I thought this might offer some insight to how we all became overweight in the first place and will hopefully be sort of cathartic to tell our story.

Here's a synopsis of mine: I was "normal" weight (118 lbs) my whole life till I entered into a 5 year mentally abusive relationship when I was 30, I am now 47. I say it was mentally abusive because he always wanted me to be thinner, monitored my food and constantly compared me to other women that were smaller than me. I began dropping weight till I was hovering around 100 lbs and people were constantly asking me if I was sick. Granted, I was a mental wreck at that time and had major counseling over why I would let someone treat me that way. Over the next 12 years, I set about eating what I damn well pleased to pay that a**hole back for the torture he put me thru. Showed him, didn't I....LOL!! I am now happily married to an extremely kind and good man who has loved me thru thick and thin, or more precisely thru thin and thick. He never uttered a word about the fact that I went from overweight to obese to morbidly obese in the 11 years that we have been married. It was 100% my choice to take control of my life back and get the lapband and he has been wonderfully supportive...even in that first couple of weeks after surgery when I was cranky and hungry ALL the time. It has five weeks since my surgery and I feel better, mentally and physically than I have in a very long time. Best of luck to everyone on their weight loss journey.

Life is way to short!!!

I was always of normal weight (married at 135lbs age 25) Had three children with 1st pregnacy became diabetic controlled with diet. Lost all pregancy weight with all three children. At age 40 I became type 2 diabetic. After 5 years of trying to control my sugar wih diet and exercise, I was put on meds, with each new med I was put on to control my sugar I would gain 10lbs give or take a few lbs. After 5 years and 60 lbs of weight gain I decided to get my life back and my sugar under control. I am still working on control of my sugar but, I know in time all will be right in my world. I will live to to granchildren someday. Good luck to everyone.

Great stories!

My sister was born pre-maturely and very sickly, and I followed one year and 17 days later. My sister had to be tempted to eat; my first word was "more". My mother always liked to feed people--you get the picture! I was always overweight in the day when fat babies were considered healthy. I starved in college, so managed to date. A few years later, I caught my husband having an affair, and that was the end of self control. Kind of an "I'll show you" attitude. Depression was probably more accurate. Well, I showed him, didn't I? Still married and with eyes wide open, the weight kind of just stayed on, and slowly grew over the years. Quitting smoking added about 30 more pounds. I was always a little afraid of the radical changes the bypass did to people, so very glad when the Band came along. No regrets at all!:thumbup:

Very interesting thread indeed!

Me, I was a thin ADHD child until I hit puberty. I spent my days outdoors playing and was really quite a tomboy. Then, when I hit 13, my hormones kicked in and I put on 100 lbs. over the course of 5 months without any change in diet or exercise.

At 14, I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism, Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) and an adrenal gland disorder, which combined was the cause of the 100 lb. gain. And thanks to both the PCOS and the weight, I have also recently been diagnosed as a Type 2 Diabetic.

I've tried everything to lose the weight, and despite dieting AND regular exercise (I still have ADHD and am constantly moving), my weight continued to go up. And I mean I've tried everything -- from Weight Watchers to Atkins to prescription diet pills, and the scale never budged.

My weight has had me incredibly depressed since I was 14, to the point that I attempted suicide 4 times. My highest weight was 345, which was my weight just before starting the pre-op diet. I will be thrilled if I can get down to 200.

Tara

Edited October 29, 200817 yr by tkcuvelier

Very interesting thread indeed!

I will be thrilled if I can get down to 200.

Tara

I think you mistyped this...I believe you meant to type you will be thrilled WHEN you get down to 200 lol...we've got this. Take care.

I have loved reading all of the stories. It seems there is one main theme here.....no matter what the reason was that we were overweight, we have ALL chosen to take our lives back and to no longer be victims to our demons, whatever they were. AND, we are longer victims of obesity and that is what matters most!! Great job everyone...keep up the good work.:biggrin:

In a way my story is alot like other here on this site, but in a way it may differ also. I was actually in very good shape most of my life. Up until I was 19 years old and become pregnant with my first child, I was only 125 pounds. I didn't do much to keep in shape. As a matter of fact, I worked at Hardees and would eat hamburgers and fries all evening, and of the morning when we would stop serving Breakfast, what ever was left of the cinnamon biscuits, I would eat. On a normal day i could eat atleast a dozen of them and wash it down with a milkshake and NEVER gain an ounce. I like to call those days, "the good old days". When I didn't have to worry about my weight. I never once thought I would be sitting here on a site like this with something wrapped around my stomach to help me lose weight, crap, I never thought I'd have the need to lose weight.

