The journey begins......

Aug 05, 2009

  I am a 31 year old, married, mother of 3.  My kids are 4,3 and 1.  They keep me very busy.  I have battled my weight pretty much my whole life.  The earliest weight story of me is at 4 years old when I told the neighbor lady I was on a pizza diet to loose weight.  I have always known that I have had food issues.  I use the food as treats or rewards or find other excuses for the crap that I eat.  I'm tired of it.  My daughter is following in my footsteps at 4 years old.  Fortunately at this point she does not have a weight problem but I know if I continue on the path she will follow right behind me and I REALLY don't want to see her suffer the same experiences I have had in my life. 
  I have dieted numerous times without much success of sustaining the weight loss.  I was 170lbs. when I met my husband almost ten years ago, was 220lbs when we got married and continued to gain weight with each pregnancy.  I gained 60 with my first, loosing 40.  40 with my second, loosing 30 and finally gained 30 with my third and lost 25.  Now here I am trying to diet and excercise and not budging.
  My physician had asked me if I had ever considered having surgery about 5 years ago, I told her at that time that I didn't think I ever would but I would reconsider after having kids and hopefully by that time they would have the surgery nearly perfected.  About 4 months ago, I was at a bridal shower for a cousin and there were about 6 people there who had either had the surgery or were in the process of getting approved.  A couple days after I had seen some pictures of myself from Christmas and was absolutely horrified.  I don't feel as big as I am.  That's when my journey started.  I discussed it with my husband before I did anything and he was very nervous but completely supportive, saying if it would make me happy and healthy then he supported my decision.  I did alot of research before making my appointment with my regular doc to discuss my options.  She recommended Fairview Southdale surgeons and staff and so I called and went to the informational session on June 17th and had my first appointment with the clinic the following week. 
  My insurance requires a six month doctor assisted weight loss before I  would qualify for surgery.  I am almost 1/2 through that.  I have a ten pound weight loss to complete in the six months but my biggest obstacle will be to quit smoking.  I am currently dealing with that then I will focus on the ten pounds.  I figure the ten pounds will be the easiest since it's nothing for me to fluctuate 7 pounds during the month.
  So that's where I'm at right now.  We will see how this progresses.  I am very excited but also am very guarded as I have three small children and a wonderful husband who need me.  I am still considering my other options at this point but it looks like surgery is going to be the road for me.

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