TLBolin

Hi, my name is Tara and I'm overweight...by over 100 pounds.  As a kid I was always active, playing sports in school, surfing, biking, playing basketball and volleyball, and hanging outdoors as much as possible.  As a young adult I was still doing these same things although they tapered off a bit with college and working, and of course partying like a rock star.  Finally, at 36 I was only about 15 pounds over weight, pregnant, and told by my OBGYN to eat what I wanted and I would nurse and lose it all.  She lied, I gained 60lbs that I've never been able to lose since my daughter was born.  I now sit in a cubicle working my butt off (obviously not literally) and don't have time to exercise because I'm stretched so thin.  When my doctor suggested gastric bypass surgery the first time I laughed at him because I didn't think I was that "fat" but then he explained what my "numbers" really meant and I had to admit he made a good argument for surgery.  After thinking about it for a few weeks I've gone ahead and decided to go ahead with it.
 
I'm now 43, still in the same job, and still have no time to exercise but I have some girlfriends at work who are out to make me healthy so they have begun forcing me to walk with them for at least 15 minutes a day on our lunch or break.  Because of the lifestyle change required to make this surgery effective I am taking them up on their offer to help me, I've purchases the Dummy book and a few others to learn the basics of the surgery, and a couple of post op cookbooks to help me not starve to death or become depressed when I am no longer able to sulk with my favorite comfort foods.  I've joined this blog and would also like to join a support group earlier rather than later so that I have most of my support resources all lined up.
 
I'm hoping that in this forum someone can answer some of my questions and help me through this change.  I'm super excited to get back to a healthier weight and even more excited that I'll be able to run around with my daughter and coach her basketball team with my energy!  I'm also hoping to get back into playing volleyball again and maybe even play some basketball again, too.
 
Looking forward to smaller clothes, a higher level of self esteem, and hanging around long enough to see my grandchildren!