The First Date and The Beginning of the Bulge

Well needless to say I was so nervous that it was the worst date ever!! I didn't hardly talk (I know!! Me, not talk?!) and I was very suspicious of him the whole time. It really wasn't fair to him. I knew that when the date was over that I had blown it. The next day he called me and asked if I wanted to meet for lunch. Really?! Awesome! And the rest, as they say is history.

2006

We have been together ever since. I ended up moving to San Antonio 5 months after the first date for a job, and he moved to San Antonio a year later. We even bought a house together. Although we were not happy, we tried to make the best of it. This is where it all started, though...the roller coaster that has engulfed my life for the past 8 years. When I met Peter I was a little heavier than I wanted to be. But we were so miserable in San Antonio that the only way I could deal with the misery was to eat and drink and engage in activities with friends where I could eat and drink even more. It was a vicious cycle and there was no possibility of it letting up. This photo was taken in 2006. We had been in our house in San Antonio for less than a year. 

My job got worse while we were in San Antonio. I was initially hired to work with a principal that I shared values and whom I felt honored to work with. She was fantastic, and still is to this day. We keep in touch and she has been invaluable to my professional life. Then shortly after this picture was taken, I was relocated (not by my will) to another campus because my "skills" were needed there. This was a horrible environment and constantly felt on the defensive. This did not help the miserableness so I continued to engage in eating and drinking to get rid of the awful feelings from not only work but in a place where I did not feel at home. Notice what is in my hand...beer to make life better...and the beer gut to match it. 

Taken in early 2008

So instead of addressing the feelings that were "satisfied" by food and drink, I decided we needed to move back to the Austin area. We put the house on the market after I got a job, and we sold the house in San Antonio and bought a house in Cedar Park. It was our dream house (or so we thought). I loved my job, I loved Peter, I loved where we lived but something was still missing because I was getting bigger and bigger and doing nothing about it. Three months after we moved there Peter's father passed away unexpectedly and the depression got worse in the house...his and mine. Even through all this we continued to love each other. 

On August 8, 2008, I married my best friend. The pictures below show us on our wedding day. Unfortunately on this day, I was the heaviest I have ever been. 

Awwwwww!!!

Who the hell is the fattie?! Oh yea, that is ME! I used this
picture as motivation.

I went to the doctor a month later for my physical and found that I now had some serious health problems. So I thought, let's just have surgery to get rid of the excess weight. The plastic surgeon said NO! (Good for him). He told me he would do it, but not until I lost some of the weight, and gave me the name of an angel who was a bariatric doctor. I made an appointment with the doctor and on October 31, 2008 I tipped the scales at almost 280 pounds. WHAT?!!! How did this happen???

So on that day my journey to get rid of the weight for good. I had a man that I loved supporting me all the way and I was bound and determined to be successful. My future posts will be about my progress, setbacks, frustrations, success stories, and everything in between. This is when Sweating With the Oldie will really start!!