My name is Somayeh.  I’m a 24 year old female from southern California . I’ve struggled with weight issues on and off since I was about 8 years old.  In my early childhood I was slightly under-weight, but on par with my classmates.  Sometime during the academic school year of 3rd grade, I began to put on weight.  My eating and exercise habits had not changed at all, and nobody understood the weight gain.  The gain steadily increased with time until I reached high school, and then once again, I hit a weight-fluctuation.  This time, the weight mysteriously went down, instead of up.  I went from a size 16/18 to a size 10/12 over the course of two years, without any effort to change my diet or exercise.  I chalked it up to “growing up” from a girl into a woman, and figured puberty just “put things where they needed to be.”  The glory was short-lived, however.  When I turned 19, things shifted back in the other direction.  Over the course of 1 year, I gained 100 lbs, without having changed my diet or exercise at all.  I became depressed, and my eating habits slipped from OK to abysmal.  Over the course of the next year, I packed on another 50 lbs, this time entirely of my own doing.

The first weight shift, at age 8, went untreated because I was the oldest daughter in an immigrant family.  My parents didn’t have medical coverage, and paying rent and keeping the family business afloat was first priority.  Half the time, my mother would “forget” to feed us until 8 pm.  A late-night dinner would often be the first meal of the day for me and my little sister.  My mother just didn’t think to take me to a doctor for my weight gain.

The second weight fluctuation was in a more positive direction, and seeking medical treatment for it seemed counter-intuitive.  I didn’t want to know why I was getting skinny, I just wanted it to continue.

The first time I sought treatment for the wacky weight was at 21 years old, weighing in at just under 300 lbs.  I had other symptoms, which would eventually be flagged as caused by thyroid and insulin resistance.  Unfortunately, it took several years before I could find a doctor who could look passed the weight long enough to see it as a symptom, and not a cause.  Every time I sought treatment for fatigue, hair loss, hirsutism, depression or menstrual irregularity, they would recommend I exercise more, and eat less.  While I am the first to endorse these two things as part of an overall healthy lifestyle, I was frustrated with the fact that doctor after doctor dismissed my earnest insistence that I was exercising, and was dieting, to no avail.  Three years and eight doctors later, I finally found a physician willing to listen to me, and look at all of my symptoms as a whole.

I started treatment for thyroid and insulin resistance, and initiated a new long-term change in eating and exercise habits (I don’t like to say “diet” because a diet is something you do for a month or two, to get into a new pair of jeans.  What I did was much more permanent than that.)

It still took six to seven months before I saw any change at all.  In the meantime, I began looking into gastric bypass, and other WLS options.  I spoke to my PCP and began the process of gathering medical records to present as evidence to my insurance.  While in the middle of all of this, my exercise, diet, and medication began to kick in, and I began to lose weight.  With hard work, medical support, and friendly advice, I lost 60 lbs, going from 311 lbs. to 250 lbs. My doctor no longer supports WLS, because I have been losing without surgery.  For now, I’m going to continue the Non-Op route and see how far it takes me.  I haven’t reached my goal yet, but I hope to be there in a year or two.

~Somayeh~

             311        /          247              /  145
December '05  /    November '06   /    Goal

Body Goals

Fit into a size 18 anything - DONE! 09/2006
Lose 50 lbs. - DONE! 05/2006
Ride a rollercoaster - DONE! 11/2006
Lose 100 lbs.
Get under 180 lbs. so I can take up horseback riding
Take up fencing
Fit into a size 12 anything