Catherine Wygal
Hi, I’m Catherine and I’m 50% of this weight loss gang. I work full time, am a full time mom, a full time wife, and a full time inspiration to all those around me.
I’ve struggled with food issues and my weight since I was 5 years old when I tricked my parents into leaving me at home alone so I could binge-drink a gallon of chocolate milk; it was 1980, so parents let kids stay at home alone back then. While in college, I let myself get up to 300 pounds and have zig-zagged up and down the scale dozens of times, until now, where after two years of incorporating slow, sustainable habits, I’ve settled in to my lowest weight since 5th grade.
THIS time, with the help of my super-inspirational husband, I plan on keeping the weight off. You see, I used to think of weight loss like a syrupy-sweet Hallmark Channel movie, all happy endings and sunsets. THIS time, I realize that permanent weight loss is a lot more like the Friday the 13th movie franchise. You watch the first Friday the 13th movie and you’re like, “Phew, he’s dead!”, and then the sequel comes out and you’re like, “Oh, damn… he’s not dead!” and then the third movie comes out and you’re like, “SERIOUSLY?!! How can he STILL be alive!?!?!”, and then the 4th movie comes out and you’re like, “Okay, this dude is never going to die so we just have to learn to run faster than him and not go camping.” Join us, won’t you?
Donald Wygal
I was born in the last month of the 1960’s, but that doesn’t make me a hippy. I’ve been happily married to my wife, Catherine, for 17 years. We’ve been married a total of 21 years, but 17 of them were happy. We, along with our daughter, live in southern California where we often say heart-felt hellos and good-byes to each other. Well, Catherine and I are heart-felt…. our daughter mostly rolls her eyes and winces at our very existence.
I’ve struggled with my weight and have been a yo-yo dieter for as long as I can remember. At some point in 2015, I had decided that I was going to give up and just let myself get as heavy as I was going to get. I was successful in this endeavor and I reached the heaviest weight of my life.
In March of 2016, I went to my doctor for a routine physical and I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes which does NOT run in my family. I was devastated, and I had no interest in losing any weight. However, my doctor told me that if I didn’t do something, I’d very likely go blind or lose a leg or succumb to any number of complications from diabetes.
Thankfully, Catherine had already been seeking outside advice and had already started losing weight. She was able to help me adjust my attitude and my thinking and I began taking “baby steps” in the right direction. It took me two years, but I managed to lose a little over 100 pounds and my blood sugar numbers went back into the normal range.
Now, together, Catherine and I embark on the next phase; keeping the weight off forever! And being inspirational! And using exclamation marks! Join us, won’t you?