I've always been thin. I was a thin baby, a thin child, a thin teenager, and even a thin adult.

My first struggle with weight was in my early 20s, right after my 2nd daughter was born. I wanted to lose the baby weight, and I ended up losing way too much. I weighed about 85 lbs. At 5'6", that was unhealthy and I knew it. It took a few years to get back up to a normal weight, but I did. (I won't get into that struggle in this part of my page, but I did write a blog about it.)
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I've always been thin. I was a thin baby, a thin child, a thin teenager, and even a thin adult.

My first struggle with weight was in my early 20s, right after my 2nd daughter was born. I wanted to lose the baby weight, and I ended up losing way too much. I weighed about 85 lbs. At 5'6", that was unhealthy and I knew it. It took a few years to get back up to a normal weight, but I did. (I won't get into that struggle in this part of my page, but I did write a blog about it.)

I continued to stay thin.

During that same time period, I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis is not the type of arthritis everyone's grandma has. It's an immune system malfunction that causes your immune system to attack your joints, and it also causes problems with internal organs. Without proper treatment, it can leave a person deformed or crippled within a few years of diagnosis. Being so young with a crippling chronic disease, I wasn't looking forward to a life of medicine. So I started eating whole grains, no sugars, different herbs, etc., and I kept exercising. I ended up needing medicine in addition to the healthy lifestyle, but I needed far less than others in my situation, and I was okay. Unfortunately, I didn't keep up the healthy eating for long, mostly because I had given up too many foods I really liked. I did keep my weight down, but not in a healthy way.

In the year 2000, I was still very thin and I felt that I was too old to be that thin. So I set out to gain about 10 lbs. A lot of things combined at that time, and instead of gaining 10 lbs, I gained a lot more!

Some of the factors that contributed to my weight gain were (1) a total hysterectomy; (2) a bad bicycle accident that crushed my right shoulder. I had it replaced, but the surgeon was a quack and removed 2 of my muscles and some of my tendons. The surgery resulted in no active range of motion of my right arm -- none at all; (3) the stress of the accident caused the RA to flare, and I was put on long-term prednisone use; (4) the RA flare made me become sedentary and I quit exercising.

By Nov. 2005 the 10 lbs I set out to gain had turned into 60 lbs, and I reached my high weight at 174 lbs.

I got off the prednisone, and I started losing weight shortly after that. The weight loss made a tremendous difference in my energy level, and by 2007 I was down to 150 lbs.

In August 2007, I went to my rheumatologist for a checkup, and he told me, "Lose 12 pounds and you'll feel fantastic!" I was offended because I'd already lost 25 pounds, and I didn't feel I was overweight. But I decided to do what he said, and I ended up losing a lot more than 12 pounds.

I was happy with the weight loss, but I knew I needed to strengthen and tone my body in addition to losing weight.

I joined SP in January 2008 to help me lose the last 10 pounds and to help me get in shape. I reached my goal weight about a month after joining, and I've learned so much about a healthy lifestyle, I can't imagine ever going back to the sedentary life that was so hard on my body.

UPDATE:9/26/09
In May of 2008, I decided to mix up my walking route and add a little bit of running. I couldn't run 30 seconds without getting winded. But the next day I did it again. And I did it again and again, every day, and I found myself running longer each time. By July of last year, I ran my first 5K race. In November I ran my first half marathon. Thanksgiving weekend I ran a 16 mile trail race, and on April 25, 2009, I ran my first full marathon. That's right, 26.2 miles!! I am absolutely amazed at the things I've accomplished in just one year of running. Things just keep getting better and better!

Read More About JERIBERI1 (Updated May 25)

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