I got married shortly after my 19 birthday and within a month after getting married, I become pregnant with my first child. Still at 125 pounds, I never worried about gaining pregnancy weight cause I thought I would be able to lose it like most of the women in my family and the fact that my mom weighs less than 130 pounds also. While pregnant with Savanna, (my little girl) I gained up to 200 pounds. Not once did my OB/GYN tell me I was gaining to much weight. After having Savanna, I never lost the weight. My marriage wasn't the best in the world, I didn't get along with my inlaws what so ever, so I turned to food to comfort myself.

I become pregnant again at the age of 21 with my son Jerry, and ended up around 250. I tried to lose the weight but nothing I did ever seemed to work for any length of time, so, I gave up and figured I was suppose to be fat for the rest of my life. My (now) ex husband had gained alot of weight over the years so I got to were I didn't care.

My ex-husband and I split up in June of 2005 and within just a few months, I was down to right at 200 pounds. I was able to fit into button up jeans again and was starting to feel good about myself again. I met the man I am now married to in March of 06 and stayed at the right at 200 mark for a while. I got comfortable with him and gained my weight back.

(It get a little personal here, but, this is my story). After gaining alot of the weight back, I become more ashamed of my body than ever. You see, my husband is really good looking, in shape, nice body all that stuff. We got married in March of this year, and I guess you can say my breaking point on my weight was when I really realized, I wouldn't let him see me naked at all. Sex was totally out of the question unless it was totally dark, and his hands weren't aloud any futher than my breast.

Although he always told me that my weight didn't matter to him and he thought I was beautiful, I still couldn't get past it. I mean after all, if I couldn't stand to see myself naked in the mirror, how could anyone else, especially a man stand to see me that way.

After a long drawn out battle with my weight, I started checking in on the lapband. I was to scared to go for the bypass, and I had heard that besides not losing the weight as fast, the band was just as good. I wen't into the hospital on August 18 weighing in at 267 pounds.

Thoughts of myself on that very day were as follows. I am nasty, not worth a glance, I was ashamed that I could let myself get to the point that I had to have an operation to help me lose weight.

I made my goals 2 days before my surgery. They were small goals, but goals that I swore I would make it to by next year, hopefully even sooner. Savanna is a cheerleader and has always wanted me to be a coach but I was to embarrassed to do it, so one of my goals was that next football season, I was going to ask to help coach her squad and not be wondering if anyone was sitting there laughing at me because my stomach hang down lower. I am going to be able to get outside and my with my kids and not have to sit down cause I got out of breath within the first couple of minutes of being out there with them. I am going to be able to take my clothes off in broad daylight and let my husband see me. Although I have already passed that goal due to the fact I demaned to take a shower the same day I had my surgery and he was the only one I would let in the bathroom with me and he had to wash me. I was so drugged up I didn't care at the moment, all I knew is I wanted a shower and I was going to get one...lol. I was 1 goal that I want to make before the end of this year, that goal is, you know those cute little nighties that come out during Christmas time, the red see through ones with the white trim and red string with the white bally thing at the end. I want to be able to get into one of those by Christmas and not be scared of how I look. Those are my goals.

It is now 2 months and 12 days after my surgery. I haven't done as well as I hoped and not as well as other on this site has done. But I have lost 22 pounds, went down 1 pant size, and the sad part is, yeah I am losing weight, but my boobs are going with it to, and I hate that.

So, to anyone out there who is reading my story and hasn't had this surgery done, my advise to you is this. This is a life changing that you are going to do. It not magical and not by any means is it easy. But, it is something that will change your life but only if you help it chance you life.

