Friday, March 12, 2010

Flashback Friday


So this is what the screenshot would look like if I included a list of my food. You can click on the image for a larger view. I do take pics of my meals on occasion but this is what I was referring to when I mentioned listing it. Let me know your thoughts... We had lasagna for dinner and I ended up having 3 pieces of garlic bread.


This is a picture of me in the courtyard of my folks house sporting a Gunne Sax dress. It was my 8th grade Graduation. A smile full of metal. I was 12 going on 13. I think I weighed about 160ish at the time, which is ironically 5 pounds above my goal now! I found it as I was cleaning stuff out. It brought back a lot of memories. One of which was that a few weeks after this picture was taken, I went to a Weight Loss Camp (Fat Farm) called Camp La Jolla in Southern California.

The program was for 8 weeks and we stayed on campus at UC Santa Barbara. It was pretty pricey then ($4,000+) and I looked at their fee schedule and the same program now is $10,795! Anyways, it was a lot of fun but as a teen it was a long time to be away from family and friends. It was a good program in that you could choose what activities you wanted to do from a variety of things like tennis, hiking, swimming, volleyball, etc. Meals were prepared on site for you and it was pretty good food. They did discuss behavior modification and provided the tools to help you lose the weight and be healthy. One thing I think they should have done back then was to actually teach the campers how to prepare meals (looks like they do now). I even won a makeover and got my hair cut, makeup done and my eyelashes dyed. I ended up losing around 30 lbs. if I recall correctly (it's been 30 years!)

Now, one would think given this wonderful opportunity, that they could maintain the loss and live the rest of their days being at a healthy weight but obviously it did not work for me. In hindsight it should have but eventually I gained the weight back and then some. I guess I just wasn't ready to accept that I needed to make lifelong changes in my behavior and therefore reverted back to my old ways. It was a tumultuous time in my life which I have been thinking about posting about here but still have to think about it. There are some things that happened to me in my teens that were pretty traumatic (some self-imposed) and I wonder if they did have an affect on my weight because I know it did some harm to my self-image. I am just wondering if putting it in writing will help me deal with it, get closure on it and move forward. Any thoughts?

I did go to ANOTHER Weight Loss Camp when I was 16. Carney Wilson was even there with her cousin Jonah! It was through Weight Watchers and was in Santa Barbara at St. Mary's College. I will post about that another day.

Hope you all have a good weekend! I don't have anything concrete planned. I want to go to Zumba at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow AND 24hr is having a special on Personal Training. It is $129 for 3-50 minute sessions which I thought was a good deal and a great way to get (re)familiarized with the equipment and setting up a workout routine. I am really excited about this and think it will be a great motivator to get me going to the gym again and get the scale movin, movin, movin! Until next time...

11 comments:

  1. omg!!!!! Thanks for sharing your memories because now you've brought back some of mine. I wore a Gunne Sax dress to my Senior Prom which is just about the same time you were in 8th grade. Hope you have a delightful weekend.

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  2. What a cute picture! I always wanted a Gunne Sax dress but my mean mom wouldn't spend "that kind of money" on one (lol, I'm really over it now!). Neat stories about fat camp...and yeah, we can look back and say "if only..." but it is what it is. Hope you get to the gym and have a fun weekend!!!

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  3. My daughter has my tendency. She is overweight, but she's only 7! I've read lately about simply maintaining the weight and letting them grow into it. So far it's working but I'd like your ideas on how to handle this well emotionally for her.

    I am adamant that we not use the word 'fat' around the house, and I emphasize health instead of skinny. What are your suggestions?

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  4. Hi,
    I received your comment on my blog and thought I would stop by. Congrats to you on your 57lb loss already. That's fantastic!
    I do appreciate you coming over and checking out my blog and I hope that you'll understand why I do not feel comfortable giving out my exact location/town where I live. I try to avoid using names of family members (other than my own first name) and as well as other personal subject matter about my family in my blog for safety precautions because you just never know who is reading your public journals, ya know?
    I'm a safety gal! hehe
    Perhaps once I become a veteran blogger, this may change, lol..I'm still a newbie at this.

    I hope that you will come on by more often. My next entry will be tommorow morning along with my weigh-in for the week.

    Take care and I hope that you have much success as you make your way to Onederland :)

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  5. What a nice picture! Isn't it odd how FAT we thought we were? I have a picture taken right after I got married. I remember being upset that I was soooo fat. I weighed 152 pounds. I don't look fat. It would take BIG bucks for me to have a sharp jawline and cheekbones like that now!

    It makes me wonder about how we see ourselves now--not just physically, but in other ways. How much is true and how much is our own imaginary stuff?

    Great post. Made me think

    Deb

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  6. Cute picture and I like the dress on you. Wow, you were at camp with Carney Wilson. I've been watching her show on cable. Interesting.

    Hope you have an awesome workout... Take care.

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  7. I always wanted to go to a wellness retreat (fat camp) too! Actually, I still want to go, but this time it'd be very focused on getting from a normal looking body into a Greek statue kind of body. Hmm...

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  8. Very cute picture! I remember seeing ads for Camp La Jolla in the back of magazines and wished I could go. I think writing can be very therapeutic. So I think it could be a good thing. You can always write and decide after if it is something you want to post. I hope you have a great weekend!

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  9. Interesting story! I'd love to hear more about what that was like for you as a teenager to attend a camp like that. Have a great weekend!

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I'd love to know what's on your mind...