REINTRODUCTION

I am another senior here, will be 58 this Nov.....yes I have been heavy all my life, as a child it was the "it's only baby fat"......well it became teenager fat, adult fat, and now senior loosing weight and gaining a life back.......................and still doesn't know what she wants to do when she grows up.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I went to weight loss programs my whole life and even this one for one year before I decided to have surgery, I had a best friend who had it and was very sick allot of the time, and also thought it was "THE EASY WAY OUT"...well, since then, I have apoligized to her, because this was the hardest thing I ever had to do and still do every day of my life to be a sucess....I started out at my hightest at 3l7, now 205 on some good days, but this May l7 I am getting a corset trunk plasty done at Geisinger, in Danville...hopefully it will knock me down under 200, but if it doesn't I will not be defined by a number on the scale..........I had my surgery in April three years ago...........the time has gone so fast yet so slow if you all know what I mean.......I am married the second time and it will be l9 years this Sept. and only by the grace of God ......we are happier now that when we got married....and now he is on a weight loss journey too...he did gain 38 pounds since my surgery and thankflully he is on the right road to loosing...thru a program at Geisinger.....I have two children thru my second husband and they are grown up now and have their own families........four grandchildren who are 6,6 6 7........yep, three six year olds and one 7, three girls,one boy................love them all..........two here in Pa. two in Texas......I go to many support groups to keep myself on track and also for the support i get from other people who are in the same place I am.......support  and education is number one for this journey and success........and I thank all who have helped me along the way.......................now if I told personal personal stuff, it would have to rated, and it would be a book.....so instead I will say each day I grow, and I am grateful I am alive to do that..................................................

Ok...here we go.

My name is Tracy and I am now 37 years old. I had my surgery at Barix on 7/23/08. I hit my goal of 150 at 9 months. Right now I am happier at 155. I've been married for almost 7 years and have 3 kids. Theresa will be 20...OMG, Sarah 6 and Matthew 4.

I am on the boards everyday but don't write much. I don't like to type too much because I do it almost all day at work and my hands are tired...lol.

I currently work in the accouting department at Sovereign Bank in Wyomissing (Reading). I am from Ivyland Bucks county but moved here after I met my husband. He is orginally from Ghana but moved to Reading to be an IT manager. I HATE my job and am quitting this year to go to school at Alvernia for my Master's in occupational therapy. I had my hip replaced last year and loved my OT and now I want to be one...lucky me. I have a wonderful husband who will be done his MBA in August...thank GOD. I feel like a single mother....he is all for my quitting and going to school full time.

I have had a rough few years with my oldest. A few weeks ago she totalled her car. I thank God that everyone was alright. She is very lucky. She has an abusive boyfriend who is in jail for 2-5 years...YEAH. he should have went after he broke her nose and broke into her house. I go thru a lot of stuff with her. She doesn't work and has her own place. She can't live with me since she hangs out with gang memebers and I dont' want those people around me and my little kids. I don't trust them since the bf was shot last year...It's been so wonderful living in Reading...lol. I will be moving back to Bucks County in a few years...that's where all my friends and family are and I can't wait.

Tracy

Hey stranger!! Glad you showed your pretty little face.  I did not know all of that about your oldest daughter.  We may really need to have a good talk because I am always afraid of the path that Siehara will take.


Good to see you and we really need to get together!

Hey,
we will have to get together and talk. My hubby's Saturday classes ALWAYS fall on Liz's cooking class days :(

I only touched the tip of the ice berg on Theresa....lol. We should get together. I never do anything unless it's with my husband and he is too busy doing school work so just let me know when.

Hey everyone!!! Great post -Pam!

My name is Laura--I am 35 and was pretty thin thru my teenage years and most of my 20s then the weight just crept on and on and wouldnt go away--tried everything to lose the weight...with no results...finally made the decison to go to Barix and had my lap RNY with Dr.Pupkova two years ago this May! BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE!!!!!!! 

