I was having a conversation with a girlfriend the other day and we got around to the subject of weight loss. Imagine that!! To give you some background, I’ll give you my weightloss history (in a condensed version). I’ve essentially struggled with weight my entire life and I’d say I’ve spent approximately half my life overweight. I was a chunky kid in elementary school. I remember comparing stomach’s with a friend who was also chunky to see who had the bigger stomach. At age 10, my mom and I went on a diet together. By my recollection, I think I lost about 10 pounds. This put me in good shape for my junior high and high school years where I actually was a perfect weight but the stigma had already set in and I remember feeling throughout that period that I was “fat.” Looking back at my pictures, I get frustrated at all that emotional energy that I spent on that when in reality I looked great.

I stayed fairly healthy until about age 24 or 25 when over the course of about a year, I put on almost 60 pounds. There was a triggering event to which I attribute this weight gain, but the pattern was set in motion. I remained this heavy until about a year after the birth of my first child at which point I decided to join Weight Watchers. Over the next year, I took off almost 50 pounds and achieved “Lifetime Weight Watcher” status.

My next trigger event was my next pregnancy where, I swear, the instant I found out I was pregnant I gained 20 pounds! Which, of course, eventually put me over the 200 lb. mark again. I took off about 20 pounds by returning to Weight Watchers, but couldn’t seem to find the motivation to continue with the program. Then I discovered Atkins!! Wow, the weight seemed to melt off. I was able to get back down to a respectable size, just in time for my sister’s wedding.

Time passed and my third trigger event occurred, I applied for and was accepted into the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. I again watched the weight creep back on seemingly helpless to stop it. It felt like either concentrate on getting my MBA or concentrate on losing weight but my brain/willpower/whatever?? wouldn’t allow room for both. I started freaking out a bit as I started to see the 200 mark looming closer and closer. By now though I was dealing with school, work, raising kids, a broken wrist requiring major surgery (dominant hand), and plantar fasciatis on both feet which would eventually require surgery as well.

I went to my doctor and begged her for phentermine. She has been my doctor for 7 years and so knows me quite well. She dislikes prescribing phentermine, but, given my inability to exercise and all the other craziness, she was willing to try (provided I stay under strict medical supervision). I’ll never forget when I picked it up from the pharmacy the pharmacist said (in kind of a snotty voice), “You know, most people regain all the weight they lose on this.” I wanted to say, “Yeah, that’s true for most diets isn’t it!” But I didn’t think of it until, I’d gotten home.

Fortunately, for me, it has worked. I have lost about 20 lbs. while using the drug and an additional 10 lbs. outside of it and am still losing. Getting back to my conversation with my girlfriend…I was talking about how it was like I was finally able to make the decision to lose weight. I never seem to know what the trigger for that “I’m ready to lose weight now” decision is. Each time, I have lost weight it was the same…I just made the decision and it actually stuck. This is of course outside of the hundreds of false starts I’ve had. I’ve started a new diet every other week for months on end and would not have the will power to stick to it.

I wonder how it is for other people? I never really felt I was a yo-yo dieter, yet as I read my story I see that trend. Well, my hope is that this is the final up and down and that this will one will stick.

Wow, Scott and I just returned from our first business trip for RealKidz. We went to the Big Apple!! Man, what a trip!! We had a great time and were overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity of New Yorkers.

We attended the Material World Fabric and Sourcing Event at Javits Convention Center. While I don’t think we’ll need to go to another one of those in the near future, it was a good first stop for us since we’re so new and still learning. We met a lot of vendors, got some great information and saw some wonderful fabrics and trims. We even went to a seminar on trends. While RealKidz is really more concerned with making sure our kids clothes are in line with (as opposed to in front of) the trends, it was an interesting peek into what it must be like for the trendsetting designers. We learned that layers, layers, layers will continue to be THE look for the future and, if you’re a guy and you want to be fashion forward, start getting used to the idea of shoving your pants into below the knee riding type boots. We actually saw that look after we heard about it in one of the window fronts on 5th Avenue. Needless to say, Scott told me to whack him over the head with his boots, if he ever comes to the office looking like that!! Michigan is a fer cry from New York in that respect.

As a total foodie wanna be, I made sure we hit some of the classic New York specialties…bagels, New York style pizza and cheesecake, and knish (ooh, that was nummie). We popped over to the Empire State Building for a great view at night and then the next night stopped by Times Square to be overwhelmed with people, activity and lights.

We really enjoyed our hotel in the Chelsea area of New York. The Chelsea Savoy was a delight. It was very inexpensive (for New York), impeccably clean, and politely staffed. We were in a more residential type neighborhood which led to making new friends.

Our last night in town, we discovered Lasagna Ristorante on 8th and 20th. What a wonderful spot, the food was great, the atmosphere fun and the waiters were a blast! We even met a fellow Michigander who shared with us pictures on his iphone from his recent trip up north. I wish I could remember everyone’s names we met, but we had a great time with David and his friends and look forward to seeing them again on our next trip to NY!

Life certainly is a few paces slower outside of Manhattan and I can’t say that I mind, but it was so energizing to be a part of city life for a little bit! I’m looking forward to the next trip and to the time when I can purchase (instead of just window shop) at some of the amazing stores we passed by.

How many of you have had the joy of putting your child in braces??? My daughter just got hers on yesterday and what an experience that was! First of all, I probably could have titled this entry as “Mother Knows Best!!” because, time and again, that age old saying seems to prove true.

