I was born in St. Paul Minnesota but when to elementary school in Houston Texas. I had a lot of friend and I was quite the active little kid. I loved to roller skate, bike ride, and swim. I was always playing with my friend. I was very happy and I was pretty thin or average in weight. My 7th grade year, my parents moved to a small town called Livingston Texas - about an hour and a half north of Houston. It was a beautiful lake community. And loving water, I was SOLD the moment we learned my parents were buying land.
I've always been social, so meeting new friends was exciting for me. My first day of school, I would say is when my life changed in more ways than one. Livingston is a very small and tight community. It is really hard for a newbie to enter in to acceptance. Some would disagree with me, but most of that population are, your long timers. Day one started with bullying, name calling, etc. I was crushed. I never wanted to go back to school again, but I had to. So, I started eating and started gaining weight.
The bullying didn't stop with students, a few educators were involved as well. My ninth grade year, I took Spanish. The teach seated us in grade order. You made an A on a test, you sat in the back. I never applied myself really. I was smart but I didn't care. One particular time, I made an A on a test. SHOCKER! I moved to the back. But, I also had dyslexia and reading from that far was a challenge. I raised my hand and asked to be moved to the front because I could not see. She erased the word on the blackboard and wrote it the entire width and length of the board and said, "Can you see it now?" I was embarrassed, humiliated, and angry. I through my pencil and walked out. I knew I was going to be in BIG trouble so I walked down to the principals office in tears. I can't remember what he said to this day, but all I remember is, I never got into any trouble and, even though I failed one semester, I received FULL credit for that call.
Fast forward about 10 years, I began my career in HR – at that time I was a clerk for a payroll company. I started having a lot of menstrual issues. I learned I had polycystic ovarian disease – caused by, what else, obesity! I had several surgeries including the loss of an ovary. When I was 30, I had a complete hysterectomy due to other ongoing issues. During the time of treatments, I was place on hormones, etc. which aided in the rapid weight gain.
Fast forward another 14 years and here I am. I am now a successful HR professional working as an HR Manager for an IT outsourcing company. I have gotten to a point in my weight were at my heaviest, just a few short weeks ago, I was really close to 300 pounds.
I love life and I love helping people. But I must help myself before I can even be really effective in other peoples lives. Belviq is going to do that for me! I can’t wait to see where I am in 3, 6, and 12 months from now!!
So, what would you like to know about me? Feel free to post questions and comments. Love to you all!