I was just over 300lbs on the day of my surgery and have now lost over 165 lbs....I feel like a different person!! There are so many things I can do now that i wouldn't dream of doing when I was heavy.  I try to come to the boards everyday while at work but since my laptop is corrupted haven't been posting as much as of late...working on fixing that!! LOL I love this board and all these wonderful generous people!!

Currently I am a 2nd grade catholic school teacher but I am thinking about a career change...maybe cosmetology...I have an MBA too so maybe something in business too...I would love to own and operate my own childcare/preschool one day but right now I am just puttering along trying to live each day!

I love to read, do crosswords and write.  Currently I live in the Northeast section of Philly--so if anyone needs a walking buddy--I was thinking of starting to do laps around NE high school and I live really close to pennypack park off of veree road by Fox Chase farm so I like to walk the trails there too...

Hope to get to know all the new people on the boards and be able to get back to my regular everyday posting again!!!]

Much luv!!
Laura

I walk a lot in Penny pack park up by Varee road.  I love walking by the farm, it reminds me of my old stomping grounds in South Jersey :-)

Hi, my name is Tim, I was born and raised in Philly, and transplanted here to Montgomery County during high school. I'm 37 and have a wonderful and very supportive wife, Dawn, and son Daniel. Been married for 15 years this May 15th I work in law enforcement for a department in Montgomery County, and have been doing that for the past 10 years. Currently reside in Souderton, which falls right between Quakertown and Montgomeryville along Rt 309.

I have always been a bigger guy, and over the past 20 years I found myself gaining more and more until I hit my biggest at 350lbs. I have had a few friends that work in my area that have had surgery, and have done well, and that helped with my decision to take the step. I had my surgery done at Lehigh Valley Hospital, Dr. Boorse, and the experience with his office has been awesome. I have hit a few bumps in the road, ulcer, gallbladder removal, and that darn ulcer popped back up, but I really can't complain. On June 22, 2009 I went in to the hospital at 330lbs for my surgery, and here I am on April 29, 2010 weighing in at 175lbs!!! I really never thought I would see the day.

Im also on Facebook, Tim Boyle, email is [email protected]

Hi everyone..I am Loree and I will be 38 in Sept, my husband is Craig and he just turned 33.  We met on-line and I moved from Jacksonville, Fl to Philly after our wedding in 2002.  We have been married for almost 8 years, but together for almost 11.  We struggled with infertility and 3 miscarriages until we had our son Craig III who turned 5 in March.  When he turned 1 year we went for treatments again and was blessed with twins, Zachary and Wren, and they will be 4 in Sept.  After the twins came we both started taking a real hard look at our weight and for the fist time we noticed our lack of energy.  I made the decision to have surgery and during my appointment Craig decided to do it with me, so on Dec 22, 2008 we both had surgery.  I am down about 115 pounds and he is down about 150.  The doctors want me to lose about 10 more pounds and Craig about 30.  We both feel even if we do not lose anymore we are a success, because we are both off all of our meds and can now run and play with our kids. 

Craig works for ACME Window Shade Company on Frankford Ave and has since he was 15.  I am a full time student/stay at home mom.  I am graduating from Community College on May 8th with my AA for Elementary Education and I am proud to say I am graduating with highest honors.  I am starting Holy Family in the fall to complete my BA for teaching.  I am doing this late in life but it is rewarding for me.  I really look forward to becoming a teacher.

I have no family here and little in the way of support except for my husband.  I love this board, even though I do not post much if I ever need a kick in the butt, encouragement, or a small does of friendship I come here.  One day I would love to attend a cooking class, and I will if one is ever held on a Sunday.

Well that is us in a nutshell.  I am also on facebook Loree Carter Parker add me if you like and once again Thanks to all the wonderful people on this board that make me feel loved when I do post, it means a lot to a lonely girl from Florida.

Wow do I feel old with all the kids on here.

Hi Pam,

What a great idea, especially since there are always new people coming aboard!  

