Describe your behavioral and emotional battle with weight control before learning about bariatric surgery.
Always a "bigger" girl, I have struggled with weight for as long as I can remember. In high school I managed to stay fairly thin by eating diet pills given to me by my doctor (it was the 80's and this was basically speed). Even then, I was still bigger than my friends. Always longing to be "normal". Right out of high school I married and started having babies. WIth the pregnancy of my first child, I gained up to 260 lbs. After he was born, I worked SO hard and finally got back down to about 200 lbs when I discovered that I was pregnant and gave birth again 2 years later. Over the last 21 years (since the birht of my youngest child) I have yo-yo'd and struggled and never could break the 200lb barrier. I wish I could take back all the years of mental anguish and self doubt....the determination felt when another new diet is started...and then the complete disgust and dissapointment in myself when I failed, yet again, to lose and keep it off. I had just decided that I was destined to be fat but then I was diagnosed with diabetes in 2002. That is when I first heard of, and began to research, bariatric surgery. I was in the process of seeking approval in 2003 when my husbands employer changed insurance companies and the new company had absolutely NO coverage for it....at all....PERIOD! Another heartache...another disappointment. Several years later, our insurance changed again, and I once again began the journey.
What was (is) the worst thing about being overweight?
EVERYTHING....but I will start with DIABETES. Over the last ten years it has been damaging my body. Beyond that, I will give you a list.
Running out of air when I tie my shoes...climb the stairs...etc
buying clothes in the fat lady section/store
Pain in my knees, hips and feet
Difficulty in getting down on the floor to play with my grandkids, and then difficulty getting back up
Stress incontinence
High blood pressure
$300 a month pharmacy bills
Insulin injections
Feeling out of place in a thin world
Being afraid of not seeing my grandbabies grow
Feeling disgusted when I see my naked (or even clothed) body in the mirror
Feeling self conscious when I meet new people
If you have had weight loss surgery already, what things do you most enjoy doing now that you weren't able to do before?
I just got my insurance approval letter yesterday, so I am hoping to get a surgery date soon. I will update when I have more info
Gilly68
