I knew I needed to lose weight. When I started with The Biggest Loser Bootcamp, I weighed in at 522 lbs., having just lost my cousin, it scared me (and my family) to think that I could be the next to go too soon. THAT was my motivation for starting this journey. I didn't want to die young. I want to live a long, full life, with kids and grand kids. Traveling. Making memories. Owning our own home. Growing old and wrinkly with Bryan. That's what I wanted, and I would do anything to get what I wanted. So, I did the online bootcamp. 16 weeks. It was hard, harder than I thought it would be. I have back issues, and all of that weight did not help. Dieting only gets you so far, you HAVE to exercise with the diet, otherwise you're not really fixing anything. Well, my exercise started small, really small. At the time we lived on the second floor of an apartment complex. So I started with walking my dog down the stairs and to the corner of the building. Over the next 16 weeks, I got to where I was walking almost the whole complex - to give you a reference there were 25 apartment buildings, I walked by 95% of them. I didn't do so much weight lifting, most of what I did was cardio, but hey, at least I was doing SOMETHING.
Right around the year anniversary of Shelbi passing away - October (2014) - I really decided to look into weight loss surgery. I was losing weight - I didn't log my weight like I should've so I don't know how much I'd lost at this point - but for me, it wasn't fast enough, and I kept having slip-ups. I knew I wouldn't be able to do it on my own for much longer without some help. So, I started researching. I researched and researched and researched. It took me about 7 months to decide which procedure I wanted. I knew I didn't want just the sleeve - it wouldn't give me the maximum benefit I needed. I also knew I didn't want the lap band - I didn't want to have to worry about going in to get it adjusted, or have the complication of it slipping out of place. So my two options were Gastric Bypass or the Duodenal Switch. I compared them, for months, until I decided on the DS. I knew, for me, this would give me the maximum benefit.
At this point it was April 2015, and I knew I wanted to have the surgery soon. So I turned in all of the paperwork to the Dr.'s office, and they informed me I needed to have a 6 month program with a registered dietitian for the insurance to cover it. At my first appointment, May 2015, I weighed 423 lbs., so about a 100 lb loss from when I had started the previous February. I was ecstatic that I had gone that far by myself, just by watching what I ate and exercising. It gave me even more motivation to keep moving, and to keep going. From the beginning of May to the end of October - 2 days before surgery - I lost 26 lbs. The Monday before surgery I weighed in at 397 lbs. I was finally in the 300's. I hadn't been there since Bryan and I had gotten married, I was so happy.
Sunday will mark 4 months since surgery. I weigh every Wednesday, today I weighed in at 301 lbs. I've lost 221 lbs in exactly 2 years, and 96 lbs since surgery. That is INSANE! I cannot describe the feeling I have. I'm so proud of myself! I cannot wait until I'm finally back in the 200's. It will have been about 6 years since I've seen a 2 as the beginning number of my weight. I went through my closet last weekend and went from my closet being almost too full to pretty much empty, but I don't want to go clothes shopping yet. Definitely where I'll be out of the new clothes within a month or two, such a waste of money. So I'll just go with what I have until they get way too big, then I'll go to a thrift store and buy some few things to hold me over. I probably won't buy a brand new wardrobe until I'm finally to my goal weight. That'll be my present to myself. Haha.
When I look back on my old self, I just feel sorry for her. I feel sorry for the pain she endured. The embarrassment she had. The feeling of not being wanted by people. The feeling of wanting to just stay home so people wouldn't stare, or worse make comments. Looking at my future self, I'm EXCITED! I can't wait to get there! Having kids. Being healthy. Going hiking. Going running. Going to the fair, and Lagoon. Riding rides for the first time in over 7 years, and not having the fear of being too big for them. It's going to be an exciting next few months. I'm not going to just "hang on for the ride" I'm going to enjoy it!
Here are a few pictures of me through the journey:
December 2013
July 2014
March 2015
Oct 27, 2015 - The night before surgery
The most recent picture I have. Taken Feb 13, 2016
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