MiDMo77

Where to start my story? Well, why not from the beginning.  I was always very active with a curvy but athletically thin body. I am tall at 5'10'' with a large frame. I was 150lbs and a size 5/6 when I got pregnant with my only child. I lost 10lbs the first 4 months of my pregnancy. My OBGYN was concerned at how thin I was. She pushed me to try to put on weight. Well, I did. I gained 49lbs by the end of my pregnancy. I remember being mortified because I weighed 199lbs the day I went into labor. My husband had to console me. I came home from the hospital weighing 173lbs. I had about 6 stretch marks total. One on my lower abdomen and the rest on my breast. I have always been "small chested" (as my grandmother would say). I returned to the gym and started working out again. I got down to my healthy looking weight of 160-165lbs. I maintained that weight for 5 years without any issues.
 
I experienced two sudden deaths within my family, a failure of a business and 6 years so far into a struggling marriage by 2001. After experiencing a lot of turmoil and heartache my son, then husband and I decided we may be able to salvage our lives by uprooting and moving from Louisiana to Colorado. We made the decision and moved within a month. It was scary but a last ditch effort at trying to salvage a troubled marriage and hopefully get a fresh financial start. Well, the first 4 years were great. Although we missed our family and friends. We were happy. I loved our very active Colorado lifestyle and adjusted nicely to all of it. I have always been a pretty decent cook and we were missing home food. I began cooking all of my treasured, rich, fatty, and just damn good Louisiana cuisine. I got pretty good at it. So good that I had put on a lot of pounds on everyone in the house. I had never believed in scales and we didn't have one in the house. It was in 2005 that I got on a scale and realized that I weighed 222lbs. I came home crying. I was so upset with myself!! I had realized that my son was overweight that year and I couldn't deny now that I was too. I immediately started making changes to our diets.
 
In 2006 I was homesick and wanted to come home to Louisiana. So we did. We packed up and moved back home to Louisiana. Wow and the whirlwind of devastation began again. My son’s grandmother/my mother-in-law died the second night we were back. My paternal grandmother became very ill and we traveled to MD Anderson for her. She passed within a year of us being back. In 2009 we considered moving back to Colorado. But, decided that we needed to give it some more time here before we uprooted our son again. I decided to get out of real estate and get a “normal job” that would allow me to be home more. LOL The solution was I bought another business and dove into it all the way. It did really well. But, again I was putting on weight. I now realize that I am a stress eater and an emotional eater. My maternal grandmother whom I had a very special relationship with was diagnosed with cancer Thanksgiving of 2009. I literally got the call and handed over my keys to my business to my then husband and a friend and said just keep it open, I have to be with my grandmother. I lived on auto-pilot with her in the hospital for nearly a month when she died in January 25th, 2010. It was devastating!!! I shut the business down by the beginning of March, 2010 and retreated into a very deep and unhealthy depression. I had a falling out with my entire family and cut them out of our lives completely. In July, 2010 I finally had succumb to a long standing back issue that had been plaguing me on and off since 2007. For two weeks I laid in the bed unable to walk and had resorted to pain medication to deaden the pain. Finally in August of 2010 my then husband loaded me up and brought me to our physician they rushed me over for an MRI. I went straight from there to a Neurosurgeon who told me I needed to have surgery immediately to ensure no other nerve damage. I had a partial discectomy and fusion August 2010. At surgery I weighed 248lbs. My doctor told me I had a spinal degenerative disease that was likely genetic. He told me I needed to get the weight off and make some lifestyle changes in order to not have future issues. I began working out and getting my life back together. I started a new job in September, 2010. For the first time I was an employee and not the employer. It was great!! My life was starting to come back together as we had hoped it would.
 
By fall of 2010 my son was in high school and was making great strides physically within Football & Powerlifting. He worked really hard at both and was able to make it to state powerlifting meet his freshman year and secured a starting position on Varsity by his sophomore year. He kept us busy with all of his training and his father and I enjoyed working out with him at the gym. It had become our family thing to do together. I got down to 220-225lbs and was still working. But all of that was quickly about to change for all of us.
 
