Shannon45

My name is Shannon and I am 45 years old and live in the beautiful state of Oregon.  I am a wife, a mother, and a grandmother and have a wonderful life that I love! I feel like I'm a "young" 45 and don't have time to be unhealthy.  I am very active with my family but have had to slow down the last couple of years, which I hated.   I was always the "chubby" kid and have had severe asthma my whole life but the turning point was when I was 22 and pregnant with my second child.  My asthma was out of control and I literally almost died more than once.  It was a scary time in my life and after she was born, my asthma did not improve.  I was on many medications at high doses, including Prednisone.  That drug literally saved my life and ruined it at the same time.  I had to take such high doses of the steroid for such long periods of time, I gained sooooo much weight and developed PCOS.  At that point any weight loss/health improving efforts I put out, were met with minor success then acute and rapid regaining of the weight once I got down to a certain weight.  It was like my body was clinging for life to the fatter me!  Of course, I wasn't making perfect choices with food all the time, but it is so hard to fight being hungry ALL THE TIME!  
 
I was finally able to begin the process for WLS last September (my insurance finally added the benefit to our plan).  For safety and insurance requirements I had to lose 18 pounds prior to surgery. My nutritionist set me up on My Fitness Pal and I loved it! I did so well, I lost 30 pounds before surgery (I'm super proud of this!).  I finally had RNY on November 25, 2014 and as of today am 20 days post surgery.  I am feeling great with the exception of being so tired of the protein drinks (3 weeks of liquid only), and slowly gaining my energy back.  At this point I had more energy pre-op but anticipate that will change as I progress and heal.  
 
I am so grateful a friend of mine told me about this forum because in the 2 days I've been reading and responding to posts, I've learned so much from the experiences of others!  I am so excited to get on with my NEW LIFE and have more experiences that will enrich my life even more.