About me...

As I wrote the post about why I created this blog, I thought I also needed to write a post about me, my bariatric surgery, and my continued journey to be healthy.

Let's start from the beginning. I wasn't always fat. I look back at pictures of myself as a young child and wonder where it all came from. How did I go from this thin active young girl to a 300lb, 29 year old who wondered if she's be dead before 50? Now, I could tell you all about how I was picked on by other kids, how we moved every 2 years  and so I never really made friends, and that would be true, but at the heart of it the problem is in my brain. When confronted with stress, I ate. I hid in my room and read fiction, and I ate. With years of inactivity and poor food choices, at age 14 and a freshman in High School I was wearing a Woman's size 18. At the time of my surgery, I had been diagnosed with sleep apnea, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity. I could exercise, I could eat right, and there were years where I did, and I would lose weight, but I would then regain it and more because of my brain and unhealthy habits.

With the help of my Dr, I chose RNY and had the surgery in July of 2007. I've lost over 125lbs and maintained most of that loss since then. I am not a Dr. I am not here to tell you how to eat, what to eat and I don't even suggest that you eat what I eat. I am currently fighting to lose about 25lbs that I have regained in the last few years. Why did I regain? A few reasons, I began to drink alcohol, I stopped consistently exercising, I let my "cast iron pouch" (I'll explain that later) eat whatever it wanted, with my brain egging it on. Surgery is not a magic bullet, while it helped me immensely - I am no longer dealing with sleep apnea, high BP or diabetes - it didn't, and can't be expected to, fix my brain.

So where am I now? I'm in the obese category on BMI charts (Which I think are a crock of s#!t.) and while I'm working to lose some weight, I feel healthy. I can walk a 5k, I can climb a flight of stairs without being winded. I can do a 30 min yoga routine without needing to take breaks, I can rollerskate with my boyfriend for an hour at a time and I can eat healthy, yummy, sometimes trashy, foods. I'm writing this blog to help me think about the importance of the quality of food I eat. How is quality food trashy? Keep reading, you'll see!