DashOfPixieDust8 just triggered off a memory for me, so I thought I'd start a new thread. When did your weight problems really start? Were you a toddler? In your youth? A teen? Maybe later in adulthood?

I was so terribly shy and self conscious as a pre-teen. Suddenly I am remembering those days. As my body was developing, I was so embarrassed that I would wear jackets to school to hide my chest. Everything about becoming a young woman horrified and terrified me. I was thin, but I was so shy and awkward that I hated and was embarrassed by any attention. I have one memory in particular that stands out. I was riding the bus home from school, age 14. A boy I had a crush on started talking to me, and he was laughing along with his friends. I assumed that he was laughing AT me, and that I was the butt of their joke. I turned away to look out the window and my shyness made them react negatively, and they started actually teasing me. In hindsight, the boy was being friendly and trying to get me to join in on their fun. This kind of thought process of mine lasted probably a decade. Within that decade my mind and body decided to begin to "protect" me, and I proceeded to comfort myself by eating compulsively and way too much. I knew food would not judge me so it became the friend I chose. As I started to gain weight, the attention to me went away, and I pretty much became invisible. I think this is what I wanted without even realizing it at the time.

As the years went by, being overweight became not only normal but increased constantly. I went from overweight in my 20s to morbidly obese in my 40s. But something in my mind clicked the past couple of years. I became so tired of hiding. I realized after so many years that this costume of fat was killing me physically and mentally. I was determined to find a way to shed the weight, and that is when I chose surgery. With that much weight, diets failed me miserably.

Being at a "normal" weight now, I feel freed. Not only from the weight, but from my fears. I suppose having a family and a wonderful husband has allowed me to grow up and know that there is nothing to hide from. I love that I feel happy and confidant in the world now. I haven't felt like this since I was 10 years old. Feeling liker a kid again.

Sorry for such a long story. Would love to hear yours!

Birth :-)

Weight has always been a struggle for me. I was the fat kid, the fat teenager, the fun fat guy in college, etc., etc., etc. I actually remember being on a self-inflicted diet as a tenth grader in high school, but my first significant weight loss (100 pounds) came as a junior in college when my parents and I did Phen-Fen. I got down to 175 and stayed there (as in below 200 pounds) for about a year.

I am now in unchartered territory as I have only weighed less than I now do during that one small window at age 21. I feel great, and that is the best part of it all (although the "fringe" benefits are certainly nothing to laugh at...). I am so thankful for this journey, for my sleeve, and my new lease on life!!

4 pounds until "normal" BMI and 8 pounds until goal. (But I have been away for a week and not weighed, so I may have lost another pound. We'll see in the morning!) Not bad for a guy who weighed 400 pounds 16 months ago!

22 minutes ago, blizair09 said:

Birth :-)

Weight has always been a struggle for me. I was the fat kid, the fat teenager, the fun fat guy in college, etc., etc., etc. I actually remember being on a self-inflicted diet as a tenth grader in high school, but my first significant weight loss (100 pounds) came as a junior in college when my parents and I did Phen-Fen. I got down to 175 and stayed there (as in below 200 pounds) for about a year.

I am now in unchartered territory as I have only weighed less than I now do during that one small window at age 21. I feel great, and that is the best part of it all (although the "fringe" benefits are certainly nothing to laugh at...). I am so thankful for this journey, for my sleeve, and my new lease on life!!

4 pounds until "normal" BMI and 8 pounds until goal. (But I have been away for a week and not weighed, so I may have lost another pound. We'll see in the morning!) Not bad for a guy who weighed 400 pounds 16 months ago!

Thanks for chiming in! I always love hearing from you! Your story is truly compelling. Time to celebrate. You are soooo close to your ultimate goal!

WARNING...this is lengthy. Proceed if you wish.

My weight issues began a few years before puberty. I had my menstrual cycle at age 11, but the onset of puberty for girls is 1.5 to 2 years before the first menstruation.

