ObesityHelp

For starters, I have been overweight most of my life. The heaviest has been as an adult. I married young got pregnant soon after and gained 75 lbs with my first child. I have been fighting that gain ever since (he's now 28). My highest weight was 238 when I was 32 years old. I cried when I got off the scales at my Dr office. I couldn't believe I was at that weight. The same day, I got out and started walking. I walked 5 days a week at least 3 to 5 miles each time. I lost 85 lbs and felt better than I had ever felt in my entire life. I divorced my husband and got back into the dating game thinking I would find better. No regrets on the divorce but I have found a correlation between my weight gains and dating. I will diet really hard, lose weight, meet someone, get comfortable in the relationship, stop exercising to spend time with my new BF, start eating out or high calorie meals, then here comes the weight again. I get disgusted with my self and end the relationship. I have done this at least 6 times in the past 13 years. I'm thinking it's time for a mental/physical adjustment before I begin another relationship.
I've been trying to ignore my most recent weight gain (228). Mentally telling myself I'm not that big or I can lose the weight, I've done it before. You know! We all do it! Well, the last year and a half have been my "eye opener". I went for a consult with a lap band doctor in November 2008. I had just broke my foot (was on crutches for 2 months) and was having a lot of swelling issues with it. He recommended a sleep study which I did in December 2008, of course I had moderate sleep apnea. During this time I am seeing a podiatrist for the foot issue and he recommends I see a rheumatologist to see if the swelling in my foot/ankle could be rheumatoid arthritis. Sure enough I had rheumatoid arthritis. In the mean time I needed to do the annual testing for diabetes (mother died in 1987 due to complications of the disease). Sure enough I was diabetic. I had all these diagnoses with in about 3 months. I was so depressed, I really didn't care anymore about the surgery, so I didn't do any follow ups with them.
I guess the final straw came in June of 2009. I went for a diabetes check up and received a letter from my PCP stating my diabetes was worse. They sent a new prescription for a higher dose of meds. He also said I didn't care what I did but he wanted me to lose weight some how some way. Now the hard part is, I was taking prednisone for the arthritis. Have you ever tried loosing weight on this med? Let me tell you, it's almost impossible. I started going to the gym 5 days a week and was only able to walk 1 mile each time. I weighed after the first week and I had gained 1 lb. WHAT? I lowered my calorie intake to about 1500 per day (was at abt 2500), walked ever day and lost .50 lbs. WHAT?? Your kidding me right??
I decided I was not going to give up, I kept up the diet/exercise regime (didnt lose any weight for 3 months) and finally decided to see Dr David Kim in Colleyville TX. I saw him in September of 2009 and discussed the lap band procedure. He told me straight up he would not operate on me as long as I was on prednisone. This is due to the fact this med increases the chance of infections. So we proceeded with my insurance qualifications (3 month program) and in the mean time came off all meds I was currently on except my metformin (diabetes med). I was still thinking lap band surgery when I went back for my final consult in January 2010. At that time Dr Kim stated lap band would not be a good surgery for me. Said that if I had a flare up of Rheumatoid and had to go back on long term prednisone use, it could erode the band. Said it was possible I would need a revision surgery in 2 to 5 years. He then recommended the sleeve. I had never heard of it. I asked for details he explained it and I didn't hesitate. I said lets go for it. They submitted to my insurance and got the approval back with in 24 hours. I had my surgery 3 weeks later.
I really didn't have time to think about anything because the approval happened so much sooner than I expected. My surgery was uneventful and my recovery went well. I took 2 weeks off work and was still a little sore when I went back. Oh, I do have a small hernia and I have developed some gallstones. I will have surgery later this year to remove the gallbladder and repair the hernia. But other than this, things are great.
I have started going to the gym again. I walk about 45 minutes each session which usually works out to about 2.5 miles. I have lost a total of 54 lbs (15 pre-op 39 post-op). I eat between 800-1000 calories a day. I no longer drink any protein shakes (CANT STAND THEM!!). I do get in plenty of protein and have started adding some fruits and veggies. I religiously take my vits. I am feeling better about my WL decision and myself everyday. I failed to mention I finally kicked my 30 year smoking habit as well (quit 1/22/2010), praise the lord!!!
If you are overweight, as my PCP said, lose weight. It doesn't matter how you do it, just do it. You too will find life is so much better/easier. BTW, I have not started dating again, I'm too busy getting my life right to even consider it but when I do, I will be a totally new me!!