How ADD helped me discover my inner skinny

I have struggled with my weight since I was 9 years old. I could be petty and blame it on a very nasty third-grade teacher who beat up my self-esteem, but my self-esteem recovered awhile ago.

I have done nearly every diet and exercise program you could name. While I didn't succeed at many of those, I won't call them failures. Those attempts were just practice for finally getting it right. If I could pinpoint one event for pushing me to success, it would be my Attention Deficient Disorder diagnosis. (I know, it is strange to give credit to something that I'm usually blaming for causing problems in my life, but I gotta be honest.)

**That's me with Lucy at Camp Snoopy comparing waistlines.**

How can ADD be credited for pushing me in the right direction? Two things - one was physical and second was mental. First, the physical: The first thing my doctor did after the diagnosis was to get me a prescription to handle the depression (that was the main symptom for the ADD). I won't say what the medication was, but the drug's side effect was loss of appetite due to nausea. I lost 25 pounds in four months without even trying.

When I realized that I was starting to gain it back, I joined Weight Watchers in January 2004 and started to lose again. In April 2004, I joined the YWCA and started to work out at 5:30 a.m. most weekdays. That was the second gift I received from the diagnosis, my mental attitude. I never had a doubt that I wouldn't lose weight and I didn't second guess myself.  When all was said and done in January 2005, I was down nearly seventy pounds (from my pre-diagnosis high in 2001)


I kept the weight off for awhile, but in 2006, I was losing focus because I had multiple demands on my time - work, school (working on a master's thesis) and chairing the 2008 U.S. Figure Skating Championships local organizing committee. By the end of January 2008 (and the end of Nationals), I had gained fifty pounds back. I called it my "Oh-8 Weight."

I got back on the weight loss band wagon at the end of 2008 and lost almost 30 pounds in 2009. In the past three months, I've been losing the same five pounds over and over again and it drove me crazy. I finally rejoined WW and the YWCA last month and have been reminding myself what I have to do to make it work: Be active and be accountable (and drink water!!)

Part of my activity plans is doing the "Couch to 5K" program. I started it yesterday (3/13/10) and hope to run my first 5K in early June. Also learned that a friend of mine started it this past week, too, so I've challenged her to join me in running the Burnsville Heart of the City 5K. I can't believe that I'm really looking at running a race. Stay tuned...