Jen H.
I suppose I am like most, I have been battling my weight since I was 6 years old. Of course when I was younger people would just say, "Oh, it's just baby fat" or "she will grow out of it". Little did they know that it was just plain fat.
Overweight during childhood meant staying overweight during teenage years as well. High school was mostly trying to be invisble... and hope the pretty girls didn't pick on me too much in the locker rooms.
Teenage years came and went, the fat didn't though. I would gain 10 pounds and keep telling myself, oh as long as I don't get to (fill in the blank) weight I am ok. Of course, I would always get to that weight and just make up another excuse.
I guess I finally realized that I needed to stop lying to myself about 2 years ago. I had of course gained weight after the birth of my son 5 years ago and was having a horrible time trying to loose weight and keep up with a toddler. I decided I had to change myself health wise or my son was going to have to suffer because I couldn't even walk around the block with him.
I made my first decision to have surgery in 2008. I went to a meeting with the doctor to discuss LapBand. I went home from the meeting scared... and didn't even make a follow up appointment. Almost a year later I was ready. I researched different methods (LapBand compared to gastric bypass) and went to my first appointment with Dr. Warnock.
I was still scared, but this time I was scared of the life I would have if I DIDN'T loose weight by having the surgery. It took about a month from the time my insurance said yes, to my surgery date of Sept. 11, 2009. I went back and forth that whole month trying to make excuses why I shouldn't have the surgery. Then finally I asked myself what type of quality of life am I going to have in 10 years going down this spiral of gaining 10-15 pounds every year.
The surgery went off without a hitch, of course pain... but no complications. I slowly worked my way out of bed to walking half a block then to walking a block. Even though walking made me very tired, I realized that I felt better when I did. I am still working on building up exercising. At the present I am walking 1.5 miles at least 5 days a week. I hope to build up to jogging soon... then weight training to get the flab tight.
I have good days and bad days. But the good outweigh the bad every time. I am working with the mental aspect of surgery the most. I drive by Carl's Jr and my body tells me I want to eat there, but my mind fights against it. That battle is a tough one. It will get better though, I know it!
Feel free to message me if you wish. I don't know all the answers, but I know it's working for me.
Take care!
Jen
