My Health Journey...So Far
My name is Ashley...and I am a food addict. I have struggled with food most of my life and all of my adult life.
As a child, I was an active, healthy child. I had multiple surgeries due to being born with a cleft palate/lip which would be a cycle of surgery and lose a lot of weight (even though I didn't need to) and then in post-surgery, I could and would eat anything I wanted to put the weight back on. I did not have a healthy understanding of food or health. Thankfully, I didn't struggle with being overweight until I went to college. I was an overachiever, so instead of gaining the "freshman 15," I gained the "freshman 40ish". I came back home and lived with my sister and between being busier and eating better, I lost some weight. Then I went to live on campus my junior year and gained around 30ish pounds that year. I came back home and in preparation for my wedding, I lost 20ish pounds to fit in my wedding dress. When I got married, I started gaining weight again (around 25 pounds).
Then, I got pregnant with my first son. I gained 53 pounds during the pregnancy. At 23, after he was born, I focused on my health consistently for almost 2 years and lost 97 pounds and got the fittest I have ever been in my entire life (childhood included). Unfortunately over time, I started to gain weight back. By the time I got pregnant with my twins, I was up about 65ish pounds from my lowest weight. I managed to only gain 27 pounds during the pregnancy as I took super good care of myself to grow the twins. After we lost one of our twins and in the throes of motherhood, I stayed stagnant and overweight. During my final pregnancy, I only gained 13 pounds because I was super overweight. I have yo-yo'd the past 7 years since my youngest was born. I have been able to lose 40 pounds a couple of times just to gain it back again.
I am currently at my heaviest, 280 pounds. My prayer and desire is to be a fit momma again. I miss the days when I could go from morning to night full of energy and positivity. I miss being the fully-engaged playful mom at the park. I miss being a good example for health to my kids. I don't want to miss all that God has for my future with my husband of almost 20 years and my 3 active, fun boys. I want to succeed at not just losing weight, not just getting healthier, but keeping the weight off and staying healthy. That is why I am creating this blog...to keep me accountable, to journal along the way, and to share helpful tips and recipes for others who may be on their health journeys. Thanks for reading my story and joining me on this journey. :)
Ashley
As a child, I was an active, healthy child. I had multiple surgeries due to being born with a cleft palate/lip which would be a cycle of surgery and lose a lot of weight (even though I didn't need to) and then in post-surgery, I could and would eat anything I wanted to put the weight back on. I did not have a healthy understanding of food or health. Thankfully, I didn't struggle with being overweight until I went to college. I was an overachiever, so instead of gaining the "freshman 15," I gained the "freshman 40ish". I came back home and lived with my sister and between being busier and eating better, I lost some weight. Then I went to live on campus my junior year and gained around 30ish pounds that year. I came back home and in preparation for my wedding, I lost 20ish pounds to fit in my wedding dress. When I got married, I started gaining weight again (around 25 pounds).
Then, I got pregnant with my first son. I gained 53 pounds during the pregnancy. At 23, after he was born, I focused on my health consistently for almost 2 years and lost 97 pounds and got the fittest I have ever been in my entire life (childhood included). Unfortunately over time, I started to gain weight back. By the time I got pregnant with my twins, I was up about 65ish pounds from my lowest weight. I managed to only gain 27 pounds during the pregnancy as I took super good care of myself to grow the twins. After we lost one of our twins and in the throes of motherhood, I stayed stagnant and overweight. During my final pregnancy, I only gained 13 pounds because I was super overweight. I have yo-yo'd the past 7 years since my youngest was born. I have been able to lose 40 pounds a couple of times just to gain it back again.
I am currently at my heaviest, 280 pounds. My prayer and desire is to be a fit momma again. I miss the days when I could go from morning to night full of energy and positivity. I miss being the fully-engaged playful mom at the park. I miss being a good example for health to my kids. I don't want to miss all that God has for my future with my husband of almost 20 years and my 3 active, fun boys. I want to succeed at not just losing weight, not just getting healthier, but keeping the weight off and staying healthy. That is why I am creating this blog...to keep me accountable, to journal along the way, and to share helpful tips and recipes for others who may be on their health journeys. Thanks for reading my story and joining me on this journey. :)
Ashley
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