LadyDiva618

I am at peace


What can I say… I have accepted the fact that of me doing this pre op diet. Today is 4 day and I am at peace. I have lost 3 pounds and is ready to lose some more. I am more mentally prepared than ever and I just want to have my surgery and move on. I AM THE POINT OF NO RETURN! J I am looking forward to my ups and downs of being banded. So I wrote down my unofficial Top 10 things I look forward to being banded and I would like to share with everyone.
10. Crossing my legs
9. Finding an athletic hobby
8. Asking for a go box
7. Walking a 5K
6. Getting back into the dating scene
5. Cutting my grocery budget in half
4. Shopping for new clothes
3. Outlasting the day care kids at my second job
2. Reintroducing myself.
1. Standing in the mirror and telling myself….. DAMN I LOOK GOOD.
Not bad right? My momentum is still going and I am feeling good.
Thanks you for reading.

I am at peace


What can I say… I have accepted the fact that of me doing this pre op diet. Today is 4 day and I am at peace. I have lost 3 pounds and is ready to lose some more. I am more mentally prepared than ever and I just want to have my surgery and move on. I AM THE POINT OF NO RETURN! J I am looking forward to my ups and downs of being banded. So I wrote down my unofficial Top 10 things I look forward to being banded and I would like to share with everyone.
10. Crossing my legs
9. Finding an athletic hobby
8. Asking for a go box
7. Walking a 5K
6. Getting back into the dating scene
5. Cutting my grocery budget in half
4. Shopping for new clothes
3. Outlasting the day care kids at my second job
2. Reintroducing myself.
1. Standing in the mirror and telling myself….. DAMN I LOOK GOOD.
Not bad right? My momentum is still going and I am feeling good.
Thanks you for reading.

So I am Felicia. I just turned 24. I have stuggled with my weight, well, since birth. I was always overweight. I can blame my parents and grandparents for force feeding me all the time, but that's what they know. I am 100% Italian. My parents both immigrated from Italy when they were younger. We base every gathering around one thing- FOOD. At a cookout in the summer, we would arrive at 2pm, stuff our faces with hotdogs and hamburgers. At 4pm there were steaks. Later (around 6) Chicken and grilled potatoes. Soon after, dessert. After dessert, we would hang out and the people that stayed later would always go for what we call round 2. Any cookout food left was fair game, you just had to man the grill yourself. This happened EVERY weekend. Sometimes both days.
It was always my choice what to eat and how much, but I always took my cues from the people around me. When everyone ate, so did I, even if I wasn't hungry. This would explain a size 16 juniors in 4th grade.
In 4th grade, I started my first diet. Weight watchers. I was the youngest member in the Westerly group. I enjoyed the ladies there, always very motivation. But I was a KID. I didn't want to count my pretzels for my afternoon snack. I wanted to run in the house and eat a tube of pringles with the help of my brother and cousin.
I would say that I have been on a diet since then. On and off again. All different diets. I feel like I have tried ever thing. Atkins, SouthBeach, Counting Calories, Lo-Carb, Seeing a nutritionist, HerbalLife, Ideal Protein, even the no food diet.
Before this surgery, my last diet was the Ideal Protein. It wasn't so Ideal. First off, you have to pay a 350 dollar start up fee. After that it was $100 a week for the packets of food. Three high protein packets a day. Then a meal consisting of 7oz of protein and 2 cups of veggies. And another 2 cups of veggies at another point in the day. No Sugar, No carbs. My body needed to be in ketosis. It was pointless to cheat because once out of ketosis, it takes three days to get back in. This means that I would have wasted three days of food (about $50) all for what. An oreo. It wasn't worth it. I stayed on track and lost about 40 pounds before leaving to study abroad in Italy. The land of pizza, pasta and gelato. I thought I would have gained everytihng back. But I maintained and actually lost a few pounds. Probably because my walk to school was about 45 minutes each way.
When I came back (May 2011) , like I said I maintained myself at around 215lbs. I was proud of myself. I tried going back to that diet, but it just didn't work out. I couldn't stop myself from cheating. It was a waste. I stopped it. With not dieting, exercise being non-existent, and the accessibility of McDonalds, Dunkin and Taco Bell, I saw myself at around 240 in no time, by the end of the summer really.
In October, I met my boyfriend. He is a string bean. Maybe it's because I was around him so much, that I starting eating like him. Fast food or a candy bar, chips, and gatorade for dinner. I escalated and by my birthday 2012, I was creeping toward 260. I was disgusted. I didn't know what else to do.
I was confiding with my sister and she told me about a surgery her sister-in-law had a while back. The lapband. It sounded like it could be my saving grace. We did some research and in May I attended my informational meeting. I decided that that is what I wanted to do.

Wow.. 2 weeks from today I will be in the hospital getting lapbanded. Its hard to believe that my struggle with weight loss has come to this, but i am ready to tackle it head on.
 
