blue_ticktr

I am a 46 year old African-American Woman in Southern California.  I have been married 3 years, this past June 16, 2010. I realize in my 30's that the fat gene, so highly prevalant on my maternal side would start to creap up on me as I approached my 40's.  Little did I realize, it had already begun to sneak up on me in my early 30's.  I grew up 'skinny', came into 'womanhood' late around 14, where the hips, boobs, and hourglass figure finally kicked in around 15, yet, I ran track, did drill team, dance, tennis, and many activities throughout high school.  I don't think I was really body conscious during those years, as I was starting to shake off the last of the tom-boy in me and didn't really pay attention to how my clothes fit or how they looked on me.  Really wasn't that important.  I was cute, and I felt cute, and that's all there was to that.  I was accepted into a community dance company, and was active there and in college until my late 20's.  As my need to work more and seriously develop my career in Procurement, I sort of dropped the dancing and maintained tennis, which I enjoyed 4 to 5 times per weeks, often upwards of 3 to 4 hours each weeknight, two nights per week, and 6 hours per day every Saturday and Sunday.  As my job became more demanding, with working longer hours, stress, fast paced, and other issues enveloped me in life, my energy level stayed focused at work activities, and once I would get home, I would tell myself, my brain is exhausted, therefore, so is the rest of me, there engaged the sedentary part of my life.  The 1990's was an extremely difficult decade for me through all of my 30's. I believe it was a major transition and turning point in my life that took me to hell and back, and at the same time, is where I gained more weight than I ever would in my entire life.  My focus was on other priorities, and my health and fitness was not among those priorities.
I think once I finally settled into my career, my finances, my family, and my relationships, I was finally ready to celebrate turning 40.  But, once I started to assess my life and I really looked at my physical body, I didn't reaize just how much I had neglected my overall health, allowed the bad eating habits to maintain.  I could no longer count on a fast working metabolisim and still be allowed to eat anything I wanted. Those days were long gone.  Not only that, my wake up, should have been when my gall bladder was removed in 1995.  Hey, I was still cute, as a matter of fact, sexy. and very happy to take sexy self into the land of 40 years old and loving it.So, I meet who would be my husband online at 41, and he totally fell in love with all the rolls, fluff, cush, and abundance of me that he couldn't get enough of.  I'm blessed that God brought my husband to me as the one thing we have that bonds us is music.  He is a trombonist, and I sing.  We have been performing in an R&B/Blues band for over 4 years.  It's hard to see videos of myself performing, and what I feel when on stage is not what I see when I look back on that performance.  It's disheartening.  I have been considering this procedure over a year and a half, and finally, in February 2010, I made the decision to go for it.  I began my pre-op diet on Wednesday, July 21, 2010. My surgery was Friday, August 6, 2010.  As of today, Wednesday, August 11th, I have lost 20 lbs already.  Unbelieveable.  That tells me that the majority of the work involves what, when and how I am eating.  I'm just in my first week, post-op of clear liquids, and amazingly, I feel pretty good.  I have more discomfort than pain.  No nausea whatsoever.  This is great.  I can't wait go tackle some pudding and have more thicker foods to slosh around my mouth.  My mind is missing the chewing activity, but it's all good. My ultimate weight is 150 lbs.  However, I would be elated to hit 165.  I'm from the south, and we believe in still having some meat on our bones.  Besides, women need curves.  I'm glad that I'm not alone throughout my journey, and I happy to be part of such a supportive community.