Hi All! My name is Justin, I'm 38, happily married for 6 years now (been together for 17 years!), and have a beautiful 2yr old daughter. I live in Fredericton, New Brunswick (a little bit north then most up here in Canada and I work as a technical analyst for a local IT company. I've been surfing this site for awhile now and figured it was time to sign up! Not sure if we have many Canadians on the boards here or not...
A bit of history about myself: I've been pretty much overweight my whole life, was diagnosed with Type-2 Diabetes about 10 years ago, high blood pressure and cholesterol about 5-6 years back.
It was around 5 years ago I was at my heaviest (5'10" 325lbs). My wife was also in the same situation as me and we both decided it was time to try and live a healthier lifestyle, so we joined the YMCA in our area and began working with a trainer. My wife did incredibly well in losing 100lbs in one year from exercise and eating healthy. I myself, ended up losing about 40lbs and dropping to my lowest weight of 285. My wife was cleared for us to start trying for a family at that time and after almost a year, we were excited to find out she was pregnant. She was very strict with her diet while carrying our child, but not so much for me. I began to slack off especially after she couldn't work out at the gym after a certain point in the pregnancy (She was my competitive partner!)....and i ended up yo-yo'ing back and forth with my weight. I always had excuses for not going to work out. Fast forward about 2.5 years of pretty much sitting on my tush. I recently (last 3 months) started going back to the gym, but not as often as I should be so my current weight is around 298.
My family physician told me that my diabetes was getting worse and that I was a candidate for VSG where I had all these health issues and my BMI was over 35%. I decided to go ahead with the surgery and be put on the waiting list after realizing that my health is in decline, and that i needed a change for the better. I want to live a healthier lifestyle again, lose the excess weight once and for all, and be around for my daughter growing up.
The surgeon in my area was in the process of starting up the program for VSG surgery, so after being referred by my physician back in April of 2012, I finally got the call in January 2013. I was given an information package on the surgery at that time and was told I would be contacted in approx. 6 weeks for another consultation. Months went by and I decided to call and found out that they were trying to find a nutritionist that would work with me (Gotta love healthcare in Canada, eh?), but they finally called me in August, and said they had found one. So I've had one visit with my NUT, and I am meeting my surgeon for the first time on October 15th. I am happy and scared all at the same time that things are progressing. His staff told me I should expect the surgery to come about 6 weeks after I meet with him. I am totally stoked and can't wait! Although I'll have to lock myself in a room over Christmas if everyone's stuffing themselves with food haha!
Looking forward to chatting with lots of folks on here!