I was a slightly overweight 8-year-old, but not obese. I probably weighed 15 pounds more than most other girls in class. This was partially due to the highly processed foods I ate at home (my parents didn't have a whole lot of money for high-quality groceries), and partially due to genetics. My mother was obese, and my maternal grandmother was super morbidly obese.

By age 12 I was about 4'10 and weighed 120 pounds. Again, this doesn't seem like a lot, but it was about 20 to 30 pounds heavier than other girls in class.

By age 14 I had reached my adult height of 5'1 and weighed 155 pounds. This was in 1995 when most teens weren't overweight, so I stood out in a sea of girls who weighed 30 to 40 pounds less.

I was 15 when I went on my first major diet during the summer before the 10th grade of high school. I lost 30 pounds on a diet of 800 calories daily combined with stationary bike workouts. I slowly regained the weight, and was weighing 160 pounds on the day of high school graduation.

I was 20 when I initiated the next major diet. My starting weight was 175 pounds. I lost 60 pounds through exercise and an 800-calorie-a day diet. I weighed 116 and maintained the loss for 2+ years by running 5 miles daily, but lost momentum after relocating far away from my workplace. I regained it all plus more, weighing 205 pounds by age 24.

I was 25 when I lost 17 pounds on NutriSystem, but regained it all plus more. I started NutriSystem at 205 pounds, got to 188, then regained and weighed 216 later that year.

I was 26 when I initiated the next major diet. My starting weight was 216 pounds. I lost 54 pounds through diet and exercise, attaining a weight of 162. However, I regained to 203 pounds.

I was 29 when I initiated the next major diet. My starting weight was 203 pounds. I lost 25 pounds with diet and exercise, reaching 178 pounds. Nonetheless, I regained to 197 pounds.

I was 32 when I initiated the next major diet. I started at 180 pounds when my best friend asked me to participate in her wedding as a bridesmaid. I lost 52 pounds, going from 180 to 128 pounds. I regained 97 pounds in 16 months, reaching my highest weight of 225.

I had bariatric surgery at age 34. I'm now 36 and this is the most weight-stable I've been in my life. The sleeve reset my internal set-point while I hold up my end of the bargain with a physically active lifestyle and reasonable food choices.

@Introversion

wow, thank you so much for sharing your journey. I can appreciate your ups and downs as far as weight loss with dieting and regain. You are one true testament as to why WLS works and is necessary for many of us. We now have the tool to keep it off for good. Congratulations on finding the key to your success!

I agree. Thank you for sharing.

I was a super skinny kid. Then in 4th grade I started to develop breasts. By 5th grade I had started gaining weight. I got my first period and everything changed. My weight kept going up. So for me puberty/hormones made a huge change. I developed large breasts quickly and got unwanted attention for it.
At the same time my father quit drinking and the whole family went into AA. My sister and I were really too young and I found it very stressful and uncomfortable.
So, food became what I looked forward to the most.
My mother struggled with her weight and was not a good role model for nutrition or portion sizes. She also didn't want to really bring up any concerns about my weight as she didn't want to repeat what her very critical mother said to her as a young girl.
By 8th grade I was a size 14.
By high school graduation I was a size 18
College graduation I was a 20 or 22.
Law School was a 24 and around 275.
Fast forward a decade after gaining and losing weight and gaining back even more (weight watchers, nutrisystem, back to weight watchers, Jenny Craig, and then Lindora)...I was a size 30/32 and 377 lbs when I saw my surgeon last November.

Sent from my SM-G920V using BariatricPal mobile app

5 minutes ago, travelergirl said:

So for me puberty/hormones made a huge change.

It's eerie how our weight gain trajectories and stories have striking similarities. Thank you for sharing your story!

In addition to weight gain right before the onset of puberty, I also had a father who was a problem drinker. On top of that, he was also a crack addict during my early and middle childhood years.

I used food as a distraction starting in my preteen years. My mother was obese and worked long hours at a factory, so she'd come home hungry. Her portion sizes were massive. The role-modeling for reasonable choices simply wasn't there.

