let's see, where do i begin ...
well, i haven't always been overweight. i was a little thick growing up, but mostly pretty 'average'. i hit puberty really young (i was in a b-cup at age 8 and in a d-cup by age 10, and i started menstruating at age 9). it was at this time that i began to pack on the pounds. my mother has been overweight all of my life and when i was young she attended weekly meetings with a group called TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly - you may have heard of them). i tagged along for the sole purpose of learning how to stay healthy. my mother wanted me to be influenced at a young age in hopes that i wouldn't allow myself to become overweight and unhealthy as i grew up. before i knew it, i was entering high school while weighing well over 200 pounds. by this time i had been attending weekly TOPS meetings for about 4 years, but i had yet to learn how to control my over-consumption of food. i often wondered how in the world i could be 'SO FAT' at just 13 years old. i was active in sports growing up, but i hadn't realized that as i grew older i became less and less active while eating more and more during and between meals. even when i was very young, i had very low self-esteem and next to zero confidence. the fact that i was so much heavier than my classmates and was no longer being chosen for the cheerleading squads and such, my self-esteem literally plummeted.
as the years went on and i grew heavier and heavier, i tried to stay somewhat positive. i was constantly trying new diets and 'get-thin-quick' methods ... and then i would try them again, and again and again. i tried several different workout routines and exercise programs. nothing seemed to make a difference, i kept gaining weight. i knew that i needed to find a way to control my urges for food, but a time came when i thought maybe i should give up. i come from a mostly overweight family, and, of course, we grew up eating tons of the traditional mexican food, which is our family's staple and part of our heritage. at that, we are a very food-oriented family. we love to get together and eat for any and every occasion. on top of that, my mother was a single mother raising 3 children. she worked a lot and wasn't able to provide more than the necessities. we all know how expensive it can be to 'eat healthy', so what we had in the house was only what my mother could afford, and it usually wasn't very healthy. when i couldn't 'fix' myself, i began to make excuses ... my family genes and up-bringing was a big one. i began to tell myself that there was just nothing i could do, 'this is who i am, i have to learn to accept it'.
i spent the next several years wallowing in my own self-pity and continuing to let myself go. i was difficult for me to form healthy, happy, lasting relationships (especially, of course, with men - and my being overweight was only one factor in that). finally, in mid-2006, i took off 30 pounds. i dropped down from about 250 pounds to around 220. i hadn't weighed so little in such a long time and it felt great. i met the man of my dreams shortly after. i moved with him out of town and we married fairly quickly. the began to pile back on ever so rapidly and i surpassed every 'highest weight' i had ever seen. within a years time from my marriage, i weighed in at 280 pounds - meaning i put on 60 pound in less than 12 months.
after a friend told me about the research she had been doing into bariatric surgery, my mind became open. i had heard stories here and there, and seen the celebrities on tv, but i always felt like it was a 'quick-fix' or 'easy-way-out' approach. i started my own research and met with a surgeon. i came to realize that bariatric surgery was far from a quick-fix and was in no way 'easy'. after tons of education and gaining an enormous amount of support from my husband and family and friends, i decided to go through with the roux-en-y gastric bypass surgery on January 28, 2008.
i had a few complications, but won't get into them here. if you're interested in what those are, go ahead and send me a personal message.