The day started out fairly well. The braces were due to be installed at 10. Gabi’s school is 25 minutes away from the dentist’s office so it didn’t make any sense to send her school. We stopped and had a hearty breakfast before the appointment because I knew from my own experience with braces that she wouldn’t feel much like eatting for the next couple of days. I dropped her off. I took off for my lunch meeting after the important decisions were made….silver or gold braces?? silver please…what color bands?….Gabi’s favorite colors, blue and green…cash, check, or charge?….

My husband picked her up with instructions to drop her back at home to spend the afternoon recuperating or nursing her sore mouth. When he was leaving the nurse said, “Why isn’t she going back to school? She won’t be sore until tomorrow.” Juan called me and I figured, okay, they’re the experts, right?? So Juan schleppes her the 25 miles (the other direction from his work) to school. Sure enough, an hour later I get a call, my daughter in tears, saying her mouth hurts. Doh! I knew it!! (See, mother knows best!) So, no problem…I run to pick her up. Of course, one of the brackets has already popped so instead of the 15 minutes back to the house, we travel back into town to get it fixed. Okay, an hour and a half later she’s safely deposited at home under the caring eyes of our neighbor.

Around 3:30 about an hour after I’ve finally gotten into the office to try to get something accomplished, my phone rings and, lo and behold, we have another popped bracket. I look at my calendar and I’m supposed to be in Ann Arbor for a meeting at 4:30, so I call hubby, who by now is fed up with driving and braces, as am I. Juan picks up our son from the child care center, grabs Gabi and heads back into town for another visit with the orthodontist. Fortunately, they check all the brackets this time and find another loose one as well. Whew! We’re finally done, and, a gallon of gas between the two of us later, we have a child with very cool green and blue braces!

Wow, does time really fly! I’ve had a busy couple of weeks since we returned from up north. We’re working with the pattern maker to get the fit samples produced and once we adjust them the patterns will be ready for production. Scott and I are heading to New York in a couple of weeks to go to Material World which is a fabric show. This should be a crazy, hectic time with a visit to a manufacturer and a look around the garment district, in addition to going to the show and trying to find all the American vendors mixed in with the ones from around the world!

We’re doing all the fun things like meeting with accountants, potential investors, and reporters! The Ann Arbor Business Review is doing an article on RealKidz for this weeks edition and I’ll be meeting with The Depot Town Rag and The Ann Arbor News in the next week or so as well. It’s fun and exciting.

Well, hopefully we’ll get our equipment in today so that we have reliable internet here in the office. We’ve been mooching off our neighbor’s wireless and they finally kicked us off so it was time. Anything to save a buck, ya know!

Just got back from a great time with my family “Up North” in Michigan. It’s always a mixed event coming home. I’m glad to be back but it was so nice to enjoy all the wonders northern Michigan has to offer. My parents, my aunt, my sister and brother-in-law and nephews have made the treck out (or back) to Northern Michigan from the west side of the country about every other year since we’ve lived here. We’ve made Crystal Mountain our base camp and explored from there.

This year after being scolded numerous times for not ever having visited the Mackinac (pronounced Mack-in-aw) area, Juan, I and the kids headed over there for a day and immediately fell in love. We definitely plan to go back and explore some more. Mackinac Island was everything we’d ever heard and the Upper Peninsula has a lot of great attractions we want to go back and check out.

Well, it’s back to work which is exciting because of what we expect to see happen here at RealKidz over the next month or so. I’ll do a separate post on that.

Time to look at the mail and get some work done and then I’ll be back!!

Keep It Real!

Merrill

Hi there and welcome to my very first blog post! I am excited to share with you what I’m working on and I’m really looking forward to your feedback.

Who am I and why am I here?? I’m a mom who has experienced the frustration of trying to find clothing for my daughter who is mildly overweight and has been since about 1st grade. I can’t believe there aren’t more people out there making cool clothing for plus-size kids when there are so many plus-size kids out there. Estimates right now put that number at 1/3 of kids ages 5 to 12.

Why is it that because my daughter is fighting against the genes that I have given her (I have struggled with my weight for most of my life), that she has to struggle to find clothes that fit her and, even more, look good on her? The popular styles the past few years have definitely not been kind to anyone with even a modicum of body fat. Low rise jeans and tight tops don’t look good even on people of average body weight much less those who have anything resembling rolls.

I decided that someone needed to step up to the plate and provide curvy girls with fashionable clothing that they’re going to be excited to wear. So here I am, launching the RealKidz clothing line. But I wanted to do more than just provide clothing for these forgotten children!! I wanted to build a community where parents can come to share their joys, frustrations, and good finds. This blog is just the beginning! To that end, I really want to know what the most important aspects this community would be for you. I’m going to have experts in nutrition, child psychology, childhood obesity, food coaches and more to provide reasoned and knowledgeable information. I plan to launch a forum where we can share joys, frustrations and good finds with the goal of supporting our children and each other.

I want this to be a place where kids and parents can find a balance between feeling good about themselves and realizing we all need to strive to be healthy. At RealKidz we will celebrate all children because ALL kids have the right to be, just that, kids!! They all have the right to laugh and play and be innocent for as long as possible in this amazing world. We’re starting our clothing line for girls first because we can’t afford to do the whole enchilada yet, BUT we plan to expand into boys plus-sizes and, as soon as possible, we’ll expand into all size ranges for these boys and girls.

I’m looking forward to getting to know you and I hope you’ll stick around and contribute to the launch of something that will be life changing for a lot of families!!

Keep it real!!
~Merrill