My Journey Towards A Healthy Body Part 2 - The High School Years

Ninth grade came and I went to a new school without the few friends I managed to make in 8th grade and the end of seventh grade  (yes, it took me almost a year to find myself friends at the middle school I transferred to when I started seventh grade). So I was alone again, but this time I had embraced the fact I was not a conventional person. I was realizing that there was some things about me that many people are freaked out by, but was not ready to accept those parts of me. My eating disorder began to form a pattern of starving and binging during this time. This is where binging began to play a part in my life, which I still fight to this day.

I remember my ninth grade year alternating between binging on sweets from the vending machine at school or in secret and starving myself. Some days I would have nothing more than an apple fritter from the check cashing place across the street or a nutrigrain bar and a soda before dinner and other days I ate without abandon. All based on stress levels and the scale in the morning. I had a very stressful life at home and school was not much better. By the end of 9th grade I had a new friend, a few acquaintances, and had reached an all time "high" on the scale of 125. I also began smoking that year as I talked about in a previous post called One Ex Smoker's Tale. I was freaked out by this gain, but waited until fall to do anything about it since I spent more time at home during the summer and didn't want anyone on my trail.

Tenth grade was the year I felt I had it all together, but was also a time I started to get some answers about myself that I was not able to accept at that time. I got my first job at a doctor's office down the street from school, had a few boyfriends including my first serious relationship after being dateless in ninth grade, and I made "progress" on my quest towards looking like a rail thin model. I put most of the binging behind me for the time being and other than events like youth group trips I ate very little before dinner once again. Getting myself "under control again" by eating nutrigrain bars or drinking coffee and having a soda or yogurt for lunch along with the usual small dinner got me to 115 by the middle of my sophomore year.

I saw that number on a doctor's scale when I got a physical at the doctor's office. I remember the doctor explaining to my mother that 95% of girls my height of 5'8" weighed more than I did. While my doctor probably stated that to alert my mother subtly, my mother replied that I had always been thin and that I was just a small boned person. My secret was safe, at least from her. I also weighed in periodically at work and had my first confrontation from a classmate. She was concerned that I was too thin, but I brushed it off. Luckily she did not take her concerns any further. The end of sophomore year, I was put on birth control since I had irregular periods and was getting my period every two weeks at times and other times went a few months without bleeding at all. Over that summer 115 disappeared from the scale forever. This was due to my first serious boyfriend and I got more lax about things. I also was on birth control which made my self control slightly weaker than normal.

Got to 11th grade weighing the most I would weigh until I stopped starving myself at the age of 19. I weighed 135 and felt like a cow. In actuality I was for the first time at the lower end of the healthy weight range for my height. That year a major life changing event happened to me and I finally dealt with some things I learned about myself and accepted them as a part of me. I broke up with the serious boyfriend over him pressuring me for sex (I was still a virgin) and then got back to losing weight. After this break up, I came out of the closet as a bisexual to a few friends and started embrace who I really was. I had a short relationship with my first girlfriend which ended when she cheated on me. I had a long distance relationship later on that year with a guy and got back down to 120 by the end of the school year. Despite being on birth control most of that year, my restricting was still working to a point and remained a secret.

Senior year was all about getting the hell out of high school and being all that I could be. I had 2 AP classes that year and also had a few relationships once again including my first serious relationship with a girl. I had a starving/binging cycle similar to the one I had in 9th grade and hung out with a few other outsiders who were mostly two grades behind me. Around them I ate junk along with them sometimes and other times pretended to have already eaten. I saw my weight creep up to 135 again and then I quickly got it down to 125 in time for my first and only prom. Due to my mom and step dad's Christian Conservative background, I took a guy from church with me to prom instead of my girlfriend. I will talk more about sexuality in another post in the future. After prom I relaxed a bit and graduated high school weighing 135. I had to relax a little since my step dad finally said something to me about not eating enough and needing to eat more. This concludes my "shortened" version of my eating disorder and me in high school.  The final part will be summed up with the next few days. Sorry for the long post and enjoy reading. Please comment and if you have any experience with this, please share.

My Current Obsessions

As I have discussed at great length, I have had my addictions and overcame many of them. While I don't have any life threatening ones now, I still become obsessed with things very easily. Here are some current addictions/obsessions I have:

1. Coffee/diet soda - I love caffeine, helps me to have energy and stay awake. Also, I love the taste of coffee and diet soda. Have cut back to a diet soda or less a day now, but that has not been easy to do.

2. Big Bang Theory - All you have to do to see that is visit me on twitter, I talked a ton about this show tonight. Watching reruns of Big Bang Theory on TBS right now when I should be going to bed. I love the show, especially Sheldon. FYI my screen name on Twitter is punkedpoetess.

3. Food - I love eating it, cooking it, baking it, and all aspects of food really. Unfortunately I do not have the perfect body, but I work very hard to keep this obsession from making me a fat or too skinny person. In the past I have had eating disorder tendencies and still struggle with emotional/binge eating and wanting to starve myself at times. Luckily I am smarter now and mostly take care of myself. I will discuss my journey in this area in the future, this is a very difficult topic for me to talk about.

4. Running - While I prefer not to be a competitive runner I have found out, I like the "high" I get from running and do some running intervals and shorter runs a few times a week in addition to many other forms of exercise. Exercise in general is a major reason that I have been able to stay off antidepressants at the moment. I hope it keeps working since I hate the way my body reacts to antidepressants.

I am sure I have other obsessions, but these are my major ones today. Some of them change all the time, but most of these (especially #1 and #3) are mainstays of mine and I doubt are going anywhere. I hope this post entertained you all.

P.S. Don't forget to regularly check the facebook page for updates and to comment and like some of the posts. I often post exclusive material there and updates that give you all further insight into the background of my blog posts and myself as a person.

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