I didn't have a problem with my weight all of my life, but for a lot of years now it has been a big problem for me. It started around the time of my first pregnancy, I'd say.

I became an alcoholic at an early age. My home life wasn't good. My parents drank a lot too and they didn't do a whole lot for me. They also didn't keep much of a watch on me, and I snuck out of the house whenever I could, stole booze from them, and sometimes even money. I'm not proud of it, but that's the way things were for me then.

I moved out of the house when I was very young. I moved in with my boyfriend at the time, Pete. I didn't know where else to turn. We both drank a lot, and we were both young and stupid. We couldn't control ourselves or our lives, and made a lot of bad decisions. We partied too much, and had a lot of bad influnce from our friends. Of course sooner or later something bad was going to happen. And it did. I got pregnant eventually. It was unplanned, and possibly the worst thing that could have happened to me. I didn't want to admit it, so I convinced myself that I was going to raise this child right and be a good mother.

Pete wouldn't admit that it was his baby and accused me of cheating, and that's when he kicked me out of the house. That's where I began moving from place to place, meeting all the wrong men. I kept having more children in just in the wrong situations, hoping that the child would bring more joy into my life. It was a big mistake, that I repeated many times.

This is where the weight comes in. I ended up having 5 kids by different fathers, and I had gained a lot of weight. I wasn't taking care of myself. I still drank a lot and didn't do any exercise. I tried not to drink when I was pregnant, but I didn't always know when I was pregnant and I made some bad mistakes. Luckily none of the kids were harmed. I tended to overeat when I was drinking, because I had no clue how much food I should be eating, and I just liked to pig out when I was drunk. It was a vicious cycle -- I would drink, and overeat, and then do it all over again.

By the time I was 34, I weighed over 300 pounds. I felt awful about myself, but I didn't even have much time to feel bad about myself because of all the attention my kids needed. I wanted to be healthier, and I wanted to live a long time so that I could take care of my kids. Gosh, I didn't know where to start. Where do you start when you've lived a life of bad choices and weigh 300 pounds?

I decided to do what a lot of people in my situation do, which is look to God. I have always had a little faith, but I have never given it the chance to grow. I started going to church regularly and trying to sort out my life. The most important thing was kicking the booze. That was the hardest part -- even harder than losing the weight. But I could write a book on that, the point is that I quit drinking all together. My kids were very happy for me.

As far as weight loss goes, I wanted to get a good start on it. I had heard about all kinds of diet program that were out there, but after all my body has been through I didn't think that was the smartest thing to do. My liver doesn't work like it used to. I decided it to do it the all natural way. But I wanted to go talk to someone who knew how to do it. I got advice from a nutritionist and a fitness person down at the health club. I even got a membership, and started working out 3 times a week. That helped out a lot. Of course, having 5 children I don't have a whole lot of money to be buying health food, but I found very quickly that eating healthy is not expensive. It can actually be a lot cheaper now that I didn't have to buy all that junk food.

I didn't lose a whole lot of weight quickly (I didn't expect to), but I felt way better all the time. I had more energy, and I felt better about myself. I also started walking to work every night. The kids, of course, kept me up and moving all the time as well, and I'm glad they did. It only took a few months to see some results. I lost 30 pounds in just 4 months... but I stuck with it and went on to lose 110 more pounds over the coming year and a half. I was back to a very healthy weight and I noticed people treating me differently. It's probably because I looked better and had all kinds of confidence and energy now. My children have never been happier as well.