Here is my story… I have always struggled with my weight! I never seen myself as huge until recently, but I was always the bigger girl compared to all of my friends. Back then, I played softball, basketball, tennis, and cheerleading…I was very active as a kid and teenager, but to look at me you wouldn’t have been able to tell. I have always been self conscious and my weight issues have always bothered me. I remember dieting and exercising, but it seemed no matter what I would do I just couldn’t lose the weight. In high school I remember I would go days without eating, caffeine was definitely my friend back then, and that seemed to be the only way I could get the number on the scale to go down…. but when I would finally eat, I would gain that plus more back. It seemed to be this never ending cycle. I went to doctors, but they all blamed it on my Polycystic Ovary Syndrome or said I needed to change my diet. I remember going to another state just to get diet pills… the kind of diet pills that weren’t really legal. I was willing to do anything to be skinny, to be pretty…. at least back then that’s what I thought it took to be pretty. I remember back in 2007 when I met my husband…. I couldn’t believe he was attracted to me, I couldn’t believe he wanted me for me. He didn’t care that I wasn’t a stick figure, he loved me for me. I don’t think he will ever know just how much that really meant and still means to me. Fast forward to this year (2013) This past Spring, I went to the doctor to have a normal checkup and when my blood-work came back the doctor immediately called and wanted to see me. My liver enzymes were tripled and we knew something was wrong. To make a long story short, after a few tests and a liver biopsy (which was horrible I might add) they came to the conclusion that I have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. My body wasn’t getting rid of the fat that it needed to and it was building up in my liver. In order for this to get better, I needed to lose weight and do it fast and well let’s be honest… I needed to completely change my diet and lifestyle. So after a couple opinions with 2 different specialists, I decided to have RNY Gastric Bypass. Thank goodness surgery went well and my liver is now on the mend! I am 4 months post op and I have lost 70 lbs! I still have about 40 lbs to go before I reach my ultimate goal weight, but I will get there!
Some people say this is the easy way out, but if you truly think that then you don’t have a clue. This has by far been the hardest thing I have ever done in my life… not easy by any means. It is not just a diet that I can do for a week and then say to heck with its… this is for the rest of my life! I now have to take a multivitamin on a daily basis, I have to get vitamin b12 shots once a month, and I have to drink plenty of water and make sure my protein in take is where it needs to be daily…. if I don’t do these things I could get really sick. I neglected my protein for a couple of weeks and my hair started to fall out bad! Thankfully, it has slowed down some and most people say that wont last long thank goodness! Even though I’ve told you all of those things, I am so glad I made the choice I did to have the surgery! I am so much healthier and happier! I know I made the right decision and if I had to make the decision again, I’d do it in a heart beat! I have been struggling on whether to post this or not, because I was afraid. I was afraid of people making fun of me and I was afraid that people would judge, but then I realized people will judge no matter what and that’s okay. I am proud of my accomplishment of losing this weight and I refuse to be afraid any longer. I am who I am… and for the first time in a long time… I am happy with who I am!