Christy Sanchez
As far back as I can remember I was always overweight but attractive. As a teenager, I was always busy going to school, working and going out with friends. Always busy and eating on the run.....probably never really hungry. I remember joining TOPS with my grandmother at 17 years old and I weighed 281 pounds. I didn't look like it but I did. I spent the next several years yo-yo dieting. At 27, I gave birth to my 1st child and remember the horror I felt when at the end of the pregnancy I weighed more than 300 pounds. After that I joined weight watchers and lost 30 pounds but guess what I got pregnant again, but I gained another son. After his birth, I did really good with my weight and got down to 250 pounds. I was on my way to good health and was exercising daily. During that time, I was gaining self confidence although having marital problems. My husband and I seperated for a while but decided to give it another try for our two sons and I got pregnant again, all the while on birth control. In 2005, I had another beautiful son. I, again, knowing I needed help with my weight joined weight watchers. I lost down all the baby weight and got down to my average 265 pounds. In fall of 2005, once again wanted to try to lose more weight, so, I spent the hefty expense of joining LA Weight Loss. It was quite expensive so I figured it had to work because it cost so much. Needless to say, I lost a small amount of weight. I was very disappointed with the program but it wasn't long and I realized I was pregnant again. So, August of 2006 I gave birth to my 4th son in 5 years. I now had 4 active little boys I was too tired to properly take care of. I knew I was in serious need of help. I have always been a pretty happy person but now I was fat and tired. Never had so much responsibility been on my shoulders, I continued to work but often in the evenings I'd buy some unhealthy fast food dinner or throw some hot dogs on the stove. My body also now was sagging and I looked like I weighed much more than I did. I knew I was making the weight problems worse and potentially causing problems for my young sons. I have been lucky so far they seem to be slender like their father. Part of the problem is his profession being storm recovery he has been working in New Orleans for the last two years and just recently came home. Everything (my job, the boys, paying all the bills, taking care of 3 dogs, etc.) started getting so overwhelming - I knew I had to have some serious help. I was getting depressed and kept blaming it on post partum depression. Finally, I had the nerve to seek help from a doctor inquiring about WLS. I got a referral on May 25th and made the call on June 5th, I'm in my last stage of pre-op requirements. Tomorrow I'll be attending my second nutrition class. I've have two doctor referral letters and will be submitting a request for insurance approval probably by early next week. It looks like this is going to happen. It's been so fast and I don't know a whole lot about WLS. I've chosen the band because I know I can be successful with the more non invasive surgery. I've had 2 other family members who have chosen the band and have lost lots of weight and look great. I'm getting really excited although I know it's going to be so hard to say goodbye to my one constant in my life...Food and how it seemed to make me feel. I'm hoping to change my relationship with food and make it more like a necessity for health/energy but what I'm looking forward to the most is having the energy to take GOOD care of my Boys!
