imstillstrill

Hi, I go by Strill, a shorter version a longer name.  I have had a lot of challenges in life and I am still standing, so my code name is I'm still Strill no matter what happens (imstillstrill).  I am a CPA tax consultant and part-time realtor.  I am married to a wonderful husband who is a firefighter and we have three children, 11, 9 1/2 and 2 1/2. When I first met my husband, I weighed 155, believe it or not, I thought I was fat then.  After a couple of years of marriage, I weighed around 180 to 185.  I felt like I was always on some type of diet over the years.  You name it, I've done it. By the time I gave birth to my first child, I weighed a whopping 240 pounds. I quickly lost about 40 lbs breastfeeding, but remained closed to 200 lbs when I became pregnant with my second child 8 months later.  So once again, I was back up to 240 on my delivery date.  Years past, and I was able to get down to about 190 and stay this weight for several years before becoming pregnant with my third child in 2005.  I carried my baby to 36 weeks, once again weighing around 240.  However, I had a placenta abruption and I lost my baby in the beginning of 2006. By the end of 2006, before I could even lose any weight, God bless me to give birth to my last child who is now 2 1/2. As you can see, I have went up and down in weight while always remaining at least 50 pounds over a standard ideal weight.  Well, last year, a couple of months before my 40th birthday, I decided I needed to lose weight yet again.  I got all the way down to 184.  I looked really good to me and my friends at my 40th birthday party.  Then a couple of months later, I took a job at a regional CPA (Tax) firm as a Senior Tax Manager. I worked a lot of long hours and weekends.  All they did was feed us to accommodate for all of the stressful work hours. I started to turn to food as an outlet for the stress.  Now, here it is a year later and I weigh a whopping 240 pounds again.  This time, I do not have the excuse of pregnancy. I am so tired of trying different diets only for the weight to come back.  I decided to look into getting the lap band since I was sure I would qualify this time.  I went to my first seminar on April 14th 2009 and I wanted the surgery the next day.  At the time, I weighed 232 and my BMI was about a point off from qualifying for my insurance to pay for it. I was frustrated with the lapse of time that it took to request my insurance approval because that meant I could not lose a pound and probably needed to gain about 8 pounds.  So I needed to stay this weight until now. I was embarrassed to go anywhere or to let people see me that had not seen me in years.  I started drinking my protein shakes and one meal a day to prep for my surgery which is finally next week.  I am so excited. The other day, I decided to let all my friends know on facebook and I started a vlog on YouTube to mark my progress.  I know and I believe in my heart that I will succeed.  This is my last thing, last time!