October 2011 my then husband and I started having issues again. He had started drinking heavily and was withdrawn. That football season ended with a run for the third year in a row in the state playoff bracket. Our son ended up being named an all-district player…as a sophomore!! It was a great accomplishment for him. We celebrated very briefly because we rolled right into powerlifting season and he had a lot of pressure on him to carry a national championship home this year. He had a phenomenal year in one of the most competitive weight classes. It was at the state meet during his final deadlift that I saw the look on his face change. He didn’t get the lift but worse than that was I knew he had hurt something. Before that was even resolved our lives would be completely turned inside out. In April, 2012 my then husband of nearly 17 years and my son’s father came home from work on a Tuesday and told us he was leaving. We were devastated. I yet again fell into a very deep depression. It was during the move from our home that my son said his back was still hurting him. I made the appointment and in August, 2012 my 16 year old son had a partial discectomy and fusion. The exact same surgeon, same hospital, same disc, and on the same date as mine 2 years prior. While I sat with him at the hospital I weighed myself on a scale I was 252lbs. I reminded myself that I couldn’t worry about that now that I had other people to care for. I made amends with my family and tried to focus on healing my son and myself from all of the devastation we had and were experiencing.
 
I dove into my work and got a promotion. I set up a new home for my son and I. I moved forward with the divorce. I focused on just getting through. My weight was not my concern. Got my son to the right physical therapist, therapist and try to get him adjusted to living in our new reality of a separated family. He sat out of all sports his junior year and focused on healing mind, body and soul.
 
I started dating and met an amazing man. He had inspired me to get back in the gym. I got on the scale in February, 2013 and weighed 235lbs. I was hopeful and ready to get my body back in shape. I started eating right and working out with him at our local gym. He had lost nearly 80lbs the “old-school” way with diet and exercise. I was inspired. I worked out 3 days a week and hour minimum each workout. I was eating 1250-1400 calories a day. I was doing everything right. My weight wouldn’t budge. By July, 2013 he proposed and of course I said YES!! That August, 2013 my son was back at school for his senior year and back on the football field leading his team as a captain. He was a beast again on the field!! Life was looking really good finally. In September, 2013 I married the man of my dreams at my parent’s farm with only our family there. It was truly a magical moment!! My husband looks at me like I am a goddess and loves me just the way I am. But, I am tired of my body not being a reflection of who I am, what I do and what I want to do. Not only that I am riddled with health fears. I want to be here as long as I can be with my husband, my son, and now my new four “bonus” children. My health fears are real…
 
The Diabetes & Heart Disease fears that now rule my life...My maternal grandfather was a TYPE 1 Diabetic, insulin dependent and spent the last couple of years of his life on dialysis. We all had to watch him die a very long and painful death. My paternal grandmother was a TYPE 2 Diabetic that was terribly obese and had too many health issues to list. She was 5'1" and nearly 250lbs. My paternal grandfather was a TYPE 2 Diabetic, insulin dependent. He died just this year with cancer throughout his body.
 
I discussed all of these issues and concerns with my husband, son, family and doctors. After weighing all of my options and doing a full year of a committed new eating/working out lifestyle for a full year in February 2014 I decided to consider the lap band. I scheduled the appointment with the doctor. I canceled the appointment. My husband and I sat down and recommitted ourselves to a stricter food and workout regimen. It was hard and even harder on some days. We used the FitnessPal app, bought my husband and I Polar heart rate monitors to accurately track our workouts, ate the right foods, drank plenty of water, allowed ourselves one cheat meal a week, and even had my hormone levels checked. No success to measure.
 
In February, 2015 I got on the scale and weighed 265lbs. I was devastated and discouraged. Yes, I have heard muscle weighs more than fat. But, I look and feel worse than I ever have. I am on blood pressure medicine, am checking my blood sugar 3 times a day, and have sleep apnea. My husband and I sat down and discussed and scheduled the appointment with a gastroenterologists/surgeon who is local and has come highly recommended. I started my sleeve journey there. I have met with a nutritionist and we discussed my food diary…I am doing everything right!! I have had a sleep study, EKG, stress test, psych evaluation, lab work, EGD scope, full work up and am currently going through my insurance required 6 months of physician supervised diet and exercise requirements. My husband and I are now working out 3-5 times a week for a minimum of one hour long. I scheduled my surgery and now I am awaiting my surgery date of November 3, 2015. I am so excited and I cannot wait to start my life again with a body that reflects my hard work, determination and commitment to a long and healthy life. :D