MOM-RN
Ok here goes..... I am a 36 year old single mother of two. My lil ones are 10 and 9. While I love being a mom, I want to be able to loose weight for myself. I am a nurse and am quite accustmed to caring for others yet I have yet to perfect the art of taking care of myself. I want to start here and now!
The earliest that I can remember being overweight was at the approximate age of 10. I vividly recall one of my mothers friends saying in another room that "The oldest twin is getting fat isn't she?!" Now mind you, my family is very loving so it never occurred to me that I was that much different from my twin. We are fraternal so we look more like sisters. She's short and petite like my mom and I'm an average 5'5". I've always been taller but never described as fatter. Well that comment became my headfirst introduction into being heavy and being miserable about my weight. Needless to say that this was not something I could articulate to my Mom so I stuffed my feelings down like we all do with more food. Looking back at high school photos I realize now that I was an average size but I just wasn't petite like my twin. Her size set the standard and I came up lacking since twins are supposed to "match"... ..whatever that means.
As a adult, my weight started to climb after I had my first child. After trying with my husband for four years and finally being blessed with that little bundle, I could care less if I was overweight. I considered it a badge of honor to bring that life and the one that follwed 13 months later into the world. In my thinking, being heavy came along with the stretchmarks. Besides, I felt like I was still attractive so it didn't matter.
Ten years later, now divorced and a diagnosis of elevated cholesterol and pre-diabetic I can say truly it DOES matter! I had not been caring for my health and it had finally caught up with me. I didn't have the heart to return to WW or another "Fat" doctor. Too much money without lasting results!
I was so happy to find this board. I had my surgery on 3/09/09. Sunflower74 was my sleeve sister and I found her very encouraging. In my experience Dr. Alvarez and his staff couldn't have been better. I say that with confidence having been a nurse for 15 years. They know their craft! I've gotten some very good pointers here from my friends on the board and I'd just like to say that you guys ROCK!
Be in touch soon. Gotta go figure out how to get more protein in. My lil baby stomach and I have a complicated relationship right now so we're trying not to antagonize each other. It's an uneasy truce to say the least!
Still happy I did it though!
