blueskies50

My Story, When i was younger like some of everyone on here I carried a normal weight, not to fat , not to thin, boobs were a little to big, but always managed to get out and exercise. When I was 16 I started working in a pizza shop, making pizzas and subs and whatever, there were always extra fries that needed to be eaten or a no show for a pickup, and of course that needed to be eaten, So since I was working i wasnt getting out as much and started to little by little gaining weight. I got to be 23 and seemed that all the dark secrets of my family started coming out. Mainly my fathers part. My weight I remember got to be 198. I did the exercise and diet from Richard Simmons. It was working, started riding bike, walking and doing well. I lost 22 pounds and was feeling great. My parents said buy a house, so i bought a house, which at the time i started living with my boyfriend. So we moved somewhere that made it harder to get out and exercise, I did what i could, we had a big yard which took alot and by then I was also in a different job in a factory. Whoohoo. When i was 28 my weight was still about the same, hanging right around 175 to 180. The boyfriend I was with decided to go get drunk and ride his bike into a pole, got sent to prison for 30 days. We became more distant, my internal clock was really starting to work, he was fixed years before so it was out of the question with him. He had a son, he was content. So my girlfriend went out dancing one night and i met the most wonderful man in my life is what I thought. Well I did the wrong thing and after 5 months of meeting him I ended up pregnant. We got married and with the baby i was up to 222 pounds. This wonderful man ended up being the terror of my life. I had always heard about abuse buy never thought i would live it. I lived with it for 6 years, had a second child, and after weight settled was at around 220, some of that and went down to 208. After 6 years of his abuse, he almost killed me and i got out, had to actually foreclose on my home to get him out of the house, yes i did the pfa and restraining orders but he didnt care, he did 6 months and I was just scared all the time. So in the end I got out. My girls and I stayed with my brother for 2 years, weight stayed about the same, the factory helped me stay a bit stable. But then i got hurt in work, and they had to put me in a light duty job, which consisted of walking and sitting alot, still did ok with this for 2 years, this job put me in a sit down all day job, I smoked before but quit, I substituted candy for cigerettes, I got ovarian cancer I gained and couldnt stop gaining, beat the cancer, we caught it in the very beginning, but no matter what i did, i could not loose the wieght, ballooned up to 280 pounds, my 2 sisters were already up there and already did the bypass surgery and were looking great. Thank God he gave me this chance, with family history i knew i was headed for diabetes and heart desease, so I went for the vertical sleeve, I had my surgery on March 8th 2013, on that day i weighed 277 on my scale and 275 on dr scale, lol, yes there have been ups and down in learning what to put in this new part but we are doing ok so far. I have seen some that have lost more than i but am ok with it , i know i need to just do my thing and it will come off, there are times when I think there is no way i have lost any weight this week, but somehow i do, I am now down to 224, and am so glad it is still coming off, I find myself learning the different meats that I tolerate better than others and try to work with it, I love banana chocolate protein shakes.