I am a respiratory therapist working 13 week contracts all over the country.  Divorced, I have 2 sons, 5 grandchildren, 1 dog, 2 cats.  I work 3 days and off 4 each week which makes for great weekly mini-vacations. I am obese and suffer back and neck pain. In 2007, I had to have a lumbar spinal fusion-4 levels.  I have struggled to lose weight all my life.  I also have Vitamin D deficency, nodule on my thyroid, high blood pressure which is under control with meds, arthritis, and plantar faciatis.