lexiep
I'm a 48 year old female who has been overweight since the age of 5, when I had my tonsils removed (or so my parents say). I suppose I have been on just about every diet that has come along even when I was in junior high and high school. I can remember being on Weight Watchers in high school, and my mom making their version of "ketchup" (I love ketchup).... It was horrible. When I went off to college, I started seeing a physician who prescribed a hand full of medications (never knew what you were taking) and I managed to lose weight while eating everything everyone else did. Upon completion of college and meeting my former husband I weighed 199. That was the smallest I had ever been - wearing a size 16!! Man, was I proud of me.... After marrying, I suppose I just forgot about watching my weight, and my husband didn't seem to mind anyway. Two years later when I got pregnant, I was weighing in at 260 or so. I can remember the doctor writing on my chart that by the time I delivered I would weigh 300 lbs. That made me so darn mad, I decided I would show him. Little did I know that I didn't have to worry. I was so sick while being pregnant, I gained only 12 lbs, and when the baby was born she weighed almost 9 lbs.... But I got pregnant again when the baby was 4 months old, and never saw 260 or 270 again....
I divorced my husband of 24 years in 2002, and managed to lose a few pounds. I was dating some and enjoying life so much (even with the excess weight). I dieted some and managed to maintain somewhere in the 280 range for a while. Then in March of 2005 I met the most awesome man, and married him 31 Dec 2005. After moving to San Antonio TX, 218 miles away from my children and my parents, I managed to gain more weight, and was totally disgusted with myself and my life. I had some problems with my liver and started seeing a GI doctor here in San Antonio, who asked me if I had considered WLS. That was the start of the new journey of life for me!
Upon starting this new journey in life I weighed in at 348 lbs. Because my insurance required a 6 month physician supervised diet prior to surgery, I began my weight loss with Dr. Rogers at WeightWise here in San Antonio. The surgeon I had chosen, Dr. Lloyd Stegemann saw me and told me I would have to lose 34 lbs prior to surgery. With the help of Dr. Rogers and the Medifast diet, I was able to lose 56 lbs. By the time I had surgery, I had gained 3 of those pounds back, for a weight the day prior to surgery of 295 lbs.
My husband is so totally supportive of my decision to have the surgery, especially once we attended the seminar. He has been my rock and my coach - always giving me the encouragement I need. Dr. Stegemann even gave him instructions in his role to support me!!! With a team like this, how can I not lose?!
