At 326 pounds, I was the heaviest I'd ever been. I carefully unpacked it, installed the batteries, and stepped on. I can clearly remember the day that scale arrived. One day, I received an email from a company asking me to review their digital scale on my blog. I was taking a lot of prescription medications, too.

I was routinely in the doctor’s office and was required to go for weekly or monthly lab work, as well as blood-pressure checks up to three times per week. I suffered from high blood pressure, polycystic ovarian syndrome, insulin resistance, high cholesterol, a fatty liver, depression, and anxiety. My weight had destroyed my knees, and I still have back, knee, and hip pain due to bone deterioration. When I was overweight, I was alive, but I wasn’t living, and I never felt good. I gave Weight Watchers and South Beach a try once or twice, but I never really followed through or committed. I’d tried a low-carb diet once before, but it barely lasted for 24 hours. I'd never committed to dieting or changing my lifestyle before. (Get the secret to banishing belly bulge from WH readers who've done it with Take It All Off! Keep It All Off!) Date nights with my husband were just romantic ways of saying, 'Let’s go out to eat.' Activities with my kids turned into, 'What sweet treat can we bake and devour together?' or 'Where can we go for a hot-fudge sundae or the next drive-through?' I loved food-and I focused on it almost around the clock. I planned all activities around where we would eat and when we would eat. I turned to food for everything as a matter of routine.

I can’t tell you how many times I stayed home sick whenever I knew we’d be running. In high school, I always tried to find ways to get out of participating in gym class. I was overweight for as far back as I could remember.

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