Kristen P
I'm sure most of us start our stories with a familiar tune...I've been battling my weight since the day I was born. Coming in at 9lbs 11 ounces, I was the second biggest baby of my family. My youngest brother tapped in at 11lbs, 4 ounces and also struggled with his weight for a good portion of his life. Fortunately for him, he never got out of control like I did.
I was an active child. I took part in all sports: soccer, softball, basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, cheerleading, and there were times when I could run a mile in under ten minutes. I had no limitations as to the activities I could partake in. I did, however have a few more pounds on me than my friends, so when I was nine years old I went on my first diet and lost ten pounds! I think I remember weighing under 80 pounds after that and being able to wear a two piece bathing suit and a smaller size than my sister who is two years older than me. If I had only held onto success, I wouldn't have had the same problems later on in life.
I went into the 6th grade wearing a women's size 5 (which sounds good now, but I was bigger than other girls my age). I believe I weighed somewhere around 120 in the sixth grade (11 years old). It wasn't until the following year that I decided to do something about my weight and my mom sent me to a counselor to take part in a program called "ShapeDown," a therapy based weightloss program including a very usefull activity-book to follow and deal with feelings about food and my body. I lost about 20 pounds this time, and was able to become a cheerleader for my 8th grade year.
In the beginning of the year, I was a good size. I liked how I looked for once and I wasn't ashamed of my legs in a skirt. That didn't last long. Somehow things got screwed up and the second half of that year I really gained a lot of weight, ending up quitting cheerleading cuz my fat ass couldn't fit into the skirt, and I ended graduated somewhere in the 140s.
High school for me was just an odd time. I didn't have many friends, and the ones I had before in middle school didn't share the same interests with me anymore. I was definately going through and ackward time as I conveniently put on more and more weight. I hit 150, 175, 190, and into the 200s by the time I was a junior. I remember not being able to buy new clothes and suffering the embarassment of having to shop in the men's section for my jeans just to get something to fit me. I really lost control of my weight in high school. In my senior year, I decided to go to weight watchers and really do it this time. Before graduating, I lost 25 pounds, and graduated at around 255.
College didn't help at all. I was unhealthy and didn't care much about losing weight. I did more damage to myself, but it didnt seem to matter to me at the time. I didn't see a difference between 255 and 305, and when I moved back home, I was disgusted. I went on atkins when I was 20 and got back down to 255. I couldn't seem to stay at that weight for long and being in a serious relationship made me comfortable enough to let the weight creep back on.
Finally now at 23, weighing 333 I made it into the Orientation for Bariatric surgery. My doctors required a 10% weightloss for surgery, so I was told to lose 33 pounds. I worked really hard to do that and went to weight watchers to keep losing. On the day of my surgery (10/16/01), I weighed 294...that's 39 pounds less than what I started at. And here begins my journey of my life...
