Marianne R.
Last August I turned 50 years old. Weighing in at 265 pounds, I was the heaviest that I have ever been in my entire life. 
I have 2 grown children, ages 27 and 28 and a 6 year old grandson. I was married in 1977 and gained a large amount of weight on my honeymoon. I've been married to the same wonderful supporting man for 30 years. After many, many years of dieting and losing and gaining weight, it is time to take action. I didn't want to go on like this, gaining at least 10 pounds or more a year. My feet hurt, I got out of breath. I take meds for high blood pressure and cholesterol. I get basically no excercise at all.
In September of 2007 I went to my first weight loss seminar. I wasn't scared, just relieved that I could possibly qualify for weight loss surgery. I was as 42 BMI. I have decided on the gastric bypass and have gone thru all the testing and have officially qualified. I also have gallstones and a hernia that will be removed/repaired at the time of surgery.
I am scheduled for surgery on June 3, 2008. My gallbladder couldn't wait for the bypass surgery and I ended up getting that out on April 7th. The surgeon that did my gallbladder surgery is the same who will do my bypass. I am confident that everything will go ok with the surgery and looking forward to that day that I can once again fit into my size 14 wedding dress!!!
February 1, 2009 ...... Well it has been an interesting year. I am almost at my goal weight of 150 lbs. I weighed myself this morning and I was 157....OMG, who is this person on that scale. I have lost a total of 107 pounds! Wow! I haven't really grasped the fact that it is me, even tho I am wearing a size 12 pants now (from a 24 just a short 7 months ago). I still haven't tried on my wedding dress since I was 180 lbs.
The excercising department hasn't gone too well because I had joined Planet Fitness with my husband and we were going together and I was going as his "guest". That was our motivation to go TOGETHER as we both needed an excercise program. Well in October hubby had back surgery (fusion) and he has taken longer to recover so therefore we lost a couple of months at the gym. Did I excerize at home you ask, why NO of course not.... that would have been too easy. I have always done things the hard way most of my life. But going to see my Nuturitionists, Heather Gagliardi made a big difference in my motivation. She told me that I still have time to firm up those arm muscles because the "short sleeve weather is right around the corner". Something to seriously think about. I don't want to be hiding in the house all summer with my Granny Arms! So to let you all know, this website has a whole section on specific excercise for my goals. Take advantage and look it up. I did. I'll let you know how it goes. :)
