My Story

Hello! My name is Penny and I am 42 years old. I have been married to my best friend/soul mate Phillip for almost 22 years. We have three children(Nick 19, Emilee 16, and Ashley 13). We live in Northeast Mississippi. I stayed at home from 2000-2009 and homeschooled my kids. I went back to work on 9/14/09, but I still homeschool my girls.

I have not always been overweight. When I was growing up I could eat anything and everything and not gain an ounce. When I got married in 1988 my wedding dress was a size 3 and it had to be taken up. I weighed 125 lbs when I got pregnant with my first child. I gained about 50 or 60 lbs while pregnant with him. After he was born in 1991 I got back down to 125. I had my second child in 1993 and after she was born I got back down to 125 again. We thought we were only going to have two children! WRONG! God had another plan. I was on antibotics and birth control in the early part of 1996 and I got pregnant with our third child. I know you have always heard that antibotics and birth control pills don't mix. It is TRUE! After she was born it was harder to get the weight off. I stayed around 160-170 lbs.

Around 2004 I started the Atkins diet. I stayed on it for four months and lost about 40 lbs. Sounds great doesn't it. NOT! Once I got off of Atkins the weight I had lost came back and brought its friends, because I gained about 80 lbs.

I have tried Weight Watchers several times in the last few years and never stuck with it. I am so sick of how I look and feel. I have high blood pressure, fatigue, sleep apena, and depression.

I think my turning point was when my girls started running on our homeschool cross country team and competing in 5K's last year. It was so exciting to see them compete. I would try walking around the track while they were practicing and it was all I could do to make it around the track once or twice. I was out of breath and though I was gonna die.

On 10/24/09 the girls and my mom and dad were going to run in the Race for the Cure. I thought I would just walk the first lap and not do the 5K. Well when I got there I decided to do the 5K. Yes, I had went CRAZY. Here I am at 232 lbs and I think I can walk/run 3.1 miles. Well the gun went off and away we went. When we made the long lap around the mall I almost followed all the people who were just completing the first lap, but I kept going. I would run a little and walk a lot. I kept thinking of the pain people with cancer had to go through and even though I thought I was dying I was NOT! I finished the 5K in 59:19. I was so proud that I actually finished.

In December I finished my second 5k race in a little over an hour.

January 4, 2010 I started attending Weight Watcher meetings at work. I love it. I have lost 24 lbs, went down several bra sizes, and lost almost three pants sizes. I also joined the gym. I am so exicted and can't wait to get all this weight off. Now I love to walk and hope to run/walk another 5K in March or April.