SUSAN’S STORY

I was never thin. And I was never petite, even though my French teacher in high school called all the girls Petite + their last name. I was Petite Brown, measuring 5’9 tall and weighing about 135.

I never had a serious weight problem until I went to Greece as a high school exchange student. The family I lived with thought I was too thin and fed me wonderful food for two months. I gained 30 pounds during that time. This might have been my first foray into emotional eating, because even though I had a wonderful experience, I was homesick and a bit anxious most of the time I was there. Once I returned home, I did lose the weight but it seems to me, looking back, that that was the beginning of that not so nice world of yo-yo-ing.

When I went off to college, I gained the “freshman fifteen” (and then some) partly due to the cafeteria-style eating with no limit on what you ate or how much, and the challenges presented by being away from home and the whole social scene and pressures.

Once I got all of that under control, I did pretty well, although I was constantly moving in about a 15-pound range. Upon graduation, I got married and by then was 5’10” and weighed only 136. By this time I really knew how to diet and control my weight. With each of my three pregnancies, I gained just 20 pounds, the recommended weight gain for pregnant women at the time. But after each pregnancy I lost only about 15 of those 20 pounds and so the weight started creeping up.

In my late forties, I suffered from a bout of depression, the treatment for which included medication, and my weight skyrocketed. I got up to about 230 (two hundred thirty) before I decided to do something about it. That’s when I went on all the various commercial diet programs. I did lose weight: twice I lost 50 pounds, but I always put it right back on. I would start celebrating with food as soon as I reached my goal weight.

About 6 years ago, I learned that my back and neck were riddled with arthritis and stenosis. I had the first of 3 surgeries. As a result of my back problems I was very sedentary and became a magnet for weight gain. When I reached 247 pounds about a year and a half ago, I knew I had to do something and decided to look into using hypnosis. That is when I found Jennifer Scott.

I have lost almost 40 pounds since working with her and her program. My goal is to lose another 40 pounds and to keep it off forever!