To those who don't know me, my name is Laureen, and I am one of the over 50 crew on here, can't believe I will be 55 two months from today and one of the reasons I am not as active on this board as I used to be is that I am a fairly active member on the Over Fifty Forum (OFF board of OH). . .  Thanks to having had Lap RNY by the wonderful Doctor Pupkova on October 16, 2007, I feel 20 years younger than my age and have more energy today than I did 20 years ago. . .

Well, as you might see from my Avatar info, I am a New Jersey resident, who lived in various parts of Queens, New York for most of the first 48 years of my life and who after filing for divorce (from my midlife crisis marriage (not my kids dad) to a man that was 12 years my junior, who suffered from bipolar and refused to go on meds, thereby driving me to the brink), I decided to make a lifelong dream happen and I bought my first home, near to where my son was going to be living, as I am mother to 3 wonderful, adult children (all in their 30s, which seems to be the average age on this forum nowadays ;)); my oldest, a son, who lives 20 minutes from me and two daughters, who live in Florida.  My oldest children have given me 4 grandchildren, each have a boy and girl and as my youngest daughter has yet to marry or have children, I'm sure there will be more in my future.  Today I have the healthiest relationship with a wonderful man that I met on the internet when I was 4 months post-op and who has seen me transform from the person I was to the person I am.

I am one of those people, who thought of WLS as an "easy way out" or a "last resort", however, after seeing some family members lose weight as a result of having had RNY, I watched and waited to see what their results were and asked how they felt about it, after a year or two and they stated that it was one of the best decisions they had ever made in their lives. . .  then a cousin of mine, who I was very close to had it, and I experienced her journey very closely, she had diabetes from the age of 25 and at 51 she was at a point where her endrocronolgist (sp?) told her she should consider this WLS as an option or she might not live to see her next birthday, as her diabetes was no longer being controlled by insulin. . .  anyway, she had her surgery and I was there from the get go to watch as she lost over 100 lbs. and eventually live her life almost meds free.  I began to seriously consider this as an option and then my cousin died, not directly related to weightloss and it threw me into a deep depression and I stopped pursuing this option.  About a year later, I went to my PC and got on the scale, I was 254 lbs., which was a new high for me and I was depressed and feeling ancient at 51 years of age.  Where once I could spend hours walking, I now could not walk for more than an hour without tremendous pain in my back, legs and feet, the catalyst came when my oldest grandchild, Samantha, who I was going to visit in Florida where she lives for her 9th birthday, asked me if we could go to Disney together and I had to tell her honestly that I was not up to it. . .  I was cleaning out my email about that time and came upon something from this site and decided to that maybe I should look into this again and so began my quest for further information and ultimately led me to this forum (NJ Forum has wonderful folks, but just not as active as this one and early on someone suggested since I live in what is considered a Philadelphia suburb that I might want to try the PA board, so glad I did) and Barix Clinics, where I have found lots of good people and support to aid me on this life changing journey.

To date, I have lost roughly 90 lbs. from my highest weight, my weightloss has been pretty slow and hardwon (I am a lightweight, which by definition is someone who has in the area 100 lbs. to lose), but I am a successing story and continue to do the things that are necessary to be living this lifestyle.  I still log my food on a fairly consistent basis, I weigh myself at least once a week and I exercise, in some form, on most days.  I believe another very important component of this journey is support and so I participate in it regularly, through OH and I am honored to be an Barix Support Group leader, though the last several months I have been unable to attend due to life cir****tances, however, I intend to be there in June, as I miss all the wonderful people I have met as a result of making this life changing decision. 

I've had no complications as a result of this surgery and while I have not yet made my own personal goal, I also believe that one day I will see it and if I don't I am happy to be at my current weight and size, as for me the best part is that I feel, as I stated earlier, 20 years younger than my age and like those I asked, I can honestly say, this was one of the best decisions I've made in my life!

Well back to work, the other reason I am on here less, this new job (well less than a year here) has been very busy, today is a little less so, so I had time to respond to this. . .

Wishing you all the best possible journey, those old, those new. . .

Hugs, Laureen