HollyJ
I am a 38 year old woman with three children aged 6, 10 and 12. I have been married for 15 years to a loving and supportive man. I have a busy life and work full-time and manage the children on my own for the most part. My lucky husband has the luxury of working away three weeks at a time and then is home for three weeks. So, yes we do live a pretty hectic and chaotic life at times, but we all love each other very much.
My battle with obesity probably began at around and 8. I was a low birth weight baby and was actually given medication at around age 4 to increase my weight. My parents always encouraged me to drink milkshakes and indulge in other high calorie treats. Well, it didn't take long for genetics to help me out and I was bulking up without a problem.
My mom has been on a diet from as far back as I can remember. My sister and I were dragged to TOPS meetings and later on Weight Watchers. As a family we were involved in Participaction, I think some type of provincial program to get families active, I don't think it exists anymore. Anyway, always had success with the dieting and could lose 10 - 20 lbs without a problem, the problem was keeping it off!
In my married adult years, I have had success with numerous programs, but the weight always came back and with a vengeance. My best success was my addiction to working out. Prior to my husband working out of town, I was able to indulge myself with long workouts at the gym. I was at that gym 5 days a week and didn't leave until I burned 1000 calories and did some weight training. This was great for weight loss (not so great for my kids...with work, I was never home) I lost 60lbs! There was no way I could keep this up, I wasn't able to get anything else done! So, I scaled back to 3 nights a week and then my husband began working out of town and these work out sessions become virtually impossible. I haven't yet gained the full 60 back...up 23lbs and closely watching to ensure it stays at 23lbs. I enjoy lap swimming in the pool at the Y and taking long walks. For most average size people this would be enough exercise to maintain a healthy weight. We shouldn't have to kill ourselves at the gym while our families suffer!
I so look forward to the day when I can really play with my kids and do all the things that they would like me to do with them. I can't imagine not obsessing about my weight and how I look and feeling so self-conscious. I know I am missing out on opportunities in life because of my weight and I wish I had looked into this option years ago. With the surgery though, I know I will live a long healthy life and look forward to living it to the fullest!
Well that's about all for now. I will update my blog after my Dr's appt on the 6th and then again once word from OHIP is in. Please keep your fingers crossed for me!!
