meverhart
My name is Meredith and I am a 36 year old attorney living in Wilmington, North Carolina. I have been married for 13 years to a wonderful man and we have 2 beautiful girls who are 7 and 10. I have been overweight my entire life. The last time I was under 100 lbs. was in the 4th grade. I grew up being cooked for by a loving grandmother who didn't cook anything without either lard, bacon grease, butter, or fatback, and we had both biscuits and desert at every meal, so go figure how I got to be overweight, huh?!?! When I turned 16, instead of asking for a car, like most girls my age, I asked for (and received) liposuction surgery on my thighs. By the time I graduated high school, I weighed 180 pounds and had tried every diet and weight loss plan that I could find, including Weight Watchers twice! In college, I met my wonderful future husband, but I also put on a lot more than just the "Freshman 15". By my senior year, I hit the 200 mark for the first time, but I had gotten engaged and had decided that I HAD to lose some weight before the wedding. I joined Weight Watchers again and lost down to 160 lbs. by the wedding in May of 1995, but after coming back from the honeymoon, the weight just started piling back on. Then came law school, which is absolutely not conducive to healthy eating because of all of the stress involved, and by my third year there, I was back to that 200 mark again. Then came one baby, and then another and I managed to hold it steady between 200 and 215 for about 5 years, but then it happened. All of the weight and pressure on my knees finally got to be too much, and I wound up with a medial meniscal tear in one knee. I had arthroscopic surgery, and the inability to exercise while recuperating led to more weight than ever. Not to mention the fact that my surgeon told me that if I didn't lose a significant amount of weight that I would be headed for double knee replacement surgery before I was 50 years old. I kept trying to lose the weight on my own, but nothing worked, just like nothing in the 147 other diets I had tried over the past 25 years had worked. Finally, in March of 2008, I had a yearly physical with my primary doctor, and I topped the scales at 247.4 pounds, which is the heaviest I had ever been in my entire life. She told me that if I didn't lose at least 100 pounds, my knees would give out completely, and it wouldn't be long before I would develop other life-threatening co-morbidities like diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. She told me that she didn't know of any way that I would be able to lose the weight quick enough and safe enough without surgery, and she referred me to Dr. Miles. I had my first appointment in May of 2008 and underwend LapBand surgery on September 8, 2008. It is a constant struggle, but I am convinced that this is the best thing I could have ever done for my health and for my family. I want to be around for many years to come for my husband, my kids, and myself, and this procedure is hopefully just the tool to help me ensure that future for myself.
