My name is Stacey and I am a mother of two boys ages 7 and 6. I am currently serving in the Air Force in Germany.

I wanted to share some of my struggles hoping that it will help me connect with others that are going through the same things.

 

I had my children one after another and had gestational diabetes with both my children, which caused me to gain a bunch of weight, no matter how clean I ate while pregnant. Ever since I had them I have had the hardest time losing the weight. I got to 258 lbs at my heaviest and was able to lose 58 lbs by the time my youngest was one. I have had an impossible time getting smaller than about 200 lbs.

I dropped to about 180 lbs several times and would hit my plateau and shoot back up as I would become depressed with the fact that I couldn’t bust through that wall. It makes it really hard to stay on track when no matter what you do it doesn't make a difference.

In the end I always end up jumping back up to that 200 lbs and feel lost.

In 2009 I deployed to Iraq and while stationed there I was hurt during a mortar attach that messed up my knee pretty bad. Since then I have had several surgeries. Unfortunately the surgeries have not helped and in fact my knee has only gotten worse.

Since I am in the Air Force I have to take a physical Fitness test every 6 months that consist of a 1.5 mile run, push-ups, sit-ups, and waist measurement. I struggle with this part of my job because of my injury and my weight. I love what I do and am always striving to do better, but it is hard when you are always in pain.

I will have a PT test on the 30th of September and have a lot riding on this test. I have managed to get my run time down, but still struggle with the push-ups. I have always had problems with the push-ups, but I continue to try my best. Since I have been stationed in Germany I have managed to pass every single PT test and improve every year. I even ran a 1/2 marathon. 

I love being a part of groups like this because it helps keeps me accountable to the process. I am hoping to meet my goal. 

Good luck to everyone!