I, too, received unwanted attention for my breast size in my pre-teens. I was wearing a 38C bra at age 12 when many of my classmates were still flat-chested or had smaller breasts.

To keep a long story short, I fought the battle of the bulge for 2+ decades starting in my teens. I could lose substantial weight, but could never keep it off. In fact, I'd lost 200+ pounds through yo-yo dieting in those 2 decades (lose 30, regain 60, lose 50, regain 90, etc).

Bariatric surgery was/is my last hope for keeping the weight off.

I was a thin little kid who became plump around 11, but learned to severely restrict my food in high school and was a normal weight. I always liked to be active, played sports and so on. In her 20s and 30s my mother was very slim and was really beautiful, but struggled with mental health issues and would binge eat so that by the time I was in junior high she was obese. My father has been overweight all his life. Genetics began to get me in my 30s and after I had my last child I was clinically obese. I developed insulin resistance and could no longer lose much, no more than 5 lbs. I developed HBP and has joint pain...and although I guess I was a fairly active fat person my BP got so bad it could not be controlled well. My doctor told me I would have a stroke and/ or a heart attack if I continued down that path. He told me that the single best thing I could do was to lose weight. I am over a year out from surgery and am so thankful for my new life.

I remember stepping on the scale when I was 8 and it read 105lbs. (average is 58lbs.) I thought wouldn't it be great if it could stay there until I was a teenager.

When I was 14, it read 178lbs.

17 years old, 215lbs.

My 20s saw my weight bounce between 145lbs and 305lbs. My 30's saw it hold steady between 280 and 305.

At 38 years old I had high blood pressure and prediabetes. Enough was enough. Surgery time!

I developed early (I got my period at 8 and I had to get a breast reduction at 13), so I was always slightly bigger than kids my age. I started getting debilitating back pain at 10 because of my large breasts and I was no longer active.

The weight started piling on fast. By age 11, I tipped the scale at 200 pounds. By 12, it seemed like I put on 20 pounds over night and I was diagnosed with diabetes.

I had further weight issues and health problems as I got older. I finally got my bypass last December, a month before my 25th birthday.

Sent from my SM-N920P using BariatricPal mobile app

On 8/10/2017 at 9:03 PM, triplethreat said:

I was a thin little kid who became plump around 11, but learned to severely restrict my food in high school and was a normal weight. I always liked to be active, played sports and so on. In her 20s and 30s my mother was very slim and was really beautiful, but struggled with mental health issues and would binge eat so that by the time I was in junior high she was obese. My father has been overweight all his life. Genetics began to get me in my 30s and after I had my last child I was clinically obese. I developed insulin resistance and could no longer lose much, no more than 5 lbs. I developed HBP and has joint pain...and although I guess I was a fairly active fat person my BP got so bad it could not be controlled well. My doctor told me I would have a stroke and/ or a heart attack if I continued down that path. He told me that the single best thing I could do was to lose weight. I am over a year out from surgery and am so thankful for my new life.

I'm glad you brought up the family issues and their weight. It was always puzzling to me because my mom is and always has been "average" size (5'5 and about 150-160 lbs). My dad is super active and super healthy- always fit, from the time I can remember and still is at age 78. My extended family is always really fit. So, I was the outlier, as is my brother. The two if us were the only ones in our whole extended family to struggle with obesity. My brother had a heart attack at age 45. I finally had my surgery at age 47. I now look and feel like the rest of my family which I am so thankful for. I worry about my brother. I often wonder why my brother and I both got really fat and no-one else did. We didn't have bad eating lifestyles as kids, but I do think we both started to over eat and binge to deal with feelings as teens and young adults.

This is long and possibly triggering so you don't have to read it all but this is my story....

I was sexually abused by a neighbor when I was 5. That was when I started emotionally eating and packing on the pounds. It was also when my depression started. I was suicidal at 6 years old. My parents were thin their entire lives but also started putting on weight around this time. I think we all dealt with it in a negative way.

