KatieOkieDokie

Hello! My name is Katie! I am 32 years old and have battled with my weight since I've been around 10, about the time I hit puberty. I was not a bigger child growing up, actually at the age of 2 I only weighed 14lbs. I think most people thought I would end up being short and skinny my entire life. Well life had different plans. At the age of 10 I really started gaining weight, eating things I shouldn't, drinking pop like I shouldn't have. And well you know the weight just started to accumulate. I can still remember my family doctor telling my mom that if we didn't do anything about my weight I would weigh 200lbs by the time I was 11. Well 11 came and so did 200lbs. I was actually tall for my age (I was about 5'3 when I was 11, just one itch taller than what I am now, I really went through a growing spell). By the time I was in 7th grade I probably weighed around 250lbs. I actually maintained the weight around 250 through out all of high school. I was one of those kids who was scared to drive, so I walked every where I went and LOVED it! I would walk several times a day, but never really lost weight. Of course my eating habits never really changed either. I was still eating things that wasn't the healthy, and of course drinking pop. When I was 16 I started having problems with my sugar dropping. After going to an Endocrinologist they diagnoses me with pre-diabetes. This motivated me to switch from regular to diet pop. This however did not help my weight. I still continued to eat unhealthy.

When I was 19 years old my family and I moved from a city, to the country, and I feel after that I really just let my health go. I finally started to drive, because if I didn't I wouldn't be able to go anywhere, so my walking stopped. The way I ate did change, living on a farm I started to love more veggies and fruit (being it was readily available). I stopped eating daily meals of hot pockets and pizza rolls. But I had this bad habit of eating when I was bored, or late at night. Living in the middle of no where doesn't help with boredom eating! So the weight kept adding on, and building.

So fast forward to this past New Years Eve. I am sitting at home watching the ball fall alone. Usually I would go out to a concert or something. But this year I didn't feel like. I did not have the energy and the thought of the walk from the car to the door about killed me.. just by thinking about it. I had stopped going to stores, stopped doing things I loved because physically I couldn't. I had let myself go to around 420lbs. I knew then something had to change! If I didn't do something I was going to die! Here I am 32 living with my parents. I do not have a job because I can't stand for long periods of time due to my weight. It was holding me back so much! I realized this. I knew something had to change.. something for real! That's when I started to talk to my cousin Michelle, who had gone through WLS the year before. I started to do my research, finding out which surgery would be best for me. I had never really heard of the Sleeve, so I was leaning toward Bypass. Then one night my friend Cat called me to let me know she had decided to have WLS and she started to tell me about the Sleeve. Which of course I started to research myself.