Tobefree
I have been officially over weight since I was about 10 yrs old. From 8 yrs old to 10 yrs old I gained a whopping 117LBS. One day my elementary school teacher was weighing all of the students for a reason I don't recall, but when I saw that 200 I didn't know what think. The weight kept coming. The summer of my 12th Birthday I gained 88LBS. By age 18 I was 332LBS. By 25 I was at my highest weight 372LBS. I am currently 32 and 350LBS. I was always active, participating in soccer, softball, and even track& field all the while fat, and still gaining weight.
I believe that having been active all those younger years has kept me from having any co-morbid issues. What do have is PCOS and was diagnosed with that at 16 yrs old. It's a condition that creates a hormonal imbalance in your body, and causes women to display symptoms like, abnormal hair growth, irregular menstruation, insulin resistance, acne, infertility, and for many women excessive, (and I do mean EXCESSIVE) weight gain that is VERY hard to lose. (I may be missing a couple other symptoms, not sure.) Last year I began to think of WLS because I was unsuccessful at all other attempts up to that point. In my research I learned that losing the weight with WLS would still be work, so I figured I'll just do the work myself. I went on a medically supervised liquid diet. I'm sure it's a lot like the liquid diet you have to go on pre-op to shrink fatty liver, but I did. For 7 weeks and about 4 days I TOTALLY dived into the program. Suddenly my gallbladder began to have issues and needed to be removed. This is apparently common when a person experiences rapid weight loss, but was not a set back I was aware of and therefore didn't anticipate. I was happy that when I started eating again the weight didn't come right back, as many said it would, but eventually it did. What I learned from that was something very valuable. 1. I can lose weight. 2. I will not starve to death and can go not only go days, but weeks without food. That takes work, and tenacity. I'm proud for having done it, and not happy I had to lose my gallbladder, but I earned that lesson for sure.
I'm at a crossroads now. Still young, but not getting younger. The more I wait and second guess the older I get. I have SO MANY things I want to do and I believe not that the weight is stopping me, but that I am allowing the weight to stop me, and the only way around that for me is to figure out how to get rid of it! I've done the research and asked most of my questions. I've gone to the seminar and have found out that my insurance will cover banding. My fear is no longer the surgery itself, my fear is that I'll be one of those people it doesn't work for, either because I am not as ready as I think I am or because of the way Insulin Resistance makes my body perceive food. I do hope I "have the courage TO BE FREE."
