UTGal99

How did it all happen? How did I get this big?

Well, first and foremost let me say this: when I looked in the mirror I didn't see a fat girl! I have always had great self-confidence. I am smart, educated, have an amazing marriage and a beautiful, healthy son.

So you ask, how did you get so overweight? Well, that is just it...life has gotten away from me and I never really took the time to stop and realize how my weight was affecting my life. I have been big for as long as I can remember. I distinctly remember being in middle school and they did a skinfold test for body fat in my gym class and they announced it to everyone that I had the most body fat out of all the boys and girls. Yeah, talk about traumatic!

With that said, I just learned to accept that I was overweight, my entire family was overweight - "it was in our genes!"

Now, fast forward 25 years. It was difficult to go up and down the stairs, my back ached, and even though I didn't have any major obesity-related health issues I have a family history of diabetes and heart disease. The perfect recipe for disaster!

I lost my father suddenly in December 2010 due to obesity-related complications and I vowed that I would get myself healthy so my own child would not have to feel the kind of pain I did when my father died at the young age of 63.

I started to really focus on my weight/health in January 2011 and had diligently put 15 months of focus on losing weight but just wasn't making the progress like I should. My PCP had asked me before if I had considered bariatric surgery. My first response had been to her, "no way, I want to do this on my own." Well, finally in May 2012 I realized I am not making the progress I need to for a healthier life and I must do something. I attended a weight loss seminar and decided that a vertical sleeve gastrectomy would be the tool that would help me get there.

I look at it this way: if I had cancer I would undergo surgery to do what I needed to do to survive. Well, really this isn't any different in my eyes. My weight was killing me slowly and having surgery was doing what I need to do to get healthy long-term. I had surgery in October 2012 and have been steadily losing the weight and regaining myself. It has been a wonderful experience that I wouldn't trade for the world. The sleeve has changed my life forever for the better and I am thrilled to have done it. BEST decision I have EVER made for myself.

Onward and upward!