Bubs
11-04-2008, 08:43 PM
The Beginning
I was always big, even as a new born baby I apparently drank twice as much milk as other babies. As a kid I remember sneaking into the cupboard to steal a biscuit here and there when mum wasn’t around. This was the starting point of my love, and battle, with food. As a young kid I never really liked sports too much, I’d much rather do drama classes, or art, team sports just didn’t appeal to me. The few I tried my hand at I wasn’t very good at, which usually ended in me giving up.
At high school I hung out with the popular group, I had lots of friends and a great social life, I was always the fun girl, but never anyone’s girlfriend. At the end of high school I was probably an size 18 or 20.
After Highschool I met my current bf (online) and moved down to live with him and his family. During this time I put on lots of weight, and I put it on fast. I was used to eating smaller portions as my mum would always cook and dish up our meals at home. This new way of eating was fantastic, I just picked what I wanted, and how much I wanted, quite frequently having seconds as there was always more than enough.
My BF was also a big fan of takeaways, and me being someone who didn’t eat takeaways too often before I adopted this way of living, despite my growing waist! Around a year later, I then went from a active job where I was lifting things and on my feet all day, to a sedentary office job, and I also quit smoking, so My activity went down and my eating went up some more.
My Growing Girth
The new place I started working at catered for lots of meetings, quite often putting on full course meals for lunches, all staff being present. So, my choice in food was getting worse, as well as my portion control, or rather lack of it.
My partner was also extremely overweight and his family were pushing for him to get lapband surgery as he also had bad health issues. He decided to do this, and was banded Feb 2007. I thought with my partners eating habits getting better this would now prompt me make better choices and eat smaller amounts. This turned out not to be the case, I still could eat, and craved to consume, the same quantities I had always eaten. My weight still continued to climb.
I might also add I ventured into various diets as my weight increased, losing some, and gaining more back, as a lot of them were quite unsustainable.
At the end of 2007 I hit my all time high, at the weight of 159kg, at the age of 24 - Wearing clothes in sizes higher than my age. I decided to start dieting seriously to lose some weight, and got down to 147kg in May 08, put a few kilos back and finally resigned to the fact that quite possibly my only chance at doing this might involve a lapband operation.
I put this idea to my mother in law who had been contemplating it and she decided to do it with me.
At my pre-op consultation I weighed 145kg, but had to get down to 136kg as that was the capacity for the table. In just under four weeks, aided by dieting, and a 2 week pre-op liquid diet, and an hour of swimming every day, I managed to get down to 133.5kg. I was amazed at my will power and determination, but I guess I wanted it bad enough to let nothing get in my way. I did question myself, wondering why I could lose weight like that now, when I couldn’t before. I don’t have an answer other than, it needed to be done. I sacrificed my social life, my birthday, everything, for a month, all for the promise of long term weight loss with the lapband.
The Lapband
On 3rd sept ’08 my mother in law and I were operated on in Auckland by Dr Robert Fris. My recovery was relatively straightforward, and continues to be so.
I had one fill on 1st oct of 1cc, and the doctor had already put 4cc in the band when he operated on me.
I’m due for my second fill 12th Nov. I still fight with myself about food choices, I have made bad choices and eaten unhealthy foods now and then, and I feel bad after that I have done such a stupid thing to sabotage my weight loss, but afterwards I think to myself, I’m still getting on the right track to changing my habits, they won’t change all at once, and at least I’m not eating the same quantities as before. I’m more active now, swimming as much as I can and I aim to do a duathlon in April 09.
Currently I haven’t found any foods that give me trouble, I’m eating sensible portion sizes, and on the whole good natural food choices, as I generally cook at home. I haven’t pushed the band and I'm hoping I don't in the future either. The strangest thing is you don’t get the same ‘full’ sensation you used to. I’m unsure if this is because what I thought was full was actually over full, and what I now feel is satiety, which is my new full? Haha, I don’t know, I wonder a lot, everything’s all so new, and while I have my bf and mother in law along for the ride, we share the same things, but we’re all so different too.
