My Story

I think I realized I was fat for the first time when I was 5 years old. I clearly remember sitting on the table at the doctor's table listening to him tell me "Carla, you're fat" and thinking why is this fat man telling me I'm fat???? At 5 years old, I weighed 100 pounds. The last time I was under 200, I was 8 years old, and I remember stepping on the scale and weighing 177 pounds. From then on, I just got bigger and bigger. Finally, when I was 23 years old, I underwent stomach surgery to lose weight. The day I had it, I weighed 510 pounds. How does a person get to that point At 23 years old, I had no clue, so I had what would turn out to be my first of 2 stomach bandings and in one year, I lost 300 pounds! It was so awesome! However, there was a problem. I couldn't eat! Everything I ate came back up, caused me tremendous pain and the doctor blamed me!!!! So that begins another journey...




I went through 9 years of not being able to keep anything down except ice-cream. Because of all that ice-cream, it started packing some pounds back on. I gained back up to around 360. At that point, I moved to Italy. It was my time in Italy that made me realize that exercise is key to my weight loss success. In the 2 months I was there, I lost 70 pounds. I did nothing different except walk everywhere and climbing stairs. It taught me something to this day I know is going to have to be a huge part of my life. I had always exercised before that, but I guess I just didn't exercise enough. I was able to maintain my weight for long periods when I exercised faithfully. When I moved back from Italy, a tragedy happened that sent my weight through the roof.



I never thought that I would EVER again weigh over 500 pounds, but on October 30, 2002, I was rear-ended by an 18 wheeler. My back was broken from T7-T11, and I was paralyzed for a few months. I had to learn to walk again, but it was so strange to walk when I couldn't feel my legs. My balance was horrible. I'm thankful that the paralysis was not permanent, and my doctor told me that in fact, the excess weight was what not only saved my spinal cord from being completely severed, but also my life. I had always looked at being fat as a curse until that day. It's still a difficult and frustrating thing to be so large, but it's no longer something that makes me feel like dying. I think I had to learn to accept myself for who and what I am before I could ever truly be successful in any weight loss journey. Several months after the accident, I had the banding removed and got a life-threatening case of pneumonia and within 2 months had gained to 540lbs. I decided to be re-banded by another doctor hoping to lose that weight. So on October 8, 2004, I was re-banded and hoped to surpass my original weight loss where I had weighed 210 pounds. It didn't work. I lost maybe 60 pounds, and then it stopped. AND THEN **dah dah dahhhhhhhhhhh** I was inspired by The Biggest Loser! They have a nutrition plan that is the bomb! It is so well-rounded and nutritionally sound. I had always thought I would never lose weight eating like that. I believed I needed a radical fad diet to get those pounds off, but nope, that isn’t the case! It is the best plan ever, and one I highly recommend!



I would love to be able to be accepted onto the biggest loser ranch, but for now, I will commit myself to following this plan and exercising. I’ve come from a place of practically no hope to actually believing in myself. The proof is as they say in the proverbial pudding, and so I challenge you today to commit to yourself to make those changes, strive towards your goals and reach your dreams!