suemac65
I have been defined all my life as a fat person. I was a "chubby" baby, a "fatty" young girl, a "fuller-figured" teenager, a "heavy-set" woman. I have hated all of these descriptions, but it seems I just felt that was my lot in life. Looking back at my high school pics, I see a girl weighing 185 lbs who looks fairly NORMAL, but my self-esteem was so low that I felt horribly obese and was unable to accept myself as I was. As I grew older, I gradually added 10 lbs here, 20 lbs there. I already felt fat, so I didn't really pay attention as the scale crept higher and higher. I finally peaked recently at 341 lbs! I was pretty horrified when I finally weighed myself after avoiding doing so for several years.
I was widowed 7 years ago, and since my first husband's death I put on 60 lbs! I attribute it to poorer eating habits, stress, and not having someone there to care. In Sept of 2009, I met a wonderful man who accepted and fell in love with me just as I am! We have been married since Aug of 2010, and I am ready to finally claim this body as mine again and become the healthy, slim woman I know I can be. I'm tired of having swollen feet, aching joints, high blood pressure, low energy, and looking like crap in everything I wear.
I have had a consultation with the surgeon of my choice. The hold-up right now is that our insurance company implemented a change on Jan 1st that requires me to go through 3 months of a medically supervised weight loss program before approval of surgery. I am in month 2 of that - lost 7 lbs, then gained 5 of them back - very frustrating! I am hoping to be approved and scheduled by April or May for the VBG, which is the surgery of choice for this particular surgeon. I'm so excited to see hope on the horizon!