Now
I love being a member here, there is a wealth of knowledge and experiences that have been invaluable to me over the last two months, I hope to be able to provide the same to others as my journey continues. Seeing the stories of people here, reading their successes and struggles inspires me and makes me feel excited about my life to come. Not only seeing the aesthetic changes in people, but reading about how this improved their lives, feelings
I was always big, even as a new born baby I apparently drank twice as much milk as other babies. As a kid I remember sneaking into the cupboard to steal a biscuit here and there when mum wasn’t around. This was the starting point of my love, and battle, with food. As a young kid I never really liked sports too much, I’d much rather do drama classes, or art, team sports just didn’t appeal to me. The few I tried my hand at I wasn’t very good at, which usually ended in me giving up.
At high school I hung out with the popular group, I had lots of friends and a great social life, I was always the fun girl, but never anyone’s girlfriend. At the end of high school I was probably an size 18 or 20.
After Highschool I met my current bf (online) and moved down to live with him and his family. During this time I put on lots of weight, and I put it on fast. I was used to eating smaller portions as my mum would always cook and dish up our meals at home. This new way of eating was fantastic, I just picked what I wanted, and how much I wanted, quite frequently having seconds as there was always more than enough.
My BF was also a big fan of takeaways, and me being someone who didn’t eat takeaways too often before I adopted this way of living, despite my growing waist! Around a year later, I then went from a active job where I was lifting things and on my feet all day, to a sedentary office job, and I also quit smoking, so My activity went down and my eating went up some more.
My Growing Girth
The new place I started working at catered for lots of meetings, quite often putting on full course meals for lunches, all staff being present. So, my choice in food was getting worse, as well as my portion control, or rather lack of it.
My partner was also extremely overweight and his family were pushing for him to get lapband surgery as he also had bad health issues. He decided to do this, and was banded Feb 2007. I thought with my partners eating habits getting better this would now prompt me make better choices and eat smaller amounts. This turned out not to be the case, I still could eat, and craved to consume, the same quantities I had always eaten. My weight still continued to climb.
I might also add I ventured into various diets as my weight increased, losing some, and gaining more back, as a lot of them were quite unsustainable.
At the end of 2007 I hit my all time high, at the weight of 159kg, at the age of 24 - Wearing clothes in sizes higher than my age. I decided to start dieting seriously to lose some weight, and got down to 147kg in May 08, put a few kilos back and finally resigned to the fact that quite possibly my only chance at doing this might involve a lapband operation.
I put this idea to my mother in law who had been contemplating it and she decided to do it with me.
At my pre-op consultation I weighed 145kg, but had to get down to 136kg as that was the capacity for the table. In just under four weeks, aided by dieting, and a 2 week pre-op liquid diet, and an hour of swimming every day, I managed to get down to 133.5kg. I was amazed at my will power and determination, but I guess I wanted it bad enough to let nothing get in my way. I did question myself, wondering why I could lose weight like that now, when I couldn’t before. I don’t have an answer other than, it needed to be done. I sacrificed my social life, my birthday, everything, for a month, all for the promise of long term weight loss with the lapband.
The Lapband
On 3rd sept ’08 my mother in law and I were operated on in Auckland by Dr Robert Fris. My recovery was relatively straightforward, and continues to be so.
I had one fill on 1st oct of 1cc, and the doctor had already put 4cc in the band when he operated on me.
I’m due for my second fill 12th Nov. I still fight with myself about food choices, I have made bad choices and eaten unhealthy foods now and then, and I feel bad after that I have done such a stupid thing to sabotage my weight loss, but afterwards I think to myself, I’m still getting on the right track to changing my habits, they won’t change all at once, and at least I’m not eating the same quantities as before. I’m more active now, swimming as much as I can and I aim to do a duathlon in April 09.
Currently I haven’t found any foods that give me trouble, I’m eating sensible portion sizes, and on the whole good natural food choices, as I generally cook at home. I haven’t pushed the band and I'm hoping I don't in the future either. The strangest thing is you don’t get the same ‘full’ sensation you used to. I’m unsure if this is because what I thought was full was actually over full, and what I now feel is satiety, which is my new full? Haha, I don’t know, I wonder a lot, everything’s all so new, and while I have my bf and mother in law along for the ride, we share the same things, but we’re all so different too.
Now
I love being a member here, there is a wealth of knowledge and experiences that have been invaluable to me over the last two months, I hope to be able to provide the same to others as my journey continues. Seeing the stories of people here, reading their successes and struggles inspires me and makes me feel excited about my life to come. Not only seeing the aesthetic changes in people, but reading about how this improved their lives, feelings