All about my previous journeys...

First, a little more about myself.  I am a 31-year-old wife and mother of 2; a 10 year-old son and 7 year-old daughter.  I live in Kodiak, Alaska and island in the Gulf of Alaska about 250 south of Anchorage. Through childhood and adolescence I was always thin and was easily able to keep weight off or I knew how to get it off when I seemed to be gaining a little here or there.  As I entered adulthood tat became a little more difficult.  I was married by 19 and had my first child by age 20.  After I got married I put on the "marriage 20" and gained that amount of weight in about 3 months, then I found out I was pregnant with my son and put on 38 more pounds during that pregnancy.  I was 182 when I delivered my son in August of 2000.  Being a young new mom I put my son first and i was a distant last, therefore, getting the weight off was not my biggest concern.  I eventually lost about 20-25 pounds once I got back into a normal routine. I was only working part-time (20 hours per week) so I had some time to be able to maintain a steady exercise routine.  Although, we had a lot of financial stress and I gained more weight and by the time my son turned 2, I was 178 pounds, which did bode well with my small-boned 5'4" frame.  We eventually got our finances under control and moved to a new city closer to my husband's job and I began to meet new friends and got out more often an was very active.  When my son was 2 1/2 w decided we wanted to try to have another baby and I made the decision I was not going to be this overweight before I got pregnant again, so through diet and exercise I lost 24 pounds in about 3 months and was down to 152 (only 10 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight with my son) when I got pregnant with my daughter.  During this pregnancy  walked about 2-3 miles 6 days a week and went to Curves Gym about 4-5 times per week and needless to say my pregnancy, labor & delivery were smooth sailing and I was back in my pre-pregnancy clothes within 3 weeks of giving birth.  I was still about a size 10-12 after my daughter was about 6  months old and I pretty much stayed comfortable there until January of 2006.  The previous fall (September 2005), my husband and I had coached my son's soccer team and we were given a plaque with a picture of the team including both of us as coaches and I did not like the way I looked so I made a choice that my new year's resolutions was going to finally lose the "baby weight" since we had decided we were not going to have any more children.  I lost about 25 pounds in 4 months by cutting back on my calories (I was only eating 900-1200 per day) and walking 2-4 miles 5 days a week (pushing my daughter in a stroller while walking my son to school).  I kept this weight off until we moved to Alaska in February 2007.  I wore a pair of size 4 jeans on the plane the day we moved here.  The weight eventually and gradually started coming back on during the first 2 years we lived in Alaska, I think it was because I was not getting out much here moving from such a warm climate to a very cold climate in the middle of the winter.  I probably put on about 25 pounds during the first three years here.  This majority of the weight gain is when I went back o work outside thehome after being a stay-at-home mom for 6 years, the stress of being back in the work force.  I was teaching preschool 4 days a week and also planning the curriculum, while my husband worked 48-hour shifts and taking care of 2 kids...no wonder why I was gaining weight. Deciding that the "stress" of working so much was getting to me I decided to take a 15-hour a week job with the school district at the local high school and things seemed to settle down, then I got an opportunity to work at he elementary school both my kids attended, but it was 6 hours a day and I decided to take it in February 2010.  Everything was working out fine until my daughter stated showing signs of severe stomach cramps accompanied with gas and bloating.  After she visited the doctor she was diagnosed with lactose-intolerance in March 2010.  Even after going dairy-free, she was still not feeling well.  Since infancy, she had had bouts of cyclic diarrhea and/or constipation, but we just attributed it to having a "weak stomach", but when these symptoms came back with a vengeance, we had her food-allergy tested in August of 2010.  During the test she had no signs of food allergies, but cramped during the "gluten" portion of the skin test.  The doctor then sent he to the lab for bloodwork.  Within a few weeks her doctor contacted us and told us she had Celiac's Disease, an auto-immune disorder that has a gluten intolerance.  Needles to say, our lives were turned upside down with this diagnosis.  So as I am working 30 hours per week, I now have to totally reorganize my pantry to gluten free to keep my daughter healthy, to mention the cost of going "gluten-free".  Once that seemed to get under control, my son's asthma began to flare up and he had a serious attack after being exposed to a friend's cat in November 2010 and was hospitalized for 2 days.  Also, since I had started working more hours, we were finding that attending church seemed to have been pushed to the bottom of our priorities and the church we were attending was going through a pastoral and deacon change. Therefore, in the past 9-12 months I have gained an additional 25 pounds and I currently weight 178 pounds.  Then for Mother's Day 2011, my awesome sister sent me the book A Course in Weight Loss: 21 Spiritual Lessons for Surrendering Your Weight Forever.  Since I am done wit work for the summer I am beginning my NEW weight loss journey and trying to get the weight off for good!