I was always much heavier than my classmates. At age 10 I was already wearing an adult size 14/16. I am and always was the tallest in my class. At least until the boys started growing. I am now a little over 5'10.

I struggled with depression and bipolar my entire childhood and adolescence. I even got so bad I tried to runaway at 15 and I also tried to kill myself when I was 16. My weight was a big factor in that but I never had the strength to change it.

When I graduated high school I was wearing a size 22/24 or 26/28. I tried so many diets over the years. I did medically supervised, liquid, jenny craig, weight watchers, south beach, atkins, I even went to the weight loss center at Duke when I was 18 years old and lost 30 pounds but then gained it all back when I got back.

In 2007, age 21, I went for a consultation to get lapband surgery weighing in at 380 pounds. I had to do 6 months of a supervised diet and had the surgery in 2008. The lowest weight I got to after surgery was 280 pounds.

I started having complications with the lapband and everything made me throw up. They loosened the restriction completely and my weight kept piling on. By 2012 my weight was up to 480 pounds. They then removed the lapband because of the issues.

Over the years my weight stayed around 480 until I started gaining again.

The scary thing is I was okay with being overweight. I saw no issue in it.

My breaking point was in October of 2015 I went to the hospital with chest pains at 28 years old. They kept me for a few days because my oxygen was low. The doctor wanted to get a cat scan and the radiologist didn't even want to do it because I was over the weight limit. I had told them I weighed 480 pounds because that's what I thought I weighed, I hadn't gotten on a scale for many years.

It suddenly hit me that I was getting so heavy that doctor's couldn't even treat me. My doctor had to fight and push for them to preform the cat scan. I ended up having to go on portable oxygen 24/7 because at that point I was so overweight the fat was pressing against my lungs and restricting my breathing. I realized if I didn't do something drastic about my weight I was going to die, probably before I hit 30 years old.

The day I was released from the hospital is the day I called the bariatric surgeon.

On my first visit I got on the scale and saw the number 540. That shocked me. I weighed a quarter of a ton. That hit me hard.

I had 6 months of a medically supervised diet and had to lose at least 40 pounds before surgery because my surgeon doesn't even operate on people weighing over 500 pounds.

In the 6 month supervised diet I was able to lose 60 pounds.

I had surgery on May 29, 2016 at 480 pounds.

I did have complications after surgery for 6 months but I would go through all of that again in a second to do this surgery again.

Today I weigh 245 pounds. I wear a size 14/16 pant and size 12 top. When I started this in October of 2015 I wore a stretched out 6x.

I have not been this size since I was 10 years old. I NEVER thought I would ever succeed at this. I NEVER though I would EVER be able to buy from the nonplus side. I feel like my life is a dream every day.

I am so thankful for this surgery. I am so thankful for my team of doctors. And I am so thankful I finally woke up and saw that I was killing myself with food.

I definitely still struggle, and I know it will be a lifelong struggle, but I am stronger emotionally and physically than ever before.

I am finally able to actually live my life. I have a boyfriend who is amazingly sweet, funny and super hot. I am almost done my degree and I am able to go out with friends and even walk faster and longer than most of them now when before I could hardly walk 6 steps without having to stop.

People call me an inspiration and honestly I don't feel like an inspiration, I feel like a warning story. My life until now is what you aren't supposed to do. All of us are here to change our lives for the better. I'm just glad I had my "aha" moment before it was too late.

43 minutes ago, Dashofpixiedust8 said:

This is long and possibly triggering so you don't have to read it all but this is my story....

I was sexually abused by a neighbor when I was 5. That was when I started emotionally eating and packing on the pounds. It was also when my depression started. I was suicidal at 6 years old. My parents were thin their entire lives but also started putting on weight around this time. I think we all dealt with it in a negative way.

I was always much heavier than my classmates. At age 10 I was already wearing an adult size 14/16. I am and always was the tallest in my class. At least until the boys started growing. I am now a little over 5'10.

