myJourney - Sharing Your Story Helps Spread Awareness

Stacy L.

My struggle with weight control has been life long. I was a fat kid who's mother would make fun of me and call me names along with the school kids. I stayed depressed and lonely. I married a horrible man because i felt like he was the only stupid man who would want me. I had no friends, never went to parties or on dates. It was a horrible life.

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Dawn M.

I'm not really sure. I knew it bothered me deep dpwn inside of me, but I don't think I let it effect my life. I figured if you didn't like the way I looked, then don't look at me. I've been told that I didn't hide behind my weight. However I did know that I needed to do something that would be a permanent solution to the problem.

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Thomas M.

I always felt depressed and tired. No matter what I did, I could not keep the weight off. Even if I ate exactly what others ate and did what they did...I still gained weight. The toughest part is that my weight prevented me from having relationships. Few people want a fat partner and being single all the time was breaking my heart. I did have a couple relationships but usually with other he...

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Gail M.

Up and Down mostly up (weight) and emotions varied. Finding out I was actually going to have surgery instead of saying one day I am. was a big step in my mind set. I was required to lose 10 to 15% of my weight before surgery ( and of course I thought if I could do that I did not need surgery) but I was wrong he gave me a pe-op diet and I lost 43 pounds in 3 months way over my percentage requiremen...

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tawbattle

My battle with weight began in early childhood. I can recall my mother and other relatives describing me as a "solid" child, which is really just a nice way of saying fat. Unfortunately, I developed an emotional connection to food at a very early age and that connection has remained to this very day. I spent most of my time thinking about food, and I used food as a coping mechanism for every e...

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MzTodd

I had survived years of abuse and later realized that my weight was another "thing" that I had accumulated as a result of the abuse and I was still holding onto. Food was no longer as important or a necessity for me to feel good and that's when I knew I was finally ready for a change. However, I refused to have WLS for 3 years and had every excuse in the book for why I wouldn't have it. I final...

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lizzardfrog_79

I was not an overweight kid or teenager, until I turned 16. I became pregnant and gained 80lbs, then 30lbs. with my 2nd child. I left an abusive marriage, my mother passed away when I was 19 and my father when I was 24, lost a pregnancy and gained more and more weight with each live event. I ate to take away the pain, I had no coping skills.

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S. Stroud

I've noticed since I've gained weight I'm depressed sometimes, and I'm just basically a home body.

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DavidS465

I had always been in shape, always active in one sport or another and then one injury turned my whole life upside down. One thing after another eventually led me to suffering morbid obesity and I just didn't know where to turn. I couldn't much of anything and could hardly walk without being out of breath and feeling pains.

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Jordan Buckner

It was bad... It's hard to really think back and remember those dark days before I had the surgery.

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HeatherHickman

I went from 340 lbs ( in 2013 when I started the year long journey to get approved for surgery) 296 LBS the day of surgery to 124 LBS now. I have had a hard time with my mental health in the 19 months that have gone by. It is hard for me, as I would think it would be for anyone in this situation. What I find hard is the people that are around that could not be bothered to know my name when I wa...

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Jeff Cooper

Always hungry, never satisfied. Diets never worked, frustration

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snuzyQ

I've accepted my weight and shape changes as a natural outcome of growing older. What I've not accepted about growing older are the multiple comorbidities that have attended my obesity. One of those comorbidities required a medication, and, the medication which was chosen for me, unfortunately affected my metabolism and caused a weight gain of about 50 pounds. This was over the top of an alread...

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Blueyes72

I tried ever diet out there I even wanted to be bulimic but couldn't make myself throw up even though that sounds crazy I was desperate.

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klogue421

I struggled with my weight my entire life, constantly going up and down. I was an emotional eater.

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Sunny60

I was out of control. I had beat myself up over past situations that I could nothing about, my self esteem was in the toilet, drinking,drugs anything to numb the pain I didn't know I had,

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sharrison1592

I often feel the eating is just a small piece of this battle, but the mental/behavioral/emotional or whatever you want to call it can be even worse. I was always athletic through HS and college, but the bigger girl with curves. It wasn't until a bad job experience that I started eating non-stop. I wasn't one of those people when they were stressed didn't eat. I ate. After a rocky 10-year marr...

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mequee

I've been overweight all my life. I can remember hating my stomach even as a child. I would hide candy and chocolate in my room. As a teenager I was told regularly that I had a weight problem, but when I look back at pictures of myself from that time I think I look normal. However, I certainly believed everyone when they told me and over time the problem got bigger and bigger and bigger.... li...

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Milanorama

I always had a feeling of powerlessness. It was like there was absolutely nothing that I could do on my own that would sustain. Anxiety and depression definitely cause me to eat. I received a distressing call and notice myself going for food that was in front of me out of an overwhelming feeling of anxiety. I hate it . I am so ready to change this with the tool of surgery.

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snowball19521976

The ups and downs of depression and anxiety are impossible to describe. So was the unhappiness and lack of self-esteem.

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lykapal

I realize that I was not in control, my cravings and hunger were controlling me. I couldn't manage something as simple as planning daily meals for my family. I was sure I'd never find help.

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coachman67

Growing up overweight wasn't easy at all for me. I was teased and laughed at a lot. I was always athletic and played sports, which enabled me to keep my weight down. As I got older and less active is when the weight began to pile on. Before I knew it I was just a few pounds shy of 500 lbs. I was very depressed and had a dim outlook on life. WLS changed my mindset on so many things other than weigh...

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buddha316

i was a big child but i kept it under control to the age of 19 and at that point in my life i was attacked by 2 males and it destroyed me and too protect my self i got fat to the point of 600+ lbs it was 23 years before i got in my head that my life was in danger do to my weight. i have a great medical team and they all help me get my bypass surgery on march 6 2013 at 1;30 pm the date my life...

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cosmo1

I was ashamed to go out in public or to stores to try to find cloths that would fit

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tanyak1971

I have been overweight my entire life, after having heart surgery at 5. By age 6 I was over weight. I lived on children's hospital diets all my life and was an active child, but nothing worked. I was bullied and teased my entire life because of my weight. I hated people teasing me when I knew it wasn't in my control that something in my body wasn't working properly. I went through constent te...

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myJourney Sharing Your Story Helps Spread Awareness