This is my story!

[ggvan 18]

I am a 51 year old mother, grandmother, have been married for nearly 31 years to a wonderful man. I grew up skinny, skinny skinny! When I met my soon to be husband at 16 I was so skinny he said he felt sorry for me! I stayed skinny for many years. Even after my first child was born I got down to 135 pounds, (with Weight Watchers and became a lifetime member) and at 5'7 inches that is small. It wasn't until I got pregnant with my second child in 1990 that I began to gain weight. We found out at 4 months that our baby had a genetic disorder and may or may not make it to full term. Over the course of the next 2 1/2 months I gained 60 lbs! I was so depressed and all I did was eat! I ate to dull the pain. This is when I became addicted to food. Literally! I did make it to 6 1/2 months until our precious Angel that we named "Hope" went to heaven. I went through a deep depression. Gained more weight on top of the weight that I gained during pregnancy. From that point I tried every diet but my food addiction continued to overtake me. I failed at every attempt. I joined Weight watchers approximately 20 times over the next few years. In 2005 I decided to try to get approved for the gastric bypass. I was approved and 1 week before my surgery I backed out! I was too scared and anyway my regular doctor was not wanting me to have it. I decided to work hard at weight watchers and lost about 50 pounds. I started feeling pretty good. The weight creeps back up on me plus some, because I quit attending the meetings. So in 2010 I tried to be approved for the lap band. I went through all the dr visits. I did everything that was required but after the 7 months, I was denied. Once again I went back to weight watchers. I was discouraged and I felt determined to get the weight off. I started to lose weight and walk. I was walking 3 miles 3 times a week. I dropped 52 pounds! I was feeling very good. I was proud of my accomplishment. Then my nephew died of an accidental overdose. My whole family was devastated. I began to cope by eating. Oh I started small at first. I quit walking and slowly started getting back in to my old habits. Before I knew it, I looked in the mirror and saw this huge, fat woman looking back at me. I was up to 279 lbs! All this weight, HOW COULD I LET THIS HAPPEN??? I tried very hard to lose weight. Joined Weight watchers again. I would lose about 20 lbs then quit. It was just out of control. In June of 2013 I became a grandmother. I was so excited. Every time I looked at my grandson I was more in love than ever. I became more aware of my health problem after he was born. My knees were hurting and I did not trust myself to hold him while trying to go up any stairs. I was on high cholesterol medicine, Mobic for joint pain, aspirin for heart blockage. So much going on! I decided to have the gastric sleeve. I knew a few people that has had it done so I started the dr visits and I go through everything I needed to do to be approved and low and behold it was approved. I am 6 weeks out now and I am down 38 pounds! At this point I am still having regrets that I did this but I know as more weight comes off I will be happy about this decision. I do feel better and I know that my life will be a better quality life for this surgery. I think that anyone that is reading this needs to know the emotional part of this surgery is the hardest.