I've decided to try and blog so I can track changes and see how my body and my thoughts change over this journey. I've been on journeys (diets) before. I am 53 years old, 5 feet tall and currently weigh 240 lbs. I have not been less than 170 lbs since I had my daughter in 1988.

I started dieting when I was in Jr. High when I went on Adkins the first time it was popular (1972). Then I went on Weight Watcher's the first time when I was about 15 and lost 13 lbs. I weighted in at 114.

I really didn't have much of a weight problem back then but my mother thought I did - or at least thought that if she didn't constantly monitor what I was eating I would have a weight problem.

I've been on Weight Watcher's at least 5 or 6 times. I lost weight at first when I was younger but the last 3 or 4 times I didn't lose much weight.

I went on Nutrisystems about 5 years ago and lost down to 170 and was also riding my bike and swimming but then I moved in with a guy who was a bit eccentric and after a while we broke up and I moved out and with all the stress and I gained back up to 220. Two years ago, my right knee started hurting real bad and I I put on another 20 lbs this year when my company dropped BCBS and I had to go to Cigna and I didn't find a PCP right away and ran out of all my medicines. I think the Metformin I was taking for PCOS had kept my blood sugar down enough to never quite push me into diabetes but without it my A1C went up to 6.5 and my weight bounced up to 240. My new doctor put me back on the Metformin but maybe after I get sleeved I won't need it anymore.

Anyway, after my knee Doctor told me that I would need knee replacement surgery on one or both knees in five years about two years ago, I started thinking about WLS and decided to call Texas Laparoscopic Consultants and got an appointment with Dr. Terry Scarborough on May 29th. He sent me to a cardiologist, a psychiatrist and told me I need to be cleared for medical necessity through my PCP. I have an appointment for that with my PCP and I have to go have a stress test for the cardiologist and then all I have to do is have 2 more nutritionist consults, my colonoscopy, my endoscopy and a consult about my pre- and post diets. If I'm lucky I'll have jumped through all the hoops and be ready for surgery in September.