Amber Ortiz
I've been overweight for most of my life, in fact I don't remember ever being thin. Looking at pictures of myself I think I began to gain most of my weight in 3rd or 4th grade. Ever since then I have been at least 40-50% of my total body weight overweight.
This amount was not a lot for some people, but at my heaviest I weighed 225 lbs. That was at the beginning of this year. I'm a roller coaster enthusiast, and when I almost didn't fit in a roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain this year I decided enough was enough. My mom has been overweight for years since her divorce from my father in 1988 and has always struggled with her weight. She has multiple problems branching from her weight including arthritis, high blood pressure, and hypoglycemia. When I noticed I was starting to have some of the same problems, that was it!
In January of this year I saw a weight loss doctor by name of Wofford, who suggested that I should look into WLS. I couldn't believe him - I mean come on! I'm fat, but not THAT fat - but I went for a consultation with my ~local~ surgeon and found that I did, indeed, qualify for WLS at 102 lbs over my "ideal" weight. Thus in February, my journey had begun.
I was banded just a week ago, but I'm excited to see the me I have never been able to see, and I realize that I have the rest of my life to be healthy.
