Oceanfox
My name is Karen and I'm a 34 year old woman from the UK (although my dad is American!) I've been big since childhood and remember being taken to Weight Watchers at the age of 8 but I doubt that was my first diet.
I managed to keep myself plain old overweight/mildly obese by strict dieting and lots of walking throughout my childhood and teens. But in my 20s I kind of gave up and started to eat whatever I wanted without much strict dieting to balance it out.
In 2005 I had a last ditch attempt at losing weight by going on a VLCD diet of shakes, soups and bars, consuming under 500 calories a day. It was unbelievably tough but I managed to lose 87lbs in 5 months. But you know the story, it couldn't last. And as soon as I started eating again, the pounds came back again plus another 25 :(
I then seriously considered WLS. I knew the band wasn't radical enough for me so chose the RNY. Funding from the NHS is as rare as hen's teeth in my area of the UK so I'm paying myself. It's going to make life hard for a couple of years but I hope the bypass will give me quality of life that will be worth the money.
Just after Christmas 2006, I weighed 289lbs which is my highest weight ever. I have lost a few pounds on my very moderate pre-op diet and am now 282lbs. I go for surgery tomorrow morning and am very nervous and excited all at once.
I've found this board very helpful to get a full range of personal experiences of gastric byapss. Thanks very much everyone!