Lets rewind. I am 33 years old and in live in Tallahassee Florida, home to my beloved seminoles. I am happily married and have a 5 year old son named Dylan. Growing up I swam competitively from the time i was six years old through college. Although i had to watch my weight because i swam so much, it wasnt an "issue". My eating habits growing up were atrocious..two orders of chicken fingers and fries was a regular. Once college ended, swimming stopped and the "real world" set in. Sitting at a desk 9 hours a day, eating junk and not exercising lead to a 100lb weight gain.
 
I have decided on Lap Band and will be banded May 9th at Tallahassee Memorial Hopsital by Dr. Eliot Sieloff. In preparing for surgery, I have read blogs and books and searched the internet...man is there a lot of stuff out there...funny how the things that stick are the scary parts.. How do you get past that? Any encouragement would be much appreciated~!!

The Beginning
Growing up I use to tell everyone I was born fat so I am going to die fat! My story starts on July 28th 1983 my wonderful mother gave birth to a beautiful 10 pound baby girl…. Me! My parents told me I was the biggest baby in the hospital and I was proud of that. Who ever thought that this was the beginning of my obesity life. I am not going to sit here and writing about how I was teased when I was growing up and how I eat everything is sight because I will be lying to you guys and I am many things but I lair I am not. I was never tease about my weight growing up.
 
So what cause me to become plus size diva? One word boredom. I was never athletic in school but I was involved in a lot of different activities like girls scouts, drama clubs and etc. Majority of the time all I did was eating junk food and when I was at home I was eating junk food either because I was bored. Fast forward to my high school life preferably my Senior year. Me and my best friend (Note: Just in case you are wondering we are still best friends!) were going to join the Air Force together but I had to lose 40 pounds in order to join. Guess what? I did as a matter of fact and I lost about 60 pounds. Impressive Right? Too bad I inherited my dad’s feet and could not join because I have no arch in my feet. True Story! I was devastated but life goes on and so did my weight.
 
Life in my 20’s the yo-yo dieting years!
Who wants to play I’ve been on that diet game? Since I couldn’t join the armed forces I decided to work for the government and started going to college. I always struggle with my weight and I spent most of my twenties trying out different diets. I gain back 50 pounds that I lost before with a new set of boobs. No I didn’t get a boob job I think 20% of my weight gain went to my boobs. For the longest time I have maintained my weight from 225 to 235. Then all of a sudden I was either losing a friend and a relative every year. I took my frustrations out by eating food. I am an emotional eater and I can admit that. My last diet that I was on was Weight Watchers I actually did pretty well on it until I hit a plateau then I never got back on track. I learned how to accept weighing at 250 or 255 and maintaining that. Until August of last year… For the past 4 years I’ve been maintaining my weight 250 to 255 but this time around my Wii fit (my scale) Said 267! I swear I thought my Wii fit was lying. Until I weighted myself on several scales at work and I found out the harsh reality.
 
Why I chose to have the lap band….. A Quarter life mid crisis!
After many bottles of beer and soul searching, I told myself “I gave obesity my 20’s I refuse to give obesity my 30’s!” I decided to start working on a better me. I watch a Weight Management seminar online to get a better understanding on my surgical weight lost options. I immediately knew if I was going to pick a WLS it was going to be the Lap band. Why, because I didn’t want my stomach to be cut in half, my inside to be rerouted and etc. Sorry but that does not sound healthy to me. I didn’t wake up and said I was going to get the lap band this was a 7 month process. I wanted to try to lose weight on my own first but at the same time I went to a local support group to help me with my final decision. I am glad I went to a local support group because some of the YouTube videos I found scared the crap out of me. October I made my decision to get the lap band. On February 9th I got my approval letter from my insurance company and 2 months later (April 9th) I got my surgery date May 1st 2013! I am looking for to my healthier lifestyle and a new me! My goal is to be 20 pounds lighter on my 30th birthday! Wish me luck!
Thank you for reading

The Beginning
Growing up I use to tell everyone I was born fat so I am going to die fat! My story starts on July 28th 1983 my wonderful mother gave birth to a beautiful 10 pound baby girl…. Me! My parents told me I was the biggest baby in the hospital and I was proud of that. Who ever thought that this was the beginning of my obesity life. I am not going to sit here and writing about how I was teased when I was growing up and how I eat everything is sight because I will be lying to you guys and I am many things but I lair I am not. I was never tease about my weight growing up.
 
So what cause me to become plus size diva? One word boredom. I was never athletic in school but I was involved in a lot of different activities like girls scouts, drama clubs and etc. Majority of the time all I did was eating junk food and when I was at home I was eating junk food either because I was bored. Fast forward to my high school life preferably my Senior year. Me and my best friend (Note: Just in case you are wondering we are still best friends!) were going to join the Air Force together but I had to lose 40 pounds in order to join. Guess what? I did as a matter of fact and I lost about 60 pounds. Impressive Right? Too bad I inherited my dad’s feet and could not join because I have no arch in my feet. True Story! I was devastated but life goes on and so did my weight.
 
