devonnec
Hello everyone, as you know I am here for support and guidance during this critical time in my life. I am hoping to gain wisdom, and possible help others that are coming onto the site. Well I will tell you a little bit about me. I lived and grew up in the little town of Mayfield Ky. As a young child I was overweight and didn't realize the long lasting insecurities it would have on my life. I was never the one that would sneak cupcakes in my room, or overeat to the point that I would vomit, or be sick...but I still had a problem. I would eat all wrong foods and when I did eat it was very late at night. So you can imagine the pounds that I accumulated over the years. As I grew older, I didn't mind the excess baggage. You know when big girls were in...and if you were a big girl you was to appreciate yourself, and love yourself for being big. Well, I went through that, and it didn't encourage me to lose weight, but rather, have an "I don't care what you think" attitude. Monique, the comedian was a ring leader for the big girls. "Big is beautiful" that was my consept and if you didn't like it, then oh well. In 1998, I moved in with my boyfriend and in 1999 I had my first daughter. Well at the time I weighed 323lbs and wanted so badily to lose weight. I was on Xenical and the only thing it did was give me gas, and oily stools. Yuck! So, then I tried the Atkins Diet, and got really sick.Well after all the yo-yo dieting I tried just cutting back on what I ate...but yet still eating the wrong foods. Well, in 2001 I had my 2nd daughter, and was weighing in at 330lbs. After this I became very concerened about my weight. I remember thinking that I might end up hitting 400lbs, and that would have been trauma to me. I never wanted to be this big, but it seemed like fate. No matter what I did, I couldn't lose anything. About early 2006, I got on the Herbalife diet. It consisted of 1shake for breakfast, 1 shake for lunch, and a sensible dinner. Not to mention all the pills that I had to take, like Total Control which was mainly a caffine pill, Cell Activator was to help your cells absorb the nutrients, and then there was the nasty herbal concentrated tea....mainly caffine. So needless to say, I did lose some weight though, but it wasn't for long. I lost 10lbs on the herbalife diet, and seem like as quick as they left they came back!! I made up my mind after that to lose weight. I was battling with high blood pressure, anemic, and boarderline diabetes. My legs would swell up so bad, and then I would have terrible headaches. I was very concerned with my weight and all the health problems I was having. I had a couple of friends and an auntie that had gastric bypass surgery, and began to talk with them about the problems they had faced, and what it was like afterwards. I considered having the gastric bypass, but at the time didn't have the money. I attended the weight loss seminar conducted by Dr. Alex Argotte. I was amazed, and knew that was the answers to my prayers. His rating and mortality rate, were great...I had already heard that he was a great doctor. So, I chose him. I haven't had surgery yet, because of the money that I needed to pay upfront, but I am hoping that if all goes well, maybe around August, or Sept of 08. I have to have a 6mo supervised diet for insurance purposes, but that won't b a problem. I am just happy that I now can get the ball rolling on this. I have waited so long, but 6 mo is well worth it. I thank God that I found this group and have been enjoying reading the amazing stories. It is a blessing knowing that I am not alone and that I can find support here. I got a wonderful life ahead of me. I am looking forward to the day that I can go out in the yard and play with my kids without hurting. God bless each and everyone of you.
