Lisa J.
6/11/09
I've always been "chunky" I suppose, but have had periods of actual slimness. I feel that I have a very dense body in terms of weight and proportion. My personal version of a Quarter Horse! When in high school I think I weighed about 140, and then when I started working with racehorses I lost weight (at age 19) and got fit and was 125 or so. I never would get on a scale back then because only jockeys at about 115 got on scales and being 10# MORE than them was just too humilating to me. However, I did start exercising race horses so I know that it was truly an acceptable weight and had never before had so much attention and hadn't felt so good about myself before.
Now looking back, I did nothing to lose that weight, just pure physical labor. So eating habits didn't change one bit. Of course, nobody back in the 70s talked about healthy eating etc. And nobody knew how to "diet" properly, even the jockeys. Their version is to be bulimic or to "flip" as they call it. I married a jockey and one would think I would learn to eat properly with him. Didn't happen. When he retired from the saddle and started training horses, we both worked dang hard physically, and more than 10 years of 24/7 takes its toll. You are usually so tired you don't care what you eat. You just eat. So I started getting bigger, but still staying fit, still riding horses every day, miles a day. Seriously hard work that a non-horse person wouldn't be able to stand up to. I would have people come visit me and they were amazed at what physical labor we did.
Anyway, I couldn't keep doing that to myself and started being more interested in the administration side of horse racing. Also got divorced. Lost my fitness, got flabby and still gained weight. In 1989, I weighed 222, and I started working as a hotwalker in the mornings at the track (back to 7 days a week) and then in the afternoons on race days for the photographer. Little did I realize that walking approx imately 55 miles per week pulled the weight off me super quick! I lost 33 lbs in about 6 weeks! I also played softball every week, was on bowling league and danced every Fri and Sat til they closed down the bars. Best time of my life. At 188 I was wearing a L in women's clothes and an 18 in Wranglers which were daily jeans wardrobe. I had no stomach and no butt. But come on, a 188 on a 5'3" frame ain't no skinny Minnie. But it would become a goal for me in later life.....
I moved to Oklahoma in 2005 and got up to 277 at one point. I started investigating weight loss surgery at that point. In October '08 I went to Santa Anita (LA area) to attend horse racing's biggest weekend, the Breeder's Cup. I planned my wardrobe and had new clothes and of course, knew I was fat, of course I knew that. But being one of those people with the camera taking the photos, not being IN the photos, I had a rude awakening coming at me fast. One of my dearest friends is a 30 something gorgeous girl who used to model and also rides racehorses and is a TV analyst for a horse racing network--and of course we took photos together...and when I got home and actually saw those photos...oh my GOD! What was I thinking? Who was I kidding (besides myself?). On the one hand I was soooo happy to see old friends and on the other hand, I kept thinking about what THEY were thinking and I just acted normal--normal outgoing me. What they must have thought. No wonder some people didn't recognize me!!!
So I immediately got involved with weightwise and started going through the process of making surgical plans. I have known for years that portion control and bad carbs were my biggest problems. So going through all of the surgical choices, I decided to have the Vertical Sleeve by Dr Broussard in Edmond OK. I am 2 weeks post op right now and I could not be happier! I lost 14 lbs prior to surgery and on surgery day weighed 243. Today I weighed 231 and am just that much closer to that 222 number that I am so familiar with!
Originally my goal was 160 lbs (100 lb loss from my starting evaluation weight of 260) and that might happen, but since I haven't been there in forever, I might like it, I might not, so my options are open. I will have to wait and see how I feel when I get there. For some reason now 135 sounds pretty good. Who knows??? But at this point, I'm game for anything. I have absolutely NO regrets, would do it tomorrow again in a heartbeat. Now I realize many people have some sort of complications, which will cloud some people's feelings and goals, but for me, I have been so far, extremely lucky. I could not feel better!! I was never on pain pills as some people are, which makes me wonder if I'm just tough or it wasn't that bad. I can truthfully say my knee surgery (also arthroscopic) was WAY worse than this!
Of course right now my scale and I are a several-time-a-day habit. I know that it's probably not the best idea, and there WILL be "stalls" or plateaus, but for now, I am incredulous at the daily difference! Who wouldn't want to see that??? I think later on, once a week will be plenty. I am wearing clothes I bought 8 months ago (I never try anything much on, it usually fits) and am bypassing stuff I bought for that trip out west, tons of it have been donated and more will follow. I have also purchased a couple of summery outfits that I loved but knew that they would be gone when they would fit me, so they hang in my closet for inspiration!! I have recently bought jewelry (bracelets and necklaces) that I normally wouldn't wear because of my neck and arms and am anxious to wear them too.
I'm on my way back to my teenage weight perhaps, but certainly to a better me, to a healthier me, to a me that is on the right path to a fantastic second half of life. I could not be happier. And I can't wait to see the old friends a year later, looking once again, unrecognizable........that will be SO cool.
