ditzypoohjean

I have to say, getting my band was undoubtably the best thing I have ever done. In the past 3 years I dropped over 100lbs and have had so many personal achievements along the way that everyday I wake up every morning excited to finally live. Having always been a plus size child and adult, this is the first time in my life that I have been considered of average size, or even just "a little overweight." I am now an athletic girl (still a little curvy by choice) that plays competitive women's racquetball league, enjoys hiking emensely, and overall I am living my life to the fullest, trying everything I wouldn't have if I hadn't lost all the weight. I am happy in my skin and I wouldn't change this feeling for the world. However, losing all the weight allowed me to personally experience how different society treats the obese vs. the average populus, and it began to really upset me. I noticed how much nicer people are to me because I'm "thinner." I became more aware of how I got served quicker at a bar or restaurant, how men perceive me, and even how generally polite people are to me. I'm not saying that everyone judged me when I was heavy, but the attention I get now vs. then is almost maddening. I feel that I am the same beautiful girl that I was when I was over 300lbs, but sometimes people fail to recognize that beauty when masked behind the curse of obesity. I was sitting here tonight wondering how many other people notice these blatant discriminations due to size and how it's made them feel over the years. Is size discrimination what pushed you to consider surgery? Again, I couldn't be happier in my own personal success and I wish everyone here equal or greater success in their weight loss journey. When it comes down to it, our health is all we have in the end and we are all making the decision to better our own health by dropping the excess weight. I just thought I'd bring up one of the major psychological struggles I've personally faced with the extreme weight loss and hopefuly I can get other's opinions on the subject. I added a couple before and after pictures so you all can see my transformation, I'd love to see yours too! Before 1: Before 2: DESK 001.BMP After 1: After 2: