wrkinprogress
A bit about how I got here... well like many of you I have been overweight most of my life. As a child I was very shy and was made fun of because I was bigger than most of the other kids. I "developed" earlier than all of the other girls so that made things even more uncomfortable. Luckily I had a very good group of friends at that point and joined some sports teams (soccer, fastball, track & field) so needless to say I lost some weight and was more muscular. In high school I continued with the sports and was able to keep to a reasonable weight.
During my 4 years of college I gradually started gaining again partly because of being "out of the house" but also because I wasn't able to continue the sports; I was working whenever I wasn't in school. I also got engaged during college and we got married the year after I graduated(age 24). Along came a premature baby boy which I'm sure added some stress and eating but at the time I was just happy he was healthy! A couple of years later came baby girl and I gained some more weight which I never lost(age 27).
It was downhill from there, my husband and I split due to alcoholism, so I was left working 2 jobs while trying to raise a 2 year old and 11 month old. My focus was doing the best I could for my kids, my weight went up bit by bit til age 32. At that point I took an office job which was full time days and no weekends which made more time for me to spend with the children. Of course I wasn't thinking that it was also going to make me less active but it did.
It was important to me that both kids were in sports so they both played travel baseball and hockey as well as school sports. Again, it was great for the kids and kept them out of trouble but it also took a toll on me because I became taxi and we would just grab food quick in order to make it to all these sporting events. Thankfully my parents were there to help when we had to go in two different directions. In 2015 I missed a step coming down the bleachers at my daughter’s hockey game, tumbled about 6 steps and landed on the cement floor against the boards. I ended up with a dislocated shoulder which was broken in 4 places so I was slowed up for a few months. Anyway, this brings me to the past couple of years,, both of my kids have graduated and are working very good jobs,,, they make me proud everyday!
After getting a physical in Dec 2017, I was shocked to see where my weight was actually at!! (over 400..NO WAY). I hadn't been on a scale since I had my kids. I only have one medication and have been healthy all of my life but in the last year have had circulation issues in my lower leg and my doctor asked if I'd ever considered WLS. Although I am not diabetic, it does run on my mom’s side of the family so being proactive is definitely something I needed to think about. This is when I went to a class to find out what it was all about and started "lurking" on this site. I decided that its ME time so am excited for the next chapter in life!! Bring it on !!
