Britney25
My name is Karen, I'll be 27 the day before my surgery. I am married to a wonderful man who will be having the same surgery in late August himself! So, a little bit about me... I have been overweight, well technically obese since I was 2 years old. I was 50 pounds when I was 2, 80 pounds when I was 4, 212 pounds when I was 12, and 270 pounds, my current weight when I was 16 years old. I was ALWAYS very active and popular growing up, so I never had any of the "normal fat person" issues. I was on student council, numerous clubs, chorus, social groups, and played a HUGE amount of sports. I played 3 varsity sports in high school every single year, basketball being my main sport. I played basketball year round and went on to play Division 3 college basketball. Mind you, I was STILL 270 pounds or so, working out religously EVERY SINGLE day doing cardio for 60 minutes, lifting weights for 30 min 3x/week and was on a diet since age 12. I was also being seen by my family MD and put on weight loss drugs since that age...NOTHING seemed to get the weight off and if it did I would go down to 230 , once I stopped the drug, my weight would bounce back up to 270 again! My freshman year in college, I tore a tendon in my right knee, which ended my basketball career. I got immediate surgery, couldn't work out or play sports for about 8 months, ended up eating and drinking way more than usual and my weight ballooned to 340 pounds. That was the first time in my life, I had high blood pressure, my feet hurt, my body ached, my weight was a problelm. The day I could start working out aggressively again, I did. I also stopped eating and starting taking laxatives. I also went to Weight Watchers to make it look like I was loosing weight "the right way". I was probably eating 800 calories a day and working out 4 hours a day or so. I ended up losing 150 pounds in 8 months getting down to my lowest adult weight, 190 pounds. I stayed at that weight for ONE WEEK. I plateued back up to 230 and maintained that weight for 3 years, then went to 250 for 2 years and then once I got married 295. I continue to work out like a maniac with my exercise, I do cardio 6-7x/week for at least an hour, I lift weights for 30 minutes 3x/week and stretch every single day. The working out is something that I have never stopped, with the exception of that time right after my knee surgery. I started seeing a nutritionist at Hershey medical center after being put on some very strong medications for Migraines and having Thyroid issues by my family MD and still NOTHING budged. At that point, I entered the surgical weight loss program. My sister is getting married on July 5th, I am the maid of honor, so I wanted to get back to my "fighting weight" of 270, so I went on MediFast and I am now at 275 with 3 days to go before her wedding. I start my fast for surgery on July 9th and my surgery is July 17th. I got my verbal and written approval by my insurance and I went and was cleared by Dr. Shope and the anesthesia team on July 1st. This will be the beginning of the rest of my life.
