PhoenixFrfly
I'm 62 years old and have been overweight for the past 30 years. I was not fat as a child or as a young adult, but in my early 30's was involved in a bad motorcycle accident and that somewhat changed my level of physical activity. That was the start of my downfall and self destruction into becoming more and more overweight. At present I weigh 308 lbs and I am only five foot three and one-half inches tall, so I'm about as wide as I am long. I have arthrities, type II diabetes and sleep apnea and even with all of that, I am still relatively free from illness. I have been fighting my weight for the last 30 years, been on more diets and lost more weight than I care to think about. The only problem is that when I lost 100 lbs, I'd put back 105, and I always put it back, no matter how much I swore to myself that I wouldn't. I've been trying to do it myself because I am a logical person and my head knows that if I eat fewer calories I'll lose weight. In all other areas of my life I am in control, it's just this one thing (food) that seems to control me.
I finally decided to have the surgery because I'm tired of not being able to do the things that I want to do. The past five years I've had to limit the places I shop to those that have the electric carts I can ride. If I go other places, its very short in and out trips, no walking very far and no standing for any length of time. When my granddaughters visited this spring I was not able to go along when they toured DC because of all the walking involved. Don't get me wrong I still get out and do things, just not all the things I used to be able to do and would still like to do. I just want to be healthier and more active so that is my main goal and reason for having this surgery. It has taken me almost 5 years to come to this decision, but now that I have I am satisfied that I am doing the right thing.
2/21/08
I haven't posted since my surgery, but I've been busy learning a new way to eat and drink. Things have thankfully been uneventful since my surgery and my recovery has been easy. My son just got married last Saturday in South Florida so now that the wedding is over maybe I can start behaving normally again. I feel that for the past five months my life has been focused on two things, weight loss surgery and wedding plans. I have lost 71.5 lbs since my surgery on 9/17/07, only 84 more to go!!
I am feeling so much better and can move better too. I do have arthritis so sometimes that hurts (like now) no matter what I do. The weather for sure is a factor in how much pain I experience in my joints. South Florida was great, the temp. was 77 degrees, got back to Virginia on the 19th and it was 38, then yesterday it snowed, no wonder my bones are aching.
