Age: 0

Height: 0'0

Starting Weight: 0 lbs.

BMI: 0

Current Weight: 0 lbs.

Goal Weight: 0 lbs.

I've always been a little bit overweight growing up. As I grew into an adult and had children the weight just kept coming on. I would go on diets and lose maybe 10-15 pounds before getting frustrated and giving up. I had my high school reunion last summer and thought 'this time I'll really lose weight'.. as always I tried and failed. I went to my reunion and had a great time, but felt like such a fat cow. I knew after that event that I needed help. I fooled myself into thinking I wouldn't qualify for  WLS... but in reality, when I finally got the courage to attend a seminar, I found out  with a BMI of 38, that I did in fact qualify. I found out my insurance would cover Lap band, so I decided to go for it. I went through all the testing and then when it came time to schedule my surgery, I panicked. Surgery? A band around my stomach.. FOREVER?  Did I really need that?  Noo.. ofcourse not I told myself. So I took the summer off to try ONE MORE TIME to lose weight on my own. I joined a gym.  Well guess what?  That darn weight still didn't fall off me.. so on August 15th I started my pre-op diet ( 2 weeks of Optifast). And I lost 11 pounds.  I had my surgery on September 4th, 2008.  The band was what I needed. I'm a slow loser.. I still make poor food choices sometimes, but the band has given me the control I needed. If I mess up and eat something fattening, I can only eat a little bit of it. I cannot do NEARLY as much damage as I could in life before band. Getting 'stuck' really hurts. And yes.. there are times as I'm standing over the toilet sliming and I wonder WHY did I do this to myself, but then I look at my body in the mirror and smile. Hey.. where is the fat chick? I will always remember her, but I hope she is gone forever!