JustLaura
I am 38 years old. When I began my prepubescent years at around age 8 I began to have toruble with my weight and was put on my first diet by my pediatrician. I remember in elementary school taking my boxed lunch to school that was nothing but a big salad with diet dressing. There were few good substitutes for anything then, so I would have a baked potato with butter buds at dinner. Diet Rite and the old version of TAB were the soft drinks I was allowed to have. Thankfully I have always loved milk.
As I entered puberty dieting became a way of life. I remember being on Weight Watchers at the age of 12. I was always wrestling with 10 pounds.
Until I entered high school. I injured my knee my junior year and had to have knee surgery. This threw my weight up to 186 pounds. (I was 5'8" by the age of 12). Always more athletic than others ever thought, my inactivity following my knee surgery really made me pack on the pounds. This is when I discovered diet pills. I lost down to 145 pounds by the beginning of my senior year.
I went off to college weighing 163 pounds. In college I gained some weight initially, but my trusty internist put me on a 500 calorie a day protein diet between summer and fall quarters, and I managed to lose the freshman 15, only to gain continually through my sophomore and junior years. My parents made me stay out winter quarter my junior year to come home and go on Optifast - the new Oprah wonder diet. I am convinced that this diet ruined my metabolism for good.
I quickly regained the 30 pounds I had lost on Optifast and more. I weighed 218 when I was graduated from college.
Following college my weight ballooned to around 265. I had a breast reduction (I was humongous - they took 6 pounds off of me) when I was 24. Graduate school saw me yo yo between 235 and 270. When I moved to Atlanta in 1995 I was down to 235 but gained up to 300 pounds. Around this time (in 1997) I had a second knee surgery that took me a year to get over. I was diagnosed with insulin resistance and PCOS (ah - that's why I began having problems when puberty was looming all those years ago.)
I began taking Metformin and cut out some of the obviously stupid things I was doing, like drinking Coca-Cola. I lost down to 265, at which point I hired a personal trainer and went on Sugar Busters for a number of years. I managed to get down to 231 for about a day. I yo yo'd between that weight and 250 for 5 years.
In June 2004 I got the lap band at 249 pounds. I had good eating habits and exersized regularly. I felt sure this was my answer.
It was not. The band never reallly "took" to me. I had violent reactions to fills, so they were only able to give me a very little at the time. I developed night time regurgitation and terrible heartburn, so I had to have a very low fill amount. I was unable to eat in the same way I had prior to being banded. I lost a grand total of 18 pounds (again - for about a day) to 231. Mostly my weight hovered around 238.
I decided that I had to have some sort of hope if I were to go on. (Sound dramatic?) I have now developed some pretty bad arthritis at age 38 in my knees, right hip, right shoulder and hands. I feel very old. My orthopaedist told me that my goal should be postponing a knee replacement until I am at least 50.
I am having the DS on December 28. My physician father is very worried about this surgery. I've done so much research and took him with me to met Dr. Smith. I think he feels about as good about it as he is going to. He suppports me, regardless.
I had my band out over a month ago. My previous surgeon took the band out. During pre op tests for the DS we discovered a hiatal hernia, that I have asthma, and that I am anemic, B12 deficient, zinc deficient, and had low levels of other vitamins as well. We are waiting for the H Pylori test to come back. Preliminary tests for that were borderline.
So I am now on my way to a healthier me. I'd love to go snow skiing again - that is really my big physical goal. I went about 7 years ago. My knee won't take it now without getting this weight off of it.
I now weight 252.
