Patricia R.
All of my childhood I was a normal weight. When I graduated from high school, I was 5'9" tall, and weighed 135. I wore size 14 clothes. With my first pregnancy, my weight took off, as my eating took off in earnest. With each pregnancy, I gained more and loss less. By the time my youngest was born, my weight was over 200 pounds. I managed to get down to 190 while trying to diet, but then it took off again. I learned in therapy that I am basically impulsive and will do anything to avoid feeling negative feelings, and that includes food and alcohol. Giving up the alcohol initially in 1989 caused my weight to skyrocket.
In 2001, I weighed 250, and was earnestly trying to lose the weight. I managed to lose about 15 pounds just before my husband told me he was leaving me for good. Well, the next few years saw my weight go over 300 pounds. With the weight going up, my self-esteem plummeted. So did my health. I developed arthritis. Had knee surgery on one knee, foot surgery on two feet. I then got asthma and was told I was prediabetic.
I put off dealing with my eating behaviors while I was in graduate school. I was able to eat healthy all day long and then would binge like crazy during the night. Finally, when I graduated from grad school, I looked into eating disorder treatment. I went to it for two months in 2005, learned a lot about myself and learned some coping skills. I also learned some nutritional information. The best part was I lost 15 pounds.
After treatment, I struggled to keep the weight off, but found I was losing the battle. In April 2006, I began a part time job at a hospital. When I got my ID photo, I was sickened to see just how fat my face really was. It was that week that I began to investigate gastric bypass surgery.
