Background Info - Finally

I have been thinking long and hard about what to write regarding my background.  It’s frustrating wondering what to share and what to keep private.  I’m a pretty private person, but wanted to write a blog regarding my weight loss journey because there weren’t many blogs out there when I was researching WLS.   I wanted to find someone to relate to or something to reference when I had questions.  My search resulted in slim pickings -- old blogs that weren’t recent.  So I figured, why not start a blog and give others something to find when they start the search process.  I also decided not to divulge much private info – such as my name.  Perhaps I’ll change my mind later down the road, but for now, I’ll be s.j.

I wasn’t an extremely heavy person until my late teens / early 20’s.  I have always been a large woman tho’ – I’m 5 feet 9 inches tall.  I’ve been told that I carry my weight well – according to my WLS surgeon’s NP anyway.  At my heaviest weight (311 pounds), I was wearing a size 22W.

I had my first baby when I was 26 and I gained very little weight with him – maybe 30 pounds.  I lost that weight pretty quickly, but afterwards, I gained most of it back.  My weight inched up slowly as the years went on.  I had my second baby when I was 33.  With him I gained more weight, and never lost it.  Over the next 9 years, my weight fluctuated up and down between 20-25 pounds.  I spent a lot of time dieting and yo-yoing.

About 5 years after my second baby was born, I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism.  I was put on meds to control my thyroid levels and the weight continued to pile on.

Last year was my turning point.  I was put on blood pressure and high cholesterol medication for the first time.  Then I was put on more blood pressure medication.  I was also forced to take a good long look at what I was doing.  My youngest son was just 8 years old and what kind of a mother did he have?  The answer:  a fat, lazy, unmotivated mother.  Not much of a role model.  That was when I had enough.  I needed to stop and take control of things.  So I started researching the lap band and gastric bypass procedures.

In May 2010, I contacted my insurance company regarding the procedures asking if they would cover them.  They indicated that they would cover either surgery as long as I went to a “Center of Excellence”.  I thought about it for about a month then approached my husband regarding it.  He was supportive from the get go.  So I made my appointment with the surgeon’s office and started the process.  First appointment was on July 30, 2010 -- the first day of my journey; October 11, 2010 was the first day of my new life.