I'm Pirjo (that's a good Finnish name, rhymes with "Cheerio"). (2008) - Now 52, son will soon be 23, and I need to update this !
I'm a 46 year old single mom, with a soon-to-be 16 year old son. I was born in Finland, but have lived in Canada since I was 3 years old. We are in a medium sized mining city in North-central, Ontario, Canada.
I am a clerical worker, currently unemployed and job-hunting (although hopefully, not for much longer). Over the years I have held several jobs - various clerical posiitons, dispatcher in a transport company (nice to be able to tell the MEN where to go !), bookkeeper, ceramic tile salesperson, hotel assistant manager and front desk clerk. Talk about varied experience !
Why am I here ? I weigh 213 lbs. (96.5 kg). I started weight Watchers on April 12, 2000, at 236 lbs (107 kg). I was off to a good start until July. I lost my job then, and the job hunting began. At the same time, I met my wonderful fella, Barry. He is such a sweet, gentle man, and after 13 years of celibacy, and being alone, I finally had someone in my life. And he was SO good for my ego. He likes me the way I am ! Both his wives were larger women, and he has no problem with loving, and being attracted to, a substantial woman. So yes, he made me feel VERY desired. But - of course, since we women are such insecure creatures, I was then afraid to tell him that I was on the Weight Watchers Programme, in case he told me he liked me just the way I was ! So - our social life consisted of either visiting at my house, and drinking, or going to the local Legion for some draft. Just what a weight watcher needs - BEER ! So much for losing weight !
After missing a few meetings in September, I decided "to heck with it". I was spending money I didn't have, for nothing, since I wasn't following the programme. And I quit. However, I did receive some "Welcome Back" cards from my local WW Office, and they expired on December 31/00. I found out from my former leader that there is a financial subsidy available, if you fill out an application, and meet the criteria for financial need. You then pay a reduced meeting fee. So I did, was approved, and went back on December 28/00.
Not too bad ! On September 27th (my last weigh-in), I was at 215 lbs. On December 28th, I weighed 223lbs. At least I hadn't put it all back on, only some ! Now, we did have Christmas and New Year's after that, so I've been up and down a bit, but as I said, I'm now at 213 lbs, and my 10 % goal is 212, so I'm almost there ! Once I FINALLY reach that, I'll have not only reached my FIRST goal, but also have lost 1/4 of the weight I need to lose. My new leader hasn't yet sat with me to come up with a final goal. I figure that at my age, and body metabolism, it wouldn't be realistic to aim for less than 140 (63.5 kg)(the top of my healthy weight range). Although, if I do 4 more lbs, to take it to 100 rather than 96, I could try to get a "100 lbs lost" certificate from Florine Mark, and the WW Head Office ! There's incentive for you ! Meanwhile, my next goal will be to go below 200 lbs.
I take part in a wonderful forum, run by an inspiring woman named Anne, in Sydney, Australia. It's called SFL - Slimming for Life. The members are all interested in losing weight, and becoming healthier, and are the greatest, most caring and supportive people you ever hope to meet. (I am thoroughly addicted to it!) Many of the members have on-line journals and websites. They are so inspiring ! And they claim that putting yourself "out there", for everyone to read, keeps them honest and on-track. So - I will bite the bullet, and give this a try. I'm not sure of the time commitment involved, but hopefully , once the site is actually up and running, the maintenance won't be so difficult.
Please - join me in my journey. I will be all year on this weight loss journey - this is at least a 2 year deal ! So I'll be here for quite a while. Feel free to e-mail me with comments, messages, ideas... I take all the support I can get from others. Let's hear it for all us losers !