If I could just be a skinny girl.........

So, last week I was teaching in a health class. I am sure all of you remember what your health room was like....full of posters warning you about the dangers of drugs & alcohol. Well, I was sorta wandering around waiting for the kids to finishing answering their "Dating Game" questions. I see this poster that has all different types of drugs and what categories they belonged to. So I am reading (I like to keep my info updated) and I see a list of stimulants. There are pictures of the drugs. I am going along the list and then I see it. My old friend. Metabolife 365. It is a popular weight loss drug from back in the day. It is illegal now, although, there is a new version "Metabolife Ultra". I was really surprised to see this on a DRUG poster. And it was a stimulant! Yikes. Well, let me tell you about my experience with these pills. I was probably 24 and I decided I needed to lose weight. I wore a size 12 (loose) and I felt like I was too fat. I was "dating" and it seemed like there was such an emphasis on weight. Seriously...I had a guy tell once that I was the perfect girl(personality) but he likes skinny girls. I was very active. I went to the gym. I worked several jobs. I went out dancing. Probably if I had laid off the beer I would have been fine. But that is another story for some other time. I was not fat. Most of what I had was muscle. I will never be a size 3. I would look horrible. But I wanted to loose some weight. My friend had been taking Metabolife and started loosing weight. I decided I would try it. I still remember my first dose. I took 1 1/2 pills like the bottle said. It wasn't long before I was bouncing off the walls. I cleaned the entire house before going into work. That evening I went in for my shift at Fisher's. I get there and I am so ready to go. You have never seen anyone wait on tables like I was... I told my boss he could send everyone home, I could take ALL the tables. I picked up extras and even did most of the side work for my coworkers. It was awesome. When it was time to sleep, I crashed. This went on for a couple of weeks. I started loosing a ton of weight. Other than the energy boost, it makes you super thirsty. I would drink like a gallon of water a day. I couldn't quench my thirst. After those first few, good weeks I started noticing I couldn't go to sleep at night. I would be up half the night. And when I did sleep I would have nightmares. A few months into taking the pills I had lost 25 or so pounds. I was down to a size 8 (once again - loose). It was awesome. I was the thinnest I have ever been in my life (since puberty). But the pills were taking a toll on me. I had friends tell me I was a different person. I told them I thought THEY were crazy. I don't really remember what I did or anything like that but I think I was just unreasonable. I dated this guy during this time (who by the way told me I was fat after I found out he had slept with my ex-roommate - see Jarhead previous post) and he still (to this day) tells people I am crazy. Isn't that lovely. Of course maybe I was??? I prefer to think it makes him feel better about the way he treated me. Either way...after a while Metabolife really wasn't working. I stopped loosing weight. And the drugs were expensive. I did keep most of the weight off for a few years. Pretty much until I met Jake (ha ha ha) and started having babies. Kinda crazy.

So, here were some of the side effects listed on the poster: rapid heart rate, inability to sleep, nightmares, nervousness, irritability, upset stomach, chest pain, stroke, heart attack, psychosis and death. Can you believe that? Crazy. It is no long on the market. I guess some young healthy 20 somethings actually did die from that stuff. I am lucky.