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Introduction Text I am a 63 year old retired academic. I retired early to care for my mother. She passed away in February 2016 and I still miss her. My weight loss journey began when I went to college (1976) and gained 7 pounds by the time I graduated. I went from weighing 99 lbs to 107 and I was desparate to lose the weight and started the diet soda and ice cream diet. No weight loss there. I started working and gained another 5 pounds and began the hot dog and saur kraut diet. Yum! No weight loss there either. My whole life, I have have been on one diet or another until I hit a steady weight of 121. I continued to think I was obese at that weight. I use that term specifically, because I did think I was obese You may have noticed that I suffered from body dysmorphia. I never saw myself as anything but fat. I never looked in a full length mirror or bought clothes that fit. They were always 2 sizes too big. Then in 2001, I had a kidney transplant and started gaining 8-10 pounds a year. I dabbled at weight loss, but oddly, I did not see myself as anymore over weight than I did when I was 121 lbs...until I hit 208. Again, I did not see myself as overweight, but I understood that 208 was beyond the norm. I did my BMI and discovered I was truly obese. Was I shocked? Sort of, but not really. Being obese fit in with my body dysmorphia. I always saw myself as obese so this just confirmed it. About a year before my mom passed away, I realized that when she was gone, I would be a sad overweight recluse who watched too much t.v. I joined Spark with the idea of losing weight so that when she was gone, I might be sad and lonely but not overweight. I had joined a year earlier, but stress made me quit. I needed my unlimited doughnuts and cake to deal with my mother's illness. It was an on-again off-again relationship with Spark for the year after she died, but I made friends and they were so encouraging. The social part of Spark is what has kept me going. I don't feel as lonely as I thought I would and I have lost weight. That is my story....for now.

My reasons why: (1) To be done with having my life focus almost solely on weight loss (2) To be ready for anything. So if someone calls and says let's go to Chicago this weekend, I don't have to worry about will I be fit enough to walk 5 miles around the city. (3) Hopefully to be in less pain.

Eat healthy and exercise.





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