Jay H.
I am fat!!! I have been fat all my life. I am now 35 years old and 340 pounds. Growing up, my mom would always try to make me lose weight, and me loving a challange, would do my best to outsmart her. Growing up in NY, there was always good food within walking distance. From the house I could walk to 2 deli's, Friendly's, and Scotto's pizza. My older brother was always thin, so you can imagine how hard it was for me. He was able to eat everything, all day. My mom kept a seperate fridge in the basement filled with food for him, and they would padlock it so I could not get to the delectables inside. Like I said, I love a challange, even at the age of 10. It only took me 3 days to learn how to pick the lock, and it took them 3 months to figure out that food was disappearing at a fast pace. so at the age of 11, mom decided to send me away every summer to a FAT camp. For 8 years I spent my summers in the Catskills (upstate NY) at the wonderful Camp Shane. Every summer I would lose like 30 or 40 pounds, and over the school year I would gain it all back, and then some. Since my parents were divorced, I would only see my dad every other weekend. Those weekends were even worse. We would spend the weekends up in the Catskills at his country house. There would be no where for me to go and get something to eat, and he would not keep much food there. For 2 days he would control everything that went in my mouth, so once I got back home, I would feast on whatever I could get my hands on. Things got worse when I was 15 or so. I was sent to boarding school, and they could not control my food intake, so I would eat whatever I wanted out of spite. About 9 years ago, I was 300 pounds and decided I wanted to lose weight, so I got a prescription for Meridia. In 6 months I dropped 50 pounds and felt much better, but once I stopped the meds, I gained it all back in a year and have been holding around 350 for 6 years now. I am now married and have the most beautiful 3 year old son (Charlie). I feel so guilty that I don't have the energy to play with him much. About 3 years ago, I started waking up in the middle of the night choking. I had no idea what was going on, but it would happen like once a week. I honestly thought my wife was doing something to me to try and stop my snoring. I would wake up coughing and choking, and I would blame my wife for it, that is untill I learned about sleep apnea. I have been lucky so far in the fact that I do not have high blood pressure or diabietes, but I do know that if I do not make a serious change, they will show up in my future. I do have constant pain in my feet and knees, and moderate pain in the back at times. So I have decided to get WLS. I am scheduled for RNY on April 30, 2008. I can not wait for the day I weigh under 250 and am able to last all day with my sons energy. Since I have been a smoker for 20 years, my only fear is the recovery from the surgery, but I have cut down and plan to be smoke free at least 10 days prior to surgery. Please wish me luck, I can't wait to join everyone on the losers bench.
