aspan
Like many here I have struggled with my weight all my life. I was chubby by eight years old and was teased from my brother about it which really impacted my self esteem. I can remember clearly laying on the couch and my dad talking to my mom in the kitchen talking about how "big" I was. He was concerned and thought I was sleeping. I wasn't. From there I just got bigger and bigger until by 15 I was easily 100 pounds overweight. At that point I got sick of it and went on an extreme diet and extreme exercising. I guess you could call it bulimia, where I would eat less than 300 calories, exercise 1-2 hours per day, and then binge every once in a while. Feel so guilty over that, pump up my exercise and start the process all over again. My parent's were so worried about my sudden weight loss over 100 pounds they took me to the doctor. The doctor not knowing the whole story encouraged me to keep loosing weight, which I did. I hit a all time low of 135 pounds and then suddenly I was graduating high school and was excited about going to college. That distraction led me to gain back about 10 pounds as I wasn't exercising 2 hours a day. Went to college, started dating my now husband who was significantly overweight. I felt comfortable to eat like I wanted to and quickly gained back all the weight I had loss plus some. After getting married several years later I was at my heaviest at probably 260 plus pounds. I don't really know because I was too afraid to weigh myself..I wouldn't be surprised if I got close to 300 at that point. After four more years of college I decided to move back to my home state and that's when I knew I had to loose weight. I was sick to my stomach all the time, the doctor thought it was my gallbladder although he was surprised that it was gone and indicated that perhaps something else was going on in my body. I had been sick to my stomach everyday for over 2 years and didn't really know why. I had surgery to have it removed and my symptoms only got worse. Was still sick to my stomach so he sent me to a specialist which suggested I try this powder. I thought I would die after taking that and should have went to the hospital. My mom suggested it was a wheat intolerance as I have an aunt with Celiac's disease. I was tested for this but it came back negative. Next step, to eliminate it from my diet which I did and 100% of my symptoms went away. I was feeling better than ever but yet still fat. Out of breath coming up steps, I wanted to have a baby next but was afraid of being over 240 pounds and being pregnant. Tried to diet and got down to 242 from over 250 pounds on a diet for about 6 months. At that rate I would be heavy for over three years and might never reach my goal. During this time I supported my husband getting part one of the DS and was watching him loose weight left and right. I thought about getting RNY or the sleeve and took the action to make that happen. That happened over about a month's time and I had surgery two months after that. It was a "slow" time in the doctors office and was lucky to make it happen so quickly. I did think about canceling my original appointment after negative feedback from my family who didn't think I needed the surgery. So glad I stuck to my guns!! A year later I have lost nearly 100 pounds and I can actually imagine being pregnant now..I have lost the weight the right way and can actually see myself keeping the weight off this time as I did it the right way and am not starving myself or exercising like a mad women. Still have a gluten intolerance but with the right diet I now what I can eat and what I can't and I am not sick everyday which allows me to live my life to the fullest. I love my RNY and believe it was the best choice I have ever made.
