After being a slightly chubby teenager, I gained a bunch of weight in my early 20′s until I hit my heaviest point at 198 pounds. I may have crept over 200 at some point, but I was avoiding the scale as much as possible, so I'll never know.
I joined Weight Watchers in 2005, started exercising and lost 60 pounds in 10 months. Funny thing with Weight Watchers - they're all about getting the weight off, not so much help in keeping it off. I kept the weight off for about a year and a half than 20 pounds slowly crept back on.
In 2008, I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis which just completely complicated matters. I was in constant pain. Walking was difficult. I’d get out of bed in the morning and my joints would be stiff for 2 hours. I started off every day limping to the subway station. Needless to say – exercise wasn't happening. I gained another 15 more pounds.
Under the care of my wonderful rheumatologist, we hit my RA hard and fast with a crazy combination of medications. A few months after my diagnosis, I was able to return to the gym - to bike at an easy pace for 10 minutes. That 10 minutes of biking turned into sessions on the elliptical and eventually kick boxing. Now it's running, yoga and weight training. Fitness has become my passion and I'm also up for trying something new.
So now – my RA is pretty much under control. I've lost
