A Little Bit about Me...

I've been overweight most of my life. I was a chunky child, who became and overweight teenager, who became a fat college student, who became an obese adult. Seriously, I can't remember a time when my weight wasn't an issue for me. It's always been there, a dark gloomy cloud over everything.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't in a state of depression or anything, just always painfully aware of my weight, how that made me feel about myself, and how I thought others perceived me. Sure, I've had my share of painful moments due to being overweight. You know, kids are cruel and all that. Well, adults aren't much better, but for the most part I'm a pretty happy person.

I'm always laughing about something and I enjoy just living life, experiencing new things, and having fun.

So, onto my reason for blogging now. Throughout my life, I've seen my weight creep up and up and UP. A few times, I've successfully dropped 20-30 lbs, only to put it all back on plus when I stopped dieting. I've done it all, the typical stuff - low carb, weight watchers, jenny craig, etc, etc, etc....

I've thought of weight loss surgery before. My sister has gastric bypass and I knew that wasn't really for me, so I starting researching the lap-band. In the middle of 2009, I got serious about it and started the process of meeting my surgeon and all the pre-op requirements. It took about 3 months to complete all the pre-reqs and I received a surgery date of December 3rd, 2009.

Ok the hard truth....
At my consultation with my surgeon I weighed.... 325 lbs. (GASP!!!)
(At that point, my heaviest weight ever)

Then my boyfriend and I went on a cruise. We had an amazing trip, and of course, there was lots of food!

When I came back, I was tipping the scale at 329 lbs!!! OH THE HORROR!

Have I mentioned that I'm 5'4", that is a LOT of weight on my frame! So now, officially, my highest weight was 329 lbs.

Prior to surgery, my doctor wanted me to get close to 300 lbs. and I also had a 10 day liquid diet pre-op. By the time my surgery date came, I was down to 309 lbs. A 20 lb. difference! And hopefully the start of an amazing weight loss story.

Surgery was pretty much what I expected. The first week was pretty rough with gas pain and nausea, but after that, I've felt pretty good.

I'm now close to a month and a half post-surgery and I'm down 42 lbs. as of today.

I have not had a fill yet. My surgeon policy is to wait at least 6 weeks post-op for a fill, however, he also wants to gauge weight loss. So, as long as I continue to lose 1-2 lbs. per week, I won't be getting a fill yet. This was disappointing to being with, but then I realized, I'm still losing, so fill or no fill, I should be happy with that.

Ok, enough about me for now..... more to come soon!