I just got woke up from a really bad dream I guess you would have to call it a nightmare. I would tell you about it but I better wait cause I'm still freaking out a bit.

So now that I'm awake and groggy and don't want to go back to sleep yet I guess I'll do some posting.

I haven't really said how I personally got to the point where I needed a lapband so hopefully you have a glass of water and time to read.

I am 4' 9 1/2" I weigh in at a whopping 219.4 pounds. Imagine a large beach ball with fat little legs and arms sticking out. :thumbup:

Well anyway as a small child until I hit puberty I was bone thin. At that point the pudgy monster hit me and all of my family on my mother's side were so supportive and helpful. You know the comments like "you would be so pretty if you just lost weight" or " you have such a pretty face" I mean Gee why didn't they get it over with and say "hey fat pig quit eating and you'll be beautiful"

Well as you can imagine I had a few issues with body image. At 18 yrs old I joined the United States Marine Corps. I was in the best shape of my life coming out of boot camp!! :thumbup: I was super sexy and wearing a loose size 2 in jeans!!!! Now that is skinny. Of course that only lasted as long as it took for me to pack the pounds back on by eating lots of junk food. I stayed within reason though and stayed within the Marine Corps weight standards since if I didn't they would throw me out and give me a bad conduct discharge. I was stationed in Okinawa Japan for a year and came back and was station at Cherry Point NC where my battle with the bulge went overboard. I crossed the line and couldn't seem to get my weight back under control on my own so the Corps sent me to fat camp. Yep believe it or not the Marine Corps has a fat camp and it is a last resort if you don't lose weight there you are booted out the door.

In comes my dear hubby we met at fat camp. As a matter of fact we met at fat camp and got married 6 weeks later!!!!!!!!!!!:tt1: Now let me tell you what the Marine Corps sent me to fat camp for being 2 pounds over my max weight of 121 pounds! :huh2: Talk about tough.

Anyway married hubby and found out 1 month after we were married that I was pregnant. I took that as a green light to eat anything and everything I wanted. I went from 114 pounds to 168 pounds in 8 months! I say 8 months because my oldest son was a premie.

So here I am gained all that weight with my first child and since I was close to getting out of the Corps because of my contract ending they didn't give me anymore grief about my weight. My oldest was 1 1/2 yrs old and I got pregnant with my 2nd packed on about 15 more pounds that never quite left either. Child number 3 was 8 yrs later and I hit 203 pounds at the end of that pregnancy. And some how I have managed to get to 219 pounds now.

I have had sucess at loosing weight with traditional diet and exercise on many many occasions. But as we all know diets aren't a long term solution for those of us with food issues. At one point about 10 yrs ago I was actually down to 148 pounds. But as soon as I started working where I'm working now at an office job I gained all the way back to where I am now.

So here is my fat story hopefully soon I'll have the band and will be able to tell a differnt story.

So long for now I think I can sleep now. Night all.