My first memory of being overweight is in 1974. I was 10 years old, in 4th grade and I wore 13/14 size pants. It was just normal in my family. We were all big, except for my oldest brother. He could eat anything! My four sisters and both parents were heavy.
My brother is the first child after a long history of miscarriage for my mother. He was adopted and then the pregnancies came rolling in. Six kids in just over 9 years! Yikes!
I remember in 6th grade watching Miss America, the winner weighed 13 lbs more than me, but probably had Six inches of height on me. That's when I started my first diet.
I would lose a little then gain a lot. By the time I graduated high school, I weighed 245 lbs. I distinctly remember my brother telling me I had better lose weight if I ever wanted a boyfriend. I went mostly vegetarian for 3 months and lost 60 lbs. I was a 12. It worked! I met my future/current husband and we are happy. He doesn't like my weight but he loves me and is very supportive. I am blessed.
As we got comfortable together the weight crept back on. Wedding date I wore a 22. Through the years and 2 beautiful children, I tried and failed on all of the big name diets. I had heard of weight loss surgery but never gave it a second thought until my younger sister did it and I was so proud of her.
I would talk to my doctor about it and he would just say no. A year after I started getting pushy! I studied everything about it and wrote my doctor a 2 page letter about how much this would impact my life and health. I told him I wanted to play with my grandchildren. I was afraid. He finally reluctantly relented. I did the six months required doctor supervised diet. Lost only 15 lbs. Did the whole psych routine and got my date. The night before he called me and said he had cancelled it because there was a spot on my lung. I went ballistic! 2 years earlier I had pneumonia. That was the spot he saw on my chest xray. I frantically called my surgeon and he told me to show up anyway, do the prep and he would repeat the xray. I weighed 345. Surgery followed. I was elated.
I lost 137 lbs in one year! Until I got comfortable.
I have regained most of it. Today, 9 years later, I weigh 306. That hurts to say. I am back to the scared spot.
I am beginning in the morning and re setting my pouch. I will do 5 protein shakes day one. Day 2, four protein shakes and a protein dinner. I am still reading up on how long I need to do this but I am determined! I read about this on bariatric eating.com. I will check back in shortly!
