sweeteebls

I'm a southern girl born and raised in Shreveport, LA. I grew up as a "normal" weight child until the 5th grade (10yrs. old) when I started to gain weight. I wasn't an active child although I could have been. I was just lazy. I tried to blame my mother for this for not enrolling me in any activities but it definitely was not her fault because I never asked her to be apart of anything either. I noticed more weight gain as the years went on and at my heaviest in high school, I was 5'7" and 185lbs. Well, with all of my friends being 90lbs-125lbs. at the most, imagine the feeling of always being the biggest. Imagine always being the girl nobody wanted to date because of how big I was. I had extremely low self esteem which actually started in the 6th grade when I noticed that none of the boys paid any attention to me and I was always the funny friend. I had a couple of boyfriends in high school which helped me feel a little better about myself but I still knew I wanted to be smaller. I went on a diet with the help of my mother, who by the way is a dietician (IRONY), and lost 13lbs. which got me down to 172lbs. I was happy but I still wasn't as small as I wanted to be. By the time I went to college, I was probably already back at 185lbs. Most people typically gain the "Freshman 20." During my first year of college, I probably gained about 30-40lbs. and probably 15-20lbs. per year after that. By the time I graduated and went to grad school, I weighed 271lbs.  I got to a fed up point in 2002 which was the year before I graduated with my Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy and decided to do Weight Watchers. From September 2002 until May 2003, I lost 30lbs. I liked the way I looked, but still was not anywhere near my desired goal. After graduation, I moved to Lewisville, TX (one of my favorite cities in the whole world) and my "boyfriend" at the time had not yet finished school so he did not go with me as I pursued my Ph.D at Texas Woman's University. Well after moving to Texas all by myself and not having any friends, I found my old best friend again; food. I gained back all of the 30lbs. that I had lost and was just as miserable as ever.  I guess I happened to luck out and find guys that like "big" girls so at least I wasn't feeling rejected by all men. I focused on school for the next 3 years and met my fiance in 2006 who happened to love "big" girls. It wasn't a problem for him at all, however, I was just as unhappy as I had always been. I've known every since I first heard about lap band that it was the option for me and just waited until I had a job where the insurance would cover it in order for me to have the procedure. Well, wouldn't you just know that none of the jobs I've ever held have offered bariatric surgery as a covered option on their insurance plans. Finally, I decided to finance it. I knew it would have to be an affordable surgery in order for me to be able to make the payments and still live a decent life. I reviewed lots of options and finally decided on a program called Med to Go which is a US organization that sets up surgeries in international destinations. They review the physicians, hospitals and staff, and everything associated with the surgical procedures and ensure the cleanliness and sterility of the hospital and equipment and safety of the procedures.  Since I currently live in Austin, TX, I saw this as an opportunity to also have a mini va-cay. My fiance and I will fly to San Diego on Friday, April 2nd for surgery and have some time on Sunday to sightsee (if I feel up to it) before we fly back to Austin. My follow up is scheduled through Med to Go, who find you providers in your state that are willing to work with individuals who have had surgery with other physicians. I'm excited about the prospect of actually being at my ideal weight within the next two years. My fiance and I are scheduled to be married in September, however, we may postpone until I'm ready to show off all of my newfound svelte-ness. I'm so ready to be the person on the outside that matches the person on the inside! Whoo-hoo! So, the journey begins....