My 2nd guest-blogger -- my friend Sarah

The wonderful Sarah is from Finding my Fabulosity!

I was glad to get a post from Sarah since she also likes the term "FAB."  As well, my step-daughter, like Sarah, has ADHD so it's something they have in common.

I introduce you to, Sarah...

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My name is Sarah, I am overweight, and I have ADHD (also known as Attention Hyperactive Attention Disorder).

Over the years, I have been on NUMEROUS “diets” such as the Atkins Diet, Weight Watchers, and multiple variations of these and counting calories.

I’ve been skinny twice in my life, well since hitting puberty that is, after doing the Atkins Diet at the end of 2003 and with Weight Watchers in 2006.

Both of those skinny times were because others were around me to help, in some way, shape or form. My family decided in 2003 to do the Atkins Diet, so it was easy to just eat the meals my mom made, not stray because there weren’t ANY temptations in the house, and just simply lose weight.

I would say I was about 178 lbs (a size 12) for about 6 months before some emotional issue sent me crawling back to food. In 2006, I had moved into my first apartment. My roomie was doing Weight Watchers, so I decided to try it. She kept me accountable, and helped me keep junk out of the apartment. That was my longest stretch of “skinnyness”, and it lasted about a year.

Weight loss is hard. Weight loss with a mental disorder is, honestly, harder. It’s one thing to eat mindlessly, but you eventually go “Why am I eating this?!” then put it away. With my disorder, I eat mindlessly, put it away, and 2 minutes later wonder WHAT I had just ate.

It’s a struggle for me to remember to do normal daily tasks, such as put on deodorant or brush my teeth; and yet I wonder why I can’t remember to take my multivitamin once a day.

“Out of sight, totally forgotten” should be the motto for anyone that has ADHD, or I will at least claim it’s my motto.

I wish I was somewhere near “normal”, but then I think I would take the weight loss for granted.

Since the end of July 2010, I have lost 23 lbs. However, at the peak of my weight loss, I had lost 31 lbs, but gained some back over the past few months.

This journey takes work, and I just have to work that much harder to get what I want. I should be used to it by now as that’s the way it is with everything for me, not just with weight loss.