Life in my 20’s the yo-yo dieting years!
Who wants to play I’ve been on that diet game? Since I couldn’t join the armed forces I decided to work for the government and started going to college. I always struggle with my weight and I spent most of my twenties trying out different diets. I gain back 50 pounds that I lost before with a new set of boobs. No I didn’t get a boob job I think 20% of my weight gain went to my boobs. For the longest time I have maintained my weight from 225 to 235. Then all of a sudden I was either losing a friend and a relative every year. I took my frustrations out by eating food. I am an emotional eater and I can admit that. My last diet that I was on was Weight Watchers I actually did pretty well on it until I hit a plateau then I never got back on track. I learned how to accept weighing at 250 or 255 and maintaining that. Until August of last year… For the past 4 years I’ve been maintaining my weight 250 to 255 but this time around my Wii fit (my scale) Said 267! I swear I thought my Wii fit was lying. Until I weighted myself on several scales at work and I found out the harsh reality.
 
Why I chose to have the lap band….. A Quarter life mid crisis!
After many bottles of beer and soul searching, I told myself “I gave obesity my 20’s I refuse to give obesity my 30’s!” I decided to start working on a better me. I watch a Weight Management seminar online to get a better understanding on my surgical weight lost options. I immediately knew if I was going to pick a WLS it was going to be the Lap band. Why, because I didn’t want my stomach to be cut in half, my inside to be rerouted and etc. Sorry but that does not sound healthy to me. I didn’t wake up and said I was going to get the lap band this was a 7 month process. I wanted to try to lose weight on my own first but at the same time I went to a local support group to help me with my final decision. I am glad I went to a local support group because some of the YouTube videos I found scared the crap out of me. October I made my decision to get the lap band. On February 9th I got my approval letter from my insurance company and 2 months later (April 9th) I got my surgery date May 1st 2013! I am looking for to my healthier lifestyle and a new me! My goal is to be 20 pounds lighter on my 30th birthday! Wish me luck!
Thank you for reading

The Beginning
Growing up I use to tell everyone I was born fat so I am going to die fat! My story starts on July 28th 1983 my wonderful mother gave birth to a beautiful 10 pound baby girl…. Me! My parents told me I was the biggest baby in the hospital and I was proud of that. Who ever thought that this was the beginning of my obesity life. I am not going to sit here and writing about how I was teased when I was growing up and how I eat everything is sight because I will be lying to you guys and I am many things but I lair I am not. I was never tease about my weight growing up.
 
So what cause me to become plus size diva? One word boredom. I was never athletic in school but I was involved in a lot of different activities like girls scouts, drama clubs and etc. Majority of the time all I did was eating junk food and when I was at home I was eating junk food either because I was bored. Fast forward to my high school life preferably my Senior year. Me and my best friend (Note: Just in case you are wondering we are still best friends!) were going to join the Air Force together but I had to lose 40 pounds in order to join. Guess what? I did as a matter of fact and I lost about 60 pounds. Impressive Right? Too bad I inherited my dad’s feet and could not join because I have no arch in my feet. True Story! I was devastated but life goes on and so did my weight.
 
Life in my 20’s the yo-yo dieting years!
Who wants to play I’ve been on that diet game? Since I couldn’t join the armed forces I decided to work for the government and started going to college. I always struggle with my weight and I spent most of my twenties trying out different diets. I gain back 50 pounds that I lost before with a new set of boobs. No I didn’t get a boob job I think 20% of my weight gain went to my boobs. For the longest time I have maintained my weight from 225 to 235. Then all of a sudden I was either losing a friend and a relative every year. I took my frustrations out by eating food. I am an emotional eater and I can admit that. My last diet that I was on was Weight Watchers I actually did pretty well on it until I hit a plateau then I never got back on track. I learned how to accept weighing at 250 or 255 and maintaining that. Until August of last year… For the past 4 years I’ve been maintaining my weight 250 to 255 but this time around my Wii fit (my scale) Said 267! I swear I thought my Wii fit was lying. Until I weighted myself on several scales at work and I found out the harsh reality.
 
Why I chose to have the lap band….. A Quarter life mid crisis!
After many bottles of beer and soul searching, I told myself “I gave obesity my 20’s I refuse to give obesity my 30’s!” I decided to start working on a better me. I watch a Weight Management seminar online to get a better understanding on my surgical weight lost options. I immediately knew if I was going to pick a WLS it was going to be the Lap band. Why, because I didn’t want my stomach to be cut in half, my inside to be rerouted and etc. Sorry but that does not sound healthy to me. I didn’t wake up and said I was going to get the lap band this was a 7 month process. I wanted to try to lose weight on my own first but at the same time I went to a local support group to help me with my final decision. I am glad I went to a local support group because some of the YouTube videos I found scared the crap out of me. October I made my decision to get the lap band. On February 9th I got my approval letter from my insurance company and 2 months later (April 9th) I got my surgery date May 1st 2013! I am looking for to my healthier lifestyle and a new me! My goal is to be 20 pounds lighter on my 30th birthday! Wish me luck!
Thank you for reading