thinkpink
I’m 24 years old and I have been struggling with my weight for most of my life. I can remember being in middle school and dreading the day that everyone had to line up and get weighed and measured during gym class. My parents divorced when I was 12 and things only got worse from there. It was a very messy divorce and as an only child, I felt like I was caught in the middle. I turned to food for comfort and by the end of 7th grade, I had gained 50 lbs. Since then my struggle with weight loss has been an emotional rollercoaster. I have successfully lost weight (as much as 55 lbs) by dieting, exercising with a personal trainer, prescription weight loss drugs, over the counter diet pills, Atkins, South Beach, Slim Fast, etc. but it seemed like I could never keep it off. Something would happen and slowly, but surely, I would gain all of the weight back and then some.
It’s depressing. I have clothes in my closet that range from size 14-24. I have two dresser drawers full of college and sorority t-shirts that no longer fit, but I am hanging onto them because I know I’ll be able to wear them “some day”. Those two words have been in my vocabulary for too long. Some day I will lose weight. Some day I will get in shape. Some day my “skinny clothes” will fit again.
I’m young. For someone who is obese, I’m fortunate that I am still in very good health. But for how long? If I keep waiting around for “some day” to come, I know that won’t be the case.
I’m tired of some day. I’m ready for some day to start today. To start now.
I’ve been thinking about WLS (specifically Lapband) for over a year now. My aunt and my cousin have both had the surgery and have had tremendous success with it. I went to a seminar about Lapband last January, but wasn’t sure if I was ready for it. I wanted to try one more time to see if I could lose the weight on my own. After yet another failed attempt to lose weight and keep it off, I made the decision to have Lapband. I submitted a request to my insurance in October 2007 and it was denied because of a policy exclusion. Fortunately, our health benefits changed and under my new policy, WLS is covered if you meet certain criteria. I submitted my request again on January 3rd and on January 11th, it was approved.
After completing a two-week pre-op diet, I had my surgery on February 14th.
Some day is finally here and I’m ready for it.
