Christie Graham
In the past, I jokingly would say that I was born fat. Truthfully, I was underweight and short (tiny) until about the second grade. I had an abusive incident in my life and I began a life long habit of smothering my fears and pains with food. The summer between 2nd and 3rd grades I doubled my size. In 6th grade I weighed 95#. In high school, I was "curvy" not exactly fat, but all my friends were mal nurished looking. Therefore, I considered myself "fat". When I married I weighed about 160 and I wore clothing in the Junior Department sized around 16. I went on a fad weight loss diet and dropped down to about 130 and wore a size 5. I did not stay there long. In fact, my husband does not even remember me ever being that size. We were married 5 years and began our family. I had our son when I was 26. I went on Rx diet pills and lost all his baby fat only to find that I was pregnant again when he was 6 months old. This time we had twin girls. I had gained up to 200 the day they were born. I lost about twenty pounds about twenty or more times over the next 10 years. I researched WLS for about a year and approached my husband about it and it was not a pretty site. He was strictly not going to allow me to have surgery. I thought that divorce was going to take place if I insisted. I walked away sad and defeated. After 5 more years of this yo-yoing. I decided that I was going to have the surgery with or without my husband's support. I do not recommend this at all. It was a great strain on my marriage. Our three teenagers were very supportive and helpful. I believe that my husband still harbors hard feelings because I decided to go against his decision. I would do it all the same way again. My WLS was the best thing I ever demanded to do for myself. I feel tons better, I do have Vitamin b-12 issues. But I am ok with that. I am no longer a basket of tears over clothes shopping, picture taking, fill-in-the-blank. I thank God that my husband is still married to me. I love him with all my heart. My continued prayer is that he realize that just because he is someone that does not have to be concerned with his weight, some of us are not so fortunate. I have not hit the goal that I had hoped for. I have been "stuck" at this weight and size for about eighteen months. I suppose that if this is where my body likes to be, I am ok with that. I am at 160 and I can wear a size 12 in most things, there are some size 10s. I wish everyone the best in their WLS adventure.
