I'M NAN!

Hi, I'm Nan! I am 51 and my hubby and I have been married for 26 years. My hubby is a pastor and I stay at home where I homeschool our 16 year old son. Our 20 year old son is now in college (but I homeschooled him too).

I have always been pretty skinny, up until I had kids anyway. I am 5'6" (almost 5'7") and I used to weigh 105 pounds. So actually, I was underweight and I tried really hard to put on weight but I just couldn't (those days are gone, by the way, lol!).

After the kids came I never quite got back down to where I was previously which is understandable because I don't think it was a healthy weight anyway. However, I found that I liked being at my new weight (about 129 or 130). It felt good.

Once I got in my 40s, though, I put on 20 pounds and discovered that for the first time in my life I was gaining weight and having trouble losing it. I was skipping meals, eating m&m's and chips like they were going out of style, and drinking lots of diet pepsi. I was a big snacker, I loved to snack.

I blame hormones because after all, it couldn't be anything I was doing, right? The hormones were causing me to lift those chips to my mouth, right? Right???? Yeah, right.

Those years were very stressful as my parents were in and out of hospitals (both nearly died), both of my brothers were severely ill, my husband was candidating at our church, I was busy homeschooling (and having some health issues of my own) and I was just on one big sugar rush.

My years of bad eating habits were catching up with me and for the first time in my life I was struggling with my weight. I just kept putting it on and didn't know how to discipline myself. I felt most of my friends didn't understand my frustration as if I complained, they commented that I was thinner than they were so "what are you complaining about?"

I felt very frustrated over my lack of self-discipline and believe me, I prayed alot about it. Finally, it came to be a matter of health rather than weight. I knew I needed to take better care of my health. The Lord really showed me that I wasn't taking care of my body as I should. I changed my eating habits, started exercising and lost twenty pounds.


This picture above is what I looked like a little over two years ago, a very healthy 129-132 pounds.

After I lost the weight I did really well for awhile. Then my dad went home to be with the Lord, my mom moved in with us, and somewhere along the way I stopped exercising and I started back in with my bad snacking habits again.

So I put the 20 pounds back on. Then I lost it again. Then I started creeping up on the scale and was close to adding the 20 pounds back on again. Then I lost about five pounds of it. Are you getting sick of this roller coaster yet? I am.


This was taken in April on our trip to Sonic. I was on my way to gaining all the weight back, plus a few pounds more I am sure. I have lost a few pounds since then, but not much.

I want to lose about 14 pounds in order to get back down to my previous weight (the 129-130). I would like to be able to fit into my clothes again, and I'd like to maintain my weight loss this time. I am tired of the roller coaster. I keep losing and gaining the same 20 pounds over and over. It's ridiculous!

So that is my goal. But more than that, I want to get back into my exercise routine. I want to maintain healthy eating habits and stop the snacking habit. I would love to lose the rest of the weight I admit, but I would really love to have a consistent exercise routine, and to be consistently lifting weights again (great for bones). I am in my 50's and I can't take my health for granted anymore!

I have done pretty well with the snacking, and don't do it as much, but still have yet to start exercising or lifting small weights again. That is going to change!