hopeful_melissa
I have been fat all of my life. Ever since I can remember, kids followed me around where ever I would go and yell "BOOM-BUBBA BOOM-BUBBA" with each step I took. I was an easy target for the bullies in school and they all took advantage. Even through out high school, I was the butt of all the jokes. I remember one day, i was getting something from my locker and there was a bi-racial girl a few lockers down talking to one of her friends. (I always thought she was very pretty, smart and I would yell at people who would call her things like "oreo" or "half-breed" - until this day...) She looked over at me, and then very loudly said to her friend "I don't like fat people. I don't know why, I just don't like them." I wanted to crawl in my locker and die. But I never said anything to anyone who put her down because of her heritage either.
Even though I was always very active in high school, my waistline never shrank. I was in color guard and had to have my skirt specially made because they didn't come that big. They sent me the fabric and said good luck! I kept cutting down my food intake little by little and by the time I was out of school about a year, I was down to 1 piece of bread and 1/2 cup of non-fat milk a day. The only other thing I would take in was water. The only thing that saved me for going completely anorexic at this point, was that I got pregnant and my body started demanding (craving) things it needed.
My weight flucuated and made its way back up again and then my mom's health took a really bad turn for the worst. Through the year of trying to take care of her, driving back and forth from Colorado Springs to Denver almost daily, depression, stress and on and on....I lost over 125 pounds because I couldn't keep food down. I was able to maintain that weight loss until I lost my job in 2002. I gained a little while I tried to find another job and tried several different things. My last ditch effor to save my house was to drive a truck. The time that I drove, I gained a HUGE amount of weight. Driving as a team, our truck never stopped so we ate whatever we could eat quickly or with one hand (salads don't balance very well on a steering wheel).
After I finally got a job back in my field (computer programming), I worked with a nutrionist and lost over 50 pounds in about 8 months. A high protien very low carb diet. I stuck with it as long as I could and as soon as we started "refeeding" some of the carbs in, my weight went right back up. When all was said and done, I was 376 pounds at my heaviest weight - which was the orientation for weight loss surgery - April 2008.
Now I'm 39 day pre-op and very excited! I can't wait to feel what it will be like to be healthy! I'm ready to make the changes that I've learned over the last 7 months a premenant change in my life, and my attitude towards food is so different now. But I know that to be successful long term, I need the tool to help me.
About Me
Before & After
rollover to see after photo
