Fifty and Fat

I'm turning 50 and I weight 3 times that in pounds.  Great.  How does one get here.  I was always extremely thin in my younger years 100 lbs or so.  I started gaining weight in my early 20s, but pretty slow going.  When I was 28, I was 135 lbs and had gallstones with surgery to remove and that was the first diet I ever went on.  I was told to eat a no fat diet and lost 15 pounds pretty rapidly.  

Somehow I got up to 160 lbs for most of my thirties.  Which at the time I thought was outrageously fat.  It wasn't until I started trying to have children at 38 that my weight went up significantly.  I quickly went up to 180 while I was trying IVF, as the process was so awful.  And as strange as it seems, I thought if I was overweight, I would know what it was like to be pregnant.  

Going from 180 to 250 was during my 40s and was a pretty straight forward progression upwards.  I went on many diets, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Keto, and would lose about 10-20 lbs each time. I stayed around 200, then 220, and most recently with the pandemic I went from 235 to 250 in that years time.

I'm at the point now where I've been told I have elevated glucose, high blood pressure (which in turn in causing an increase in migraines), arthritis in toe, plantar fasciitis, sciatica, low sex drive.  These are all directly related to my weight.  The argument that being overweight doesn't cause illness is wrong.

The question is, will I do anything about it.  I'm a fairly pessimistic person, so I use sugary foods to make me feel better.  I'm also pretty isolated due to the pandemic.  Food is a comfort.  I have awful insomnia and eating in the middle of the night makes me feel better.  

So I have a goal right now to lose 20 lbs at least.  I'm hoping that reduces my blood pressure.  

Regarding exercise, I started swimming in April, so for about 2 months now I swim 2-3 days a week.  It's the most wonderful think I've tried yet, the problem is access to a pool in the future.  

I've ordered fresh meals from a company that provides 1200 calorie a day meals. I can do that for a period of time, and I'm praying that the weight comes off quickly to lose that first 10 pounds.

Wish me luck