christi R.
I have dealt with weight issues my entire life. I didn't really start gaining weight until I was 9 and in the 3rd grade. We moved in with my Grandma and lived in the apartment above her. My brother and I would get home from school and we would eat eat eat until my mom came home @ 5:30 and then we would be expected to sit down and eat dinner with the family. I gained quite a bit of weight and my mom tried putting me on diets and tried yelling at my grandma but she (grandma) didn't listen and neither did I. Luckily, for me I didn't have it that hard in school. Don't get me wrong, kids made fun of me. My brother made fun of me. When I was in the 8th grade I discovered binging and purging. At first it was a very very rare thing for me, but by the summer before my sophomore year I was a pro. I dropped quite a bit of weight and was still considered the "fat girl" I was 5'8 weighed between 140-150 lbs. But all of my friends were teeny tiny petite little things, no one was taller than 5'4 and no one weighed more than 115 lbs, if that. I learned to deal with it in all the wrong ways and then I met my husband. Well I met my husband when I was 16 but never even considered dating him until I was 17, 1 mth before my 18th b-day:) From that point on my bulimia was "under control" He loved me for me and I loved him with all that god gave me. We got married 3 mths before my 21st bday. On my wedding day, I weighed the most I have ever weighed, which if I recall was about 215? Yeah, I got comfortable. By the time we were ready to start our family I weighed 250 lbs, my doctor told me I should loose at least 50 lbs before we should even start trying. Well I wanted to be a mommy. I had my 1st son in July/99 and I weighed 302 lbs the day I delivered him. In Sept/00 we found out that I was expecting again:) My clone was born in May/01. In Sept/01 I took the step and joined WW. I did AWESOME! I lost like 50 lbs in like 5 mths. Then guess what?! BOOM!!!!! I found out I was preggos w/ our third child! Can you say SURPRISE!!!! So I went to my OB/GYN who found this to be just as crazy humorous and I did and I asked her if I could continue with WW. She said yes. He was born 10/02 and I only gained 16 lbs! By his first birthday in 10/03 I was within 20 lbs of my goal weight on WW. I looked and felt AWESOME! Yeah, not sure what happened but a pound here and 5 pounds there I gained it all back! I tried WW 2 more times and managed to lose 30-40 lbs and stopped going. I finally scheduled my appt for my first WLS seminar. My husband went with me and I walked out with renewed hope and my husband was indifferent. He wanted me to ,make my decision based on my health issues not being skinny:) He was worried about me having major surgery and why couldn't I try WW one more time. That was the thing, I didn't want to try 1 more time. I needed a permanent tool. I felt like and addict that had hit rock bottom. 1 year later I went to The Cleveland Clinic's WLS seminar and I decided this is what I was going to do. It took me quite a few mths actually almost 2 years to finally get my surgery date. I hemmed and hawed for quite a few mths and had to start all over w/ my ins requirements. I was approved on the first request. I received the call the end of August with my approval and my surgery date of Oct 4th. Unfortunately, the worst experience during this whole journey was I lost one of my closest and dearest friends. 24 years of friendship ended b/c she didn't like the decision I made. She called me lazy and undisciplined and in 10 years I will have failed and like I always have and I will have gained all my weight plus more. I personally think she just wished she had the balls and courage to make the decision I made. She was also pissed that my insurance covered everything but my $500 co-pay. Our friendship was based on our weight. We both grew up battling our weight our whole lives. So kinda like alcoholics and druggies, when your friends go clean what are you suppose to do. I took her negative comments and I use them as fuel for my fire. I have made a commitment to my husband, my children, my family AND most importantly myself that I will never put my health and life at risk by being obese. I will play tag with my kids, I will ride a roller coaster at Cedar Point again. I will walk w/o my thighs rubbing. I will make love to my husband and not have to think about my stomach getting in the way. I will do all that and more until the day I meet my maker.