I struggled with depression and bipolar my entire childhood and adolescence. I even got so bad I tried to runaway at 15 and I also tried to kill myself when I was 16. My weight was a big factor in that but I never had the strength to change it.

When I graduated high school I was wearing a size 22/24 or 26/28. I tried so many diets over the years. I did medically supervised, liquid, jenny craig, weight watchers, south beach, atkins, I even went to the weight loss center at Duke when I was 18 years old and lost 30 pounds but then gained it all back when I got back.

In 2007, age 21, I went for a consultation to get lapband surgery weighing in at 380 pounds. I had to do 6 months of a supervised diet and had the surgery in 2008. The lowest weight I got to after surgery was 280 pounds.

I started having complications with the lapband and everything made me throw up. They loosened the restriction completely and my weight kept piling on. By 2012 my weight was up to 480 pounds. They then removed the lapband because of the issues.

Over the years my weight stayed around 480 until I started gaining again.

The scary thing is I was okay with being overweight. I saw no issue in it.

My breaking point was in October of 2015 I went to the hospital with chest pains at 28 years old. They kept me for a few days because my oxygen was low. The doctor wanted to get a cat scan and the radiologist didn't even want to do it because I was over the weight limit. I had told them I weighed 480 pounds because that's what I thought I weighed, I hadn't gotten on a scale for many years.

It suddenly hit me that I was getting so heavy that doctor's couldn't even treat me. My doctor had to fight and push for them to preform the cat scan. I ended up having to go on portable oxygen 24/7 because at that point I was so overweight the fat was pressing against my lungs and restricting my breathing. I realized if I didn't do something drastic about my weight I was going to die, probably before I hit 30 years old.

The day I was released from the hospital is the day I called the bariatric surgeon.

On my first visit I got on the scale and saw the number 540. That shocked me. I weighed a quarter of a ton. That hit me hard.

I had 6 months of a medically supervised diet and had to lose at least 40 pounds before surgery because my surgeon doesn't even operate on people weighing over 500 pounds.

In the 6 month supervised diet I was able to lose 60 pounds.

I had surgery on May 29, 2016 at 480 pounds.

I did have complications after surgery for 6 months but I would go through all of that again in a second to do this surgery again.

Today I weigh 245 pounds. I wear a size 14/16 pant and size 12 top. When I started this in October of 2015 I wore a stretched out 6x.

I have not been this size since I was 10 years old. I NEVER thought I would ever succeed at this. I NEVER though I would EVER be able to buy from the nonplus side. I feel like my life is a dream every day.

I am so thankful for this surgery. I am so thankful for my team of doctors. And I am so thankful I finally woke up and saw that I was killing myself with food.

I definitely still struggle, and I know it will be a lifelong struggle, but I am stronger emotionally and physically than ever before.

I am finally able to actually live my life. I have a boyfriend who is amazingly sweet, funny and super hot. I am almost done my degree and I am able to go out with friends and even walk faster and longer than most of them now when before I could hardly walk 6 steps without having to stop.

People call me an inspiration and honestly I don't feel like an inspiration, I feel like a warning story. My life until now is what you aren't supposed to do. All of us are here to change our lives for the better. I'm just glad I had my "aha" moment before it was too late.

I'm so glad you shared your story. You've been a great inspiration even though you prefer to be called a warning! I have seen your progress and you just wow me. Your early history is heartbreaking and its so awesome to see you come through it all and finally be healthy and happy. And so beautiful!!

@Dashofpixiedust8, thank you for sharing your story. It needs to be told, and people need to hear it. And girl, you are an inspiration. I am proud of you and for you, and I know you feel the same way.

Congratulations, and keep it up! You deserve the best in life.

Pixie, thanks for sharing. You are AHmazing!

5 hours ago, Dashofpixiedust8 said:

This is long and possibly triggering so you don't have to read it all but this is my story....

Wow...thank you for sharing your story. It was thought-provoking and deep. You have overcome multiple hurdles to live the type of life that is worth living. Thumbs up to you...