbs. I’m not considered obese, (I hate that word,) but I am considered overweight. (By my doctor.) So I started a 30 day challenge, (see http://wellnessmama.com/challenge/ to try for yourself) because I’m the kind of person who wants someone to say, “eat this and you will be healthy, don’t eat this and you will loose weight.” Well of course the word “challenge” is appropriate. Each day I receive a mini-challenge by email. Sometimes “mini” is accurate, sometimes, not so much. I am only on day 6 but I have lost 1 1/2 pounds so far. My weight goal is really undetermined, I have more of a health goal. (Again, especially my male readers, I’m going into TMI territory.) Without getting too specific, I recently went to the doctor and they drew my blood and found I am definitely in post menopause range for my FSH, and my CA125 is slightly elevated from the last blood test I had. Probably due to my fibroid’s. So I went on a hunt for a diet that could help with my imbalanced hormones, and that’s how I ended up on this challenge. I am waiting for an appointment to follow-up with an ultra-sound and my gyn. But, as my husband can testify, I don’t like going to the doctors, and I usually try the natural route first.

Okay, back to my hormone/weight history: I developed early, 9 years old, generally the tallest girl in class. Hit the 100 lb mark before my peers; so as a child I considered myself “big”. The truth was I ended up being average height and maybe even under average weight. Married my high-school sweetheart at the age of 19, weighing 113 lbs. My average weight was about 115-116. I started off our marriage being anemic and then getting mononucleosis. By the time we were ready for kids, I weighed 125 lbs. I thought I was fat! Anyway, looking back I see maybe pregnancy affected my thyroid, After baby 1, I weighed 120 lbs and developed postpartum depression; after baby 2, I weighed 115 lbs and developed PMS; after baby 3, I weighed 110 lbs; miscarried baby 4 after trying hormone therapy for my PMS, (didn’t know I was pregnant.) After baby 5, I weighed 110 lbs; and after baby 6, I weighed 100 lbs, my lightest was 98 lbs, less than I weighed in 4th grade! I developed depression and PMDD. Four years later, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and a year after that I had surgery to remove a goiter and half of my thyroid. I can’t remember my weight but I think by this time I was back up to 120-125. Well I’m pretty much healed, thank God, of fibromyalgia, but I have struggles off and on with depression and SAD. My weight peaked at about 164; but leveled off right at 160 and wouldn’t budge.

I had two back surgeries resulting from a ruptured disk in 2001, and in 2005. and so I’ve been told impact work-outs are not an option. I don’t enjoy cooking, and I would rather read or peruse the internet than eat. So my eating habits are full of eating the same things with the exception of dinner which my husband usually prepares. I knew what I was comfortable eating that was maybe quasi healthy, if not a little on the sweet side. I took a food intolerance blood test two years ago, and the results revealed I should not eat peanuts, dairy or yeast. I pretty much adjusted from peanuts to almonds, and from dairy to a variety of almond, coconut, and soy; but the yeast was too hard to eliminate. I have had some benefit, digestively, but have more areas to tackle.

So now, I’m on this journey into my future. I started blogging two years ago from August 31st, 2011, and have been aiming my sights higher than I have allowed myself in the past. My goal is to be a healthy, happy retiree, wife, Mom, and Nonna. While taking the steps one at a time trying to set a good course for the future. I am becoming a student of my life, learning what I am capable of accomplishing. I have high hopes and I find myself getting excited in the journey. Changing my food habits is a struggle for me, but I’m learning that I am worth the struggle. My health is important, not only to me but to my family and my employer. I’ve discovered that sometimes fake things taste fake, and ordering in a restaurant can be a challenge. I miss some of my favorites :,( but I’m figuring it all out through trial and error.

I realize this post may be a little personal to really be helpful to anyone reading this but sometimes writing is just therapy. I hope you will consider me a friend and feel free to ask questions or chat with me in my comments. You can also reach me on my Facebook Fan Page. There is so much information out there sometimes it takes us years to figure things out for the best.