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My name is Patty and I am from Newark, NJ. I've been a member of OH.com for 7 months now but I haven't really had the chance to update my profile...so here's a little info about me :-)
As far back as I can remember I've never really known myself to have any weight issues. During my elementary and high school years I didn't have a problem with being a "Big Gurl"...lol But when I got to college I started to feel different. I had a great circle of friends but I always played the role of "Mother Love" u know??... The person who's always there when you need someone to talk to or a shoulder to cry on and give advice??? BUT not good enough to chill with at the club lol. I didn't really mind it because that was my personality anyway.....but it was a little annoying :-/ all I did was work and go to school, and since I didn't have an active social life I became your typical homebody. Sometimes when I think back to those first few years of college I often wonder if I was like a little anti-social because I was embarrassed about my weight :-/
During my junior year I moved in with my now “ex boyfriend/fiancé” and that's when I can really say I started packing on the weight. He was overweight himself and had horrible eating habits that I also began to follow. My weight was out of control but I honestly didn't notice because I was soo wrapped up in work, school, bills, and family. I literally forgot about ME! I wasn't happy in the relationship and when it finally ended my life just spun out of control. I was in soo much debt and my job wasn't paying me enough, parents weren't being supportive, I was dam near flunking out of college...it was just soo overwhelming! But one day after bringing all of my problems to God I was able to make the decision to finally “take care of me".
It hasn't been easy and I couldn't have done it without God, my family and my friends. A few month after my convo with the man upstairs...lol I was blessed with a new job, I met my fiancé (the true love of my life...tee hee hee) and focused more on my studies. My official weightloss journey began in 2007. I was at my highest weight ever, a whopping 320 pounds!!!! I could not believe it…how could l let this happen, how did I manage to let my weight get soo out of control. It really started to affect me mentally and physically. My knees started to hurt, I couldn't walk up a flight of stairs without feeling like my heart was about to bust of out my chest, I was ALWAYS tired and I think I became even more anti-social...lol
Finally my physician suggested I look into having gastric bypass. He'd mentioned it to me plenty of time before but this time I was really considering it. He gave me a brief synopsis of the process and referred me to my surgeon Dr.Bilof of Garden State Bariatrics. My fiancé accompanied me to my first consult and Dr. Bilof and his team were very welcoming and thoroughly explained the process and procedure and answered all of our questions. I was a little on the fence about it at first but was actually looking forward to the 6 month process. It felt is would really give me a chance to reflect on my decision and also give me the opportunity to change my lifestyle to that of a person who's already had the surgery.
Well fast forward to June 2009 and I'm down 51 pounds and my insurance company has approved me to have the procedure. I'm soo excited about what’s to come :-)
About Me
Before & After
rollover to see after photo
