Hello!

I am J and I am a 27 year old woman from Philadelphia, PA. I just got banded on Feb 17th, and am still adjusting to the fact that it has happened and this is real (For example, last night I had a nightmare that I missed my operation because I had to pee..I just can't grasp that it is done!)

By day, I am a history teacher to amazing young high school students in North Philadelphia. My passion is urban education and using knowledge as a tool for social justice and empowerment. I am a far leaning leftie, and while I hope my students grow up to be critical thinking radicals, I do try to offer them many perspectives to everything we learn about.

By night I am in a veryyyyy silly band which with 10 women who dress up and play music at shows, fundraisers, and events. We are a great time, and I play the keys.

I have always been heavy and told that I have a beautiful face. To this day, hearing that I am beautiful is hard because I always feel like what the person is saying is...you are beautiful, now if you could just loose some weight. I am the oldest of 5, an emotional eater, and have struggled with an eating disorder for more than half of my life.

Luckily for me, I have an amazing partner who is very supportive (she found me this link hahaha)

I am excited to learn how to love my body, and not carry it around like a shame I can't shake.

I have a blog: http://roadtodescent.blogspot.com/ if anyone cares to follow me. I could really use support, since this is harder than I imagined it would be...

Take care, j

Welcome to the site! I just joined and was banded on 2/17 as well. Hope you're doing well today and starting to feel better. --carrie

Welcome! Best of luck on your lap-band journey!