Katrina Anderson

Hey there ...so here's my story!

I have fought my weight since puberty. Growing up I was always overweight, but not obese. Obesity set in in my early 20's. By 25 I was about 260 lbs and hating the way I looked - so I looked into surgery. I had never had any surgery at all before, and after a lot of research, I decided to get the Lap Band done with Dr. Mark Watson at UTSW. He was great! I got the Band in November 2009 and lost about 60-70 lbs. The lowest I had gotten though was 175, but that was living, breathing, sleeping everything fitness and watching/counting every little thing that went in my mouth. My happy body weight stayed between 185 (single) and 195 (in a relationship). After 6 years, I'd kept off the weight, but hadn't seen any further progress. I was maintaining only halfway through my weightloss journey! No! I'd also starting having acid reflux and GERD issues again. Dr. Watson only does Band (doesn't agree with the sleeve or bypass), so I decided to consult a coworker who had the sleeve done with Dr. Nick. She was a simliar size to me starting out, and looks phenomenal! I met with Dr. Nick in the beginning of February - so nervous he would say I was too small for the sleeve. After listening to my history and taking a look, he said I'd be a great candidate for revisional surgery. Come to find out in all the preop tests - my endoscopy showed that my band was actually causing some ulceration in my stomach/esophagus, and my hiatal hernia was at it again. So I stayed on top of everything. I weighed about 195 when I first met with Dr. Nick, but I hossed out knowing what WLS would do for my eating habits LOL. I gained a few pounds. I lost about 10 with the preop diet, then since surgery I've lost about 14. I'm a little bummed that it's not literally melting off of me like some people have happen, but I am so happy that it's working. Slowly but surely. 

My goal weight is unknown. My dietician says 138, Dr. Nick says "ehhhh 140's but I'm not focused on the scale - I'm focused on your actual size (blah blah blah lol)" and my band doc said 155. I'm thinking I want to be in the 140's and a size 6 or so...but I haven't been that since since I don't know when. I guess we shall see! 

I joined Bariatric Pal as a resource. Since this isn't my first WLS, I don't have much of that regret a lot of people go through and I have a pretty steady support system at home. Just would like to find some good recipes and hints, as well as encourage others!