PattyMayonnaise
Mid-summer 2003:
I'm 35yrs old and I currently weigh 255lbs. I don't have too many health problems and I'm not sure I want to risk surgery at this point. I've been overweight all my life and my weight has gone up and down drasticly since high school. I probably weighed 150 or so at graduation and thought I was soooo fat. What I wouldn't give to be that again. All the starvation diets and diet pills totally ruined my metabolism. By the time I got married I weighed 206lbs. In 1990 or 1991 I went to a local diet center called Formu 3. I got down to 145lbs for a few seconds(at least that's how it seems now)and then hovered around 160-170 until my sister died June 12th 1992. By mid-1993 I was back up around the 200+ mark again. I became pregnant with my first child in May of 94' and gained 60lbs. I probalbly stayed in the 240-260 range for the next 6yrs. I suffered a long period of depression even though I was taking Paxil ever since my son was a few months old. When I was finally suicidal and could barely stay awake long enough to function, I went to a therapist and switched to Zoloft. I quit therapy before we addressed my weight issues thoroughly. The depression was in check though. In 2001 I became pregnant again at 250ish lbs. I only gained 25lbs this time and I lost a little at first, but by the time I went back to my OB/GYN in Nov. of 2002 I had gained another 20 lbs on top of what I weighed the day I delivered my daughter. My highest weight ever......292lbs!!
I was miserable. I couldn't stand to be outside with my kids because I never had any energy. I was so frighteningly close to 300 I decided that I had to do something about this! In Feb. of this year I signed up at the local fitness center, bought some personal training sessions, quit drinking Mt. Dew and Pepsi(which I drank ALOT of), and started trying to watch my carbs. By May I was down 30 some lbs and I've kind of been there ever since. I exercise and lift weights 2-4 times a week. I'm up to 250 crunches each time I work out, but my appetite is out of control. I've been back on the wagon for almost a week now. I use Fitday.com and have been keeping my calories right around 1500 per day. I dicovered a drink called Fuze (slenderize-raspberry/cranberry). It's sugarfree and only has 4 carbs per bottle. It's supposed to curb your appetite and boost energy and keep some carbs from turning into fat. Don't know if it's going to work, but it can't hurt. It doesn't cost any more than soda. I've tossed the idea of Lap Band surgery around a little, but I'm still very unsure. I'm not disabled and I lead a fairly normal life. I'm able to exercise and stand 8hrs a day at work, my blood pressure is normal, but my cholesteral is way up there. I don't even know how high it is. My sister,(Sarah Margaret) had WLS this past April and is doing very well. But, her situation is alot different than mine. I think being a member of AMOS will be helpful to me wether I have surgery or not. Those of us who are MO are all in the same boat trying to reach the same goal no matter how we lose the weight
