Thirty, flirty, and thriving

Well, thirty-some. Hi! I’m AC. My real name is Angela, but I like to be all incognito with the internets, so I mostly go by my initials. (I’m paranoid of weirdos and identity theft). I’m a native Arizonan. I currently live in a distant suburb of Phoenix and I’m a mother to two boys, both under 2 years old (yes, home life is often chaotic). I also work full-time as a Senior Administrative Assistant for a manager I like to refer to as “The Devil Wears Sag Harbor” (not quite hip enough for Prada). Oh alright, she’s not nearly as nasty as Miranda Priestly- but you get the idea.

Personality-wise: I’m sarcastic, cynical, and often way too serious for my own good (or so The Husband says). I’m also way anally organized and obsessive-compulsive about neatness & order. I’m pretty much your run-of-the-mill control freak/perfectionist. However, I’m also totally inconsistent and can be quite the lazy lug at times (yeah I enjoy a good weekend camping out on the couch with the remote). Don’t get me wrong- I can also be quite fun, goofy, and overly-animated when I’ve ingested the right amount of liquid encouragement. Red wine is currently my weapon of choice, but the ol’ stand-by will always be vodka!

And Here’s to You, Mrs. Robinson

I’m married to a younger dude (seven years younger to be exact - go me!) who’s as equally quirky. Quirky is putting it nicely, we got issues man! But we’ve managed to have two beautiful children and somewhat keep our shit together. Lord knows it’s been one hell of an experience thus far! I’m looking forward to growing old together In my spare time (what freakin’ spare time?!), I like music (Dark 80’s, New Wave, Synth-pop), blogging, webdesign, shopping (aka: spending all my [husband's] money), and stealing hubby’s imported beer (when all the wine is gone). I also really enjoy getting all Martha Stewart with craft projects and such. But these days, that kind of fun is few and far between!

Fat bottomed girls, you make the rockin’ world go round

To really let you in on who I am, I have to tell you about who I was - who I am still. Overweight. I was a fat kid, a fat adolescent, a fat teen, and a fat adult. You see, the problem that I face is two-fold: I love to eat and I hate to exercise. I also have a pretty unhealthy relationship with food in the form of a coping mechanism. However, after a lifetime of dieting myself right up to the “Morbidly Obese” category, I finally got a taste of the forbidden fruit of being “skinny”. In this case, skinny is a relative term

From Fat to Fit and Back Again

You see, about 4 years ago I lost 114 lbs.. I was also lucky enough to have reconstructive surgery during that time. I went from 243 lbs. (at my most depressed state of being), to 129 lbs. (and burning a hole through my bank account. I was going crazy with the clothes shopping). I now have a closet full of skinny jeans that I could probably only fit one thigh in! Losing that drastic amount of weight had a dramatic effect on my entire life. Everything changed in more ways than I can explain. Some great, some not. But overall, it was the best thing that I’ve done for myself!

The sweet taste of victory only lasted about oh, maybe 6 glorious little months- because guess what? Yup, I got pregnant. (Duh, losing a significant amount of weight suddenly makes you crazy fertile!) I gained about 40 lbs. with pregnancy #1, of which I lost pretty much none after all was said and done. Because then guess what? Uh huh, hubby knocked me up again, only 8 months later. I gained another 30 lbs. with pregnancy #2. At 5 weeks post-partum I’ve only managed to lose 15 lbs., of which was mostly the baby’s weight!

Back in the Saddle Again

My short stint in the land of “normal” is a distant memory. I’m back in the “Obese” category (though not Morbidly) and struggling with the carb & sugar monsters again. No matter what I weigh, I’ll always have issues with food. My brain is wired as a fat person. It will always be a struggle for me. Hey, do the math. Even though I’ve kept a good portion of the weight off, I’ve now got a significant chunk to lose again! I’m not even going to try to get back down to my lowest weight. It was impossible to maintain- I did some pretty crazy shit to get that low and to stay there (I won’t gross you out with the details!). I’ll be happy with 140 lbs. Still a bit thick, but hubby likes it like that! He used to call me “Skeletor” when I was at my lowest and often complained about the flat booty

Cheer Up, Charlie. Give Me a Smile

But do not fret! There is always a silver lining. I still managed to meet a great guy who loved me for me- rolls and all! Without the weight loss (no matter how short-lived it was), I wouldn’t have been able to get pregnant and give him two beautiful boys. I’ll probably forever lament the loss of that perfectly flat stomach- but when I look at my boys, I know it was all worth it!