Hello everyone! My name is Beth, I have lived in California all my life; I've also been overweight all my life; I even started life out overweight at 9lb 14oz! :-)

My Grandma Ruth put me on my first diet when I was on summer vacation between 4th and 5th grade. The thing I remember most about this is that I got to drink tea! I also had all my meals made for me. Wish I still had that! lol But the worst thing I remember about this time, was that Grandma didn't trust me. She would ...

Hello everyone! My name is Beth, I have lived in California all my life; I've also been overweight all my life; I even started life out overweight at 9lb 14oz! :-)

My Grandma Ruth put me on my first diet when I was on summer vacation between 4th and 5th grade. The thing I remember most about this is that I got to drink tea! I also had all my meals made for me. Wish I still had that! lol But the worst thing I remember about this time, was that Grandma didn't trust me. She would only let me ride around the little block (not the neighborhood) because she believed I would lay my bike down somewhere along the way. Now I ask you, what kid is going to do that? I loved riding my bike! What it taught me was that I was "less than". My Grandmother will be 101 in a couple of days (March 26) and I forgive her. But I still carry the scars.

I grew up with 3 very thin brothers. The one memory that sticks with me to this day is the night I woke up from a nightmare crying, "The boys got a whole popcycle and I only got half." My parents did the best they could by me. They didn't mean to treat me differently or scar me, they only wanted what was best for me. I also forgive them because, as a parent myself, we do the best we can for our children and love them with all our heart!

I continued to struggle with my weight and joined Weight Watchers at age 15. I remember I weighed in at 199.5. I vowed to never get over 200. Well, I'm here to tell you that I didn't meet that goal. I met my late husband 3 years later while working at McDonald's (not the best place for a chubby). I gained 40 pounds before we married 5 months later! I continued to gain another 40 pounds and held that 280 pounds for most of our marriage. I only went up on the scale when I was pregnant with our 3 children. When our last child was born I gained back all the weight I lost after delivery and ended up at 321...the same weight I was the day I delivered her full term!!!!

Well, then I started doing the Rotation Diet. This worked real well for me and I lost about 30 pounds.

Then I had a friend introduce me to a drug at age 28 that made you not want to eat. Hello! I had found my magic pill. I went all the way down to 227 and felt really great at this weight. However, 3 years later, my husband died, the drug stopped working (thank God because it was destroying me).

I don't remember a whole lot over the next year or so, however, I did remarry later to somone I had worked with and was always intrigued by. What intrigued me was that he had seen me at all stages of my life...overweight and preganant...and he still confessed he had a crush on me! Well, we married a year later and I began gaining weight again until I reached my highest weight ever at 345 (age 35). I was devistated. When I was pregnant with my fourth child, our first, I had managed to stay at 309 all the way to delivery, which meant I really had lost weight while pregnant because that is exactly what I weighed when I got pregnant with Azetta.

I was so miserable in my new marriage that all I did was eat. I have one particularly sad memory of me sitting at the kitchen table crying while eating some kind of sweet cereal and watching the tears land in my bowl. I truly was a very sad person.

Then I found Weight Watcher's again and I was able to lose 45 pounds but struggled to get under 300. I divorced and met a wonderful man (my present husband) and finally, I got out of the 300's and continued to use 10-pound intervals to keep me motivated. Soon I was in the 240's! Then my Mom passed away and I went into a state of depression I didn't even know I was in. My weight crept back up to 307 in the next 3 years. I knew my Mom would not want this for me, so I got with it and did it with her as my motivation.

Although I have not lost all the "mourning" weight, I am cruising in the direction again and hope to reach well beyond it to my goal. And the best thing is I'm doing it for ME! I'm doing because I want to live. And I want to live well. I have come out of the dark that I was living in and am now in the LIGHT.

Read More About FOXCINA (Updated July 14)

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