Glad to be here and looking forward to the support and info this forum provides.
I've been lurking for about 4 months...It was you all that gave me the courage to go ahead with this surgery. Your stories, your honesty, your updates.
I'm in my early 40s. Over the years, my weight has been anywhere from 140 (20s) to 255 lbs (30s). I've never been smaller than a size 10/12. Right now, I'm an solid size 17. I seem to go through 10 year cycles of losing and gaining a ton of weight. The gains happen when a significant amount of stress takes over and then I claw my way back through drastic means. I've done vegetarian, weight watchers, Fit For Life, I was a raw food vegan for 2 years...you get the idea. It seems like we've ALL been there. I'm a born over eater, but that has changed and I've leveled out pretty good over the last 2 years. But one thing that has also happened is hitting my 40s. It seems like a cruel joke, but now that I've finally mastered the portion size and regular cardio and cross fit type exercises, the fat just won't leave.
I've plateaued at 218 lbs now for a year. The year before that I was plateaued at 211 lbs for a year. I briefly hit 206 a year ago. I kept telling myself that if I just work hard enough, try hard enough, that it will happen. Well, that has turned out to be BS! And I've made myself miserable just trying to get back to 211 lbs! Finally, this summer I asked my doc what I could do and she reluctantly suggested phentermine. I lost 9 lbs in 6 weeks but my blood pressure skyrocketed to 190/98!!I got off it, but now my blood pressure seems to be permanently elevated no matter what exercise or eating plan I do. I was prescribed blood pressure medicine and My A1C is always borderline at around 5.7.
I love exercise! But now the weight is affecting my knees and ankles and I can only run twice a week MAX because of the joint strain. And the fat is shifting! I looked better three years ago at 220 than I do now and the irony is that I exercise more now than I did then! HELLO 40!!
My doc said that after 40, your body stops making estrogen and stores the last of it in your fat cells, so it's very reluctant to let the fat cell go. I AM SO OVER IT!!!! I never thought I would resort to anything this drastic! I LOVE cooking, I love eating! But I can't stand this slow decline no matter what I do. I am losing this battle and I am determined to make the sleeve the atom bomb that wins the war.
Over the holidays, I visited my mother. She is a type 2 diabetic and also has wild fluctuations of weight every few years. She's 65. I asked her how she felt (she's put on about 50 lbs this year) and she said she felt horrible. And that's when it hit me: Like my mother, I will never be at peace with being this overweight. I just kind of assumed that at some point as you age, you stop caring and focus on inner beauty LOL! But at that moment I realized what BS that is. I'm VAIN as hell and dammit, I AIN"T GOIN' OUT LIKE THIS!!!
Let me also just say that my biggest fear is getting TOO THIN. I love being thick and sexy! If I could just get to the 190s and maintain it with no health issues, I'd honestly be happy. But I've tried and I can't do it. So sleeve, here I come. My consult is this coming Wed, on Feb 10th. No food funeral for me! Did 100 squats today, 100 bridge lifts, 50 lunges, crunches and leg lifts...When this fat melts off, we will finally see this sexy azz I've been working on for a year. I've been pinning bikinis to my pinterest board for this summer.
Glad to be here!!
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