Cuylermama

My name is Beth and I'm 33 years old.  My story begins in my early childhood.  All my life I was overweight.  In my late teens I lost a a few pounds (yo yo dieting) but would always gain it back and some...  Later I married the love of my life and had two wonderful children. I would try to diet and exercise but the results would always be the same, loose a couple of pounds only to gain it back.  This has gone on for the last 15 years.  It was last summer that I finally decided I had to do something.   I was at a theme park with my family and tried to ride one of the rides with my children and realized I couldn't pull the safety bars down over me.  The ride attendant had to inform me that I wouldn't be able to ride the ride... I was mortified!  Embarrassment doesn't even describe my feelings at the time.  I felt embarrassed for myself but even more for my two children.  I got off the ride and waited until they got off.  Funny thing is, my children tried to make light of the situation and tell me the ride wasn't fun anyway.  It was that very minute that I decided I didn't want to be the mom that couldn't get around to do things with her children and I sure don't want my kids to feel like they have to make excuses for me.  The timing was perfect.  Around that same time I found out that one of my good friends mom had the lap-band surgery.  I was keeping up with her progress daily and could see the weight falling off of her.  What really caught my attention was her confidence level and how happy she was all the time.  She said she felt 20 years younger.  I wanted that so I signed up for one of the Dr's seminars.  By the time I left the seminar I had my mind made up that I was going to do everything to get this done.I was one of the lucky ones, my insurance paid for my procedure.  On  February 19, 2010 I had my surgery.  The surgery went without a hitch, a couple of hours later I walked out of the hospital.  I was back to work in a couple of days (long weekend).  People I work closely with couldn't believe I had the surgery since I was up and getting around so well.  It's now been a couple of months and I'm down 31 pounds.  I've still got a long way to go but for the first time I have hope and can see continous progress.  I feel 10 years younger!!  I can't wait to see how I feel after I get the rest of this weight off.  I currently weigh 237 and my goal is 135.  My sister in-law is wanting to have an "under 200" party once I reach 199.  I haven't seen under 200 since after having my first child back in 1996.  I can't wait to get out of the 200 range!!  Life is getting better everyday.  God bless!