Michelle H.
My Name is Michelle and I am 32-years old. I have been happily married for 12-years to my best friend. I have 2-B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L children Kaleigh, 11 and Hunter,7.
I have lived in North Carolina all my life and could not imagine being anywhere else....I love it here!
My journey is like most, I was not obese growing up. I played softball and was very active throughout my adolesent and teenage years. My weight began after having my daughter in 1995. I weighed 112lbs when I became pregnant with my daughter....9-months later I weighed 172 (gained 60lbs in 9-Months,OMG). Lucky enough for me, I had youth on my side so I was able to lose all the weight with an exception of about 25lbs, a little scarey for me, as this was the largest I had ever been besides the pregnancy, but manageable...so I thought.
After the joy of having my daughter and the fact that I was and still am completely in love, it was the age old recipe for gaining weight...you become confortable. In 2000, we had the best news in the world, I was pregnant with my son! We were very excited!!! When I went to the OB the first thing they do is weigh you--Yikes....Well, I went from 25lbs of "babyfat" after my daughter to an additional 45lbs heavier....so now I am 70lbs overweight---OMG.
Well, 9-months later I had gained an additional 28lbs.... so now I am over 200lbs, this is now a huge problem. After having my son, I lost 45lbs actually weighing less than I did when I became pregnant with him---I was THRILLED!! Of course, over the course of 6-years,I have put this weight back on plus 28 additional pounds. I now weigh a whopping 237 Lbs.
What happened? I have no idea- I can tell you that my energy was through the roof until I went over 200lbs and started the downward spiral out of control with my weight.
I now know that this a disease. My sister has always struggled through her life with weight. My mother, has also struggled with her weight even leading her to surgery herself more than 20-years ago before it became what it is now. My sister took the plunge last year, after gaining an extreme amount of weight after having her daughter and just all the struggles throughout the years with her weight. My sister had surgery @ Duke last August, also with Dr. DeMaria... and she has lost 120lbs and still losing. She looks and feels the best she has ever felt. My mother put on some weight after having surgery... but overall she has been able to maintain the past year at 140-145, which is ideal for her.
I am 100 lbs overweight... at the least. I would like to see myself @ 130lbs or even better at 120lbs...but would be happy at 150lbs. I am 5' 1" and I have a small frame...but you would never know looking at me due to the weight! I will be meeting with Dr. DeMaria tomorrow for my second appointment and have my pre-op appointment next Friday 07/06/2007 in preparation for surgery on 07/11/2007!!! I am extremly excited about having this surgery and cannot wait to get back to feeling great about myself!!!!
Follow me on this Journey...and watch me come back to life!!!
