My 2 Year Anniversary on VST - My VS Journey/Story

[atPeace55 71]

I was notified by Alex Brecher that I have been registered with VST for two years now - doesn't seem like it has been that long and I was encouraged to share my story again so I thought that I would re-post my story. I hope you can relate and it brings some encouragement to others that in life you can make changes.

I'm a Californian for life! - Wife of 7 yrs to a wonderful husband who I love very much, mother of a 11 yr son, 21 yr old daughter and 19 yr old son , god mother to my 20 yr old god daughter , older sister to 5 brothers and daughter and granddaughter to my mom and father grandmother whom I love and respect and thankful for them loving and teaching me .

I enjoy making people life, people say that I'm ALWAYS smiling and I love to swim, play volleyball and aspire to be able to run a marathon.

I started my research journey about weight loss surgery in May of 2009. After 10 yrs of failed attempts at losing weight on my own.

My story is probably pretty common, I was never a fat or big kid, teenager or young adult always weighed within normal or above normal range and could eat anything and everything I wanted and never really exercised accept when I had too. Always busy and on the go enjoying life, friends and family I guess that kept me thin.

But something happened to me when I hit my mid 20's and I started slowing my life(style) down - I started slowly picking up weight that I was unable to drop or loose easly anymore, to top it off by age 28 I became pregnant with my son( love him). I had a difficult pregnancy near the end of my first trimester I was diagnosed with Preclampsia and eventually it affected my weight, blood pressure, and if not monitored could shut down my major organs and death!

During my pregnancy I gained 75 lbs which was crazy! 27 weeks into my pregnancy I had to be admitted into the hospital because my Protein levels were too high and I had to be monitored and blood drown 24/7. I gave birth to my son via C-Section at 31 wks so he was a Premie and weigh 3.06 lbs at birth! He (Kalani) was born not breathing and had to stay in the Neonatal unit for 5weeks before they let him come home with me.

Initially I dropped the weight with breast feeding, however with dealing with a Premie and being a new mom I think put alot of stress on me so I sought comfort in food most of the time. I had to deal with him being so small and being susceptable to getting sick alot because he was born with under developed lungs - me putting my child in regular daycare was not an option! I eventually went back to work and my grandmother my son's great grandmother took care of him for the first 4 years of his life. She was my daycare provider and I will Always love her for that!

During the first 5 yrs of his life I felt like I was always at the Dr. office or in urgent care with him being sick! So, I definitely forgot about me and it became all about him and the only thing I could think of doing in my spare time was eat or going out to eat or snacking on sweets or making sweets and eating big portions of food. I just kept getting bigger and bigger each year. Blaming my clothes not fitting on "Cheap materials!" LMBO SMH

To try and get my life back I joined a gym (still a member - not using regularly yet), I tried every diet that was on TV or a friend told me about or the latest and greatest fad diet. from Atkins, Southbeach, Weight Watchers 3X, Lemonade Diet, Cabbage Soup Diet, Vitamin B12 shots, Appetite Suppressants, 7 Day Diet, Detox (Fasting), not to mention how much money I spent on Excercise Vids, DVD's! Sheeeeeesh! But, I did loose weight sometimes anywhere from 20-50lbs but I would always seem to gain it back plus some.

So in 2009 I was fed up I had to do something different!!! - I had heard about the Gastric Bypass which was the most common so I did a little research but not much and had a talk with my PCP and he thought it would be a good idea so he started my paperwork and at the time I was with an *** so the requirements were I had to have 6months of weigh ins and some other things so I started in excited however once I started reasearching the R N Y and asking people that I had met and watching YouTube vids I started thinking, "I don't think this is for me I wasn't liking the "Malabsorbtion" and "Restriction" together I didn't think it was for me despite all the positive feedback. I made it to the Surgeon for a Pre Op and decided that I didn't want to go through with it.

I knew based on research and talks on obesity.org and on Youtube and speaking with the surgeon that the LapBand was a waist of time (in my opinion) I saw and read about alot of folks getting revisions and switched to the sleeve or the R N Y. But then I started researching the sleeve and flet that this surgery was more along the lines of what I was looking for and since I didn't have CoMorb's like diabetes or cholesterol, etc. and it wasn't Restrictive so I thought Great! Eureka! I've found it. However, my *** at the time did not cover it and I tried to get an exception based on me having a bad back and having to take NSAIDS often for pain and the R N Y did not recommend taking those becasue it could cause issues with the R N Y. But, no go they declined me - so I stopped pursuing and thought well maybe this is not my journey and I should just keep trying to diet and exercise maybe one day I will eventually loose this weight and left it alone for about 5 months.

In 2009 my husbands company was bought out by another company and when we had to re-enrolled for benefits the new company had different plans - PPO & *** options so I called each one and asked if they approved Bariactric Surgeries (some don't believe it or not) and if yes, did they offer approvals for VSG and one did - so I felt well Lord maybe this is still a journey I can take! So, I had to go through couple of their guidelines but most of my previous paperwork was still good so I didn't have to re-do anything (GOD is Good) and now hear I am almost two years later and a with a VSG surgery date for next month!

Can't say it was easy but I'm so glad i'm here and I had a loving and supportive family! I still continue to read and ask questions to get my mind ready for the change but I'm so excited and ready to begin a new way of life!!!

***And now I'm living my new life i'm 21 months post-op and down 136 lbs never felt better and glad I began my new life and journey!***

[LMFAO575 112]

Thanks for coming back to share your story! Very inspiring & motivating. Your look super fantastic!! I can only hope I return 2 yrs later with a hot pic like that!

Sent from my iPhone using VST

[cuteasabutton 19]

Did you have to have plastic surgery?

[atPeace55 71]

Aww! Thank you - that was the best compliment ever!!!

Don't worry you will and even hotter pic!

Thanks for coming back to share your story! Very inspiring & motivating. Your look super fantastic!! I can only hope I return 2 yrs later with a hot pic like that!

Sent from my iPhone using VST

[atPeace55 71]

No plastic surgery! Just working out my arms are from doing push up - NEVER thought I would be able to do one! LOL (My Kryptonite) but I do daily challenges with my FB friends and i'm up to 25 push ups per day, 100 sit ups per day, 2 minute planks per day and I do free weights and cardio classes 3X per week.

Did you have to have plastic surgery?

[bebaeg 4]

Wow! What an awesome outcome..... You look great! I just got my approval letter on Saturday... Yay:) I am hoping, like you did, to be able to do push ups one day in the near future....thanks for sharing your journey.

[cuteasabutton 19]

Amazing thanks for the reply guess I need to get moving !

[LovetoDeath 93]

Thank you so much for re-posting. You look A-MAZ-ING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are truly an inspiration!!!

[atPeace55 71]

Congratulations!! I wish you much success!!

You will be able too you will be amazed at what your body can do when you loose your first 25-50lbs!

Wow! What an awesome outcome..... You look great! I just got my approval letter on Saturday... Yay:) I am hoping, like you did, to be able to do push ups one day in the near future....thanks for sharing your journey.

[atPeace55 71]

Thank you so much for the compliment!! You guys are truly making me blush! :wub:

Thank you so much for re-posting. You look A-MAZ-ING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are truly an inspiration!!!

[Bmordan 16]

What was your starting weight? How tall are u? You look great btw