<a href="http://www.3fatchicks.com/"><img src="http://www.3fatchicks.net/img/heartbar/fireworks01/lb/267/150/242/.png" border="0"></a>

"to get what you want, sometimes you have to do what you have never done before"

In a way my story is alot like other here on this site, but in a way it may differ also. I was actually in very good shape most of my life. Up until I was 19 years old and become pregnant with my first child, I was only 125 pounds. I didn't do much to keep in shape. As a matter of fact, I worked at Hardees and would eat hamburgers and fries all evening, and of the morning when we would stop serving breakfast, what ever was left of the cinnamon biscuits, I would eat. On a normal day i could eat atleast a dozen of them and wash it down with a milkshake and NEVER gain an ounce. I like to call those days, "the good old days". When I didn't have to worry about my weight. I never once thought I would be sitting here on a site like this with something wrapped around my stomach to help me lose weight, crap, I never thought I'd have the need to lose weight.

I got married shortly after my 19 birthday and within a month after getting married, I become pregnant with my first child. Still at 125 pounds, I never worried about gaining pregnancy weight cause I thought I would be able to lose it like most of the women in my family and the fact that my mom weighs less than 130 pounds also. While pregnant with Savanna, (my little girl) I gained up to 200 pounds. Not once did my OB/GYN tell me I was gaining to much weight. After having Savanna, I never lost the weight. My marriage wasn't the best in the world, I didn't get along with my inlaws what so ever, so I turned to food to comfort myself.

I become pregnant again at the age of 21 with my son Jerry, and ended up around 250. I tried to lose the weight but nothing I did ever seemed to work for any length of time, so, I gave up and figured I was suppose to be fat for the rest of my life. My (now) ex husband had gained alot of weight over the years so I got to were I didn't care.

My ex-husband and I split up in June of 2005 and within just a few months, I was down to right at 200 pounds. I was able to fit into button up jeans again and was starting to feel good about myself again. I met the man I am now married to in March of 06 and stayed at the right at 200 mark for a while. I got comfortable with him and gained my weight back.

(It get a little personal here, but, this is my story). After gaining alot of the weight back, I become more ashamed of my body than ever. You see, my husband is really good looking, in shape, nice body all that stuff. We got married in March of this year, and I guess you can say my breaking point on my weight was when I really realized, I wouldn't let him see me naked at all. Sex was totally out of the question unless it was totally dark, and his hands weren't aloud any futher than my breast.

Although he always told me that my weight didn't matter to him and he thought I was beautiful, I still couldn't get past it. I mean after all, if I couldn't stand to see myself naked in the mirror, how could anyone else, especially a man stand to see me that way.

After a long drawn out battle with my weight, I started checking in on the lapband. I was to scared to go for the bypass, and I had heard that besides not losing the weight as fast, the band was just as good. I wen't into the hospital on August 18 weighing in at 267 pounds.

Thoughts of myself on that very day were as follows. I am nasty, not worth a glance, I was ashamed that I could let myself get to the point that I had to have an operation to help me lose weight.

I made my goals 2 days before my surgery. They were small goals, but goals that I swore I would make it to by next year, hopefully even sooner. Savanna is a cheerleader and has always wanted me to be a coach but I was to embarrassed to do it, so one of my goals was that next football season, I was going to ask to help coach her squad and not be wondering if anyone was sitting there laughing at me because my stomach hang down lower. I am going to be able to get outside and my with my kids and not have to sit down cause I got out of breath within the first couple of minutes of being out there with them. I am going to be able to take my clothes off in broad daylight and let my husband see me. Although I have already passed that goal due to the fact I demaned to take a shower the same day I had my surgery and he was the only one I would let in the bathroom with me and he had to wash me. I was so drugged up I didn't care at the moment, all I knew is I wanted a shower and I was going to get one...lol. I was 1 goal that I want to make before the end of this year, that goal is, you know those cute little nighties that come out during Christmas time, the red see through ones with the white trim and red string with the white bally thing at the end. I want to be able to get into one of those by Christmas and not be scared of how I look. Those are my goals.

It is now 2 months and 12 days after my surgery. I haven't done as well as I hoped and not as well as other on this site has done. But I have lost 22 pounds, went down 1 pant size, and the sad part is, yeah I am losing weight, but my boobs are going with it to, and I hate that.

