I used to be the skinny kid

Growing up, I was the skinny kid.  You know the kind, I could eat and eat and eat and never gain an ounce.

But I wasn't exactly healthy.

You see, I grew up in poverty.  We'd have weeks where the only food in the house was ketchup.  We'd make soup out of it.  During the school year, I'd be able to eat at school, but in the summertime, it was slim pickings.

Starvation does funny things to the body.  It dramatically slows down the metabolism, and you start to store fat like crazy.  Every single calorie gets saved on the body somewhere.

In my case, it's the stomach.  And the hips.  And thighs.  And boobs.  And arms.  And... well, you get the idea.

Even when I was skinny, I had the belly.  It was excrutiatingly embarrassing.  Imagine be asked, "When are you due?" when you're a 12-year-old virgin!

At 120 pounds, I wore a size 8 because of my belly.  The stored stomach fat is a result of childhood hunger, interspersed with times of excess food.

At 16, I got a job at a fast food restaurant.  Now, imagine, poor kid, who sometimes didn't even know when her next meal was going to be, suddenly has access to tons of food... what happens?

60 lbs added to a 5'4" frame happens, that's what.

And thus began my real weight troubles, though my body image troubles began years before that.

I hit 190 in my freshman year of college, and got pregnant at 18.  I hit 200 during my pregnancy.  And over the next 10 years, I put on roughly 75 pounds.

Yeah, that's a LOT of weight on a 5'4" frame.

In 2007, I lost roughly 75 pounds.  I don't know exactly how much, because I don't know how much I weighed before or after the weight loss.  I simply didn't weigh myself.  Because I wasn't trying to lose weight.  It sort of just happened from a combination of lack of car, working outside the home so not being tempted by constant snackage, and a pervasive depression that caused a lack of appetite.  Yeah, great for weight loss... not so great for health...

Between 2007 and 2009, I gained back about 30 pounds.  At that's where Fat Girl Gets Fit Started.

Between February 2009 and July 2009, I managed to lose about 10 pounds.  And that's where we are now, starting Thin by 10.