So, to anyone out there who is reading my story and hasn't had this surgery done, my advise to you is this. This is a life changing that you are going to do. It not magical and not by any means is it easy. But, it is something that will change your life but only if you help it chance you life.

"to get what you want, sometimes you have to do what you have never done before"

I was normal weight and weighed 122 when I married in 1973 at age 22 (5'6"). I always had a BIG appetite and could eat whatever I wanted and didn't put on weight. Didn't think about food. Just ate when hungry and stopped when satisfied. Started to put on some weight for the first time in my life after marriage. By the time I was 27 I weighed 136 and went to my first weight watchers meeting. From then on food was always on my mind -and it was the beginning of the yo-yo dieting. I put on about 3-4 pounds a year over 30 years - that's about 30-38 extra calories a day. I tried all the diets, like everyone on these boards. Then I got breast cancer at age 51 and I am sure my obesity contributed to it. I lost my husband to cancer 3 years later. Not wanting to face old age with health problems I researched the lapband. Was banded 9/22. Also, both parents, 3 of 4 grandparents, brother, aunt and 4 cousins are all obese. So genetics definitely plays a role. I was 196 on the day of surgery. Lost about 12 pounds. Not filled yet so not losing at this point.

I was always fairly big however I liked to play sport, anyway long story short, It seemed I thought I was bigger than I actually was and was embarrassed to go to training for my team sport because everyone was laughing at me always being last when doing laps of the field etc.

Once I stopped training I gained more and more weight until I finally woke up to myself. and I beat the issue of being embarrassed by setting up my garage as a gym so now I don't have any excuse to not train.

well, let's see..My dad was an alcoholic so my mom would give me anything to keep me quiet, so she could deal with him...I was an only child, I guessshe figured taking care of a drunk and a colicy child plus working full time was reason enough not to have anymore kids...Anywho, I see pictures of me as a child and I look healthy but then I go to school and get teased as being fatty..Although I still may have been bigger than your average child, the pictures tell a different story.I remember gaining weight at about 11. Like I said my mom rewarded me with foods to make up for something she thought I might be missing, I dunno really..My parents never called me fat.I did loose it around the age of 15, but married very early in life and started a family just as soon too..Gained 60 pounds during first pregnancy..Hubby never calls me fat..Thank GOD! I suffer depression, my son has a disability and I care for him, he is 21..So I don't work outside the home.And I bore easily too..I eat for all the wrong reasons and I know how to eat right, I just don't..I did south beach diet and had great success..But gained it back..So here I am , no major health problems but problems related to gaining,loosing,gaining you get the idea..Surgery is dec 19th..Can't wait..

This is a great thread because it's a place where we can all tell the raw truth and own up to our own contributions. I was always a pudgy kid. I never thought much about it until I went to high school and I overheard a girl call me Fat in front of all of the popular girls at school. I basically stopped eating and lost about 30lbs. I was 5' 7.5" and weighed 113lbs and looked sickly. To keep myself from throwing up from hunger, I took Dramamine every morning. At one point, my poops turned white and I got very scared, so I started eating again. But I only allowed myself to gain up to 125lbs and I stayed that way until I was 30. I exercised all of the time and was obsessed about my weight. Then I made two very bad choices of guys to date. The first one was was my True Infatuation (TI). I was crazy in love and did everything I could to make the relationship work - i.e. get him to love me. I was in great shape, but he always told me that I was going to be big and fat one day, just like his mom. So he refused to marry me, and I was heartbroken. I gained about 20lbs after that. Then I dated a guy who was a weasle - and it took me 3 months to find out. At that point, I lost faith in my ability to make good choices and became very depressed. I went on depression meds and gained about 70lbs because all I did was sleep on the weekends. (They made me really tired.) In the meantime, I got married to a great guy and I had an incredible son. I want this fixed. I know what it feels like to be thin and I don't want to be obese for the rest of my life. I don't want to embarrass my son - i want to keep up with him and go to the beach and play golf. So I am resolved. I am doing this and hope to be banded in January, 2009. I miss feeling confident and healthy.

Edited November 24, 200817 yr by rachel1969

I was at normal weight all through my teenage years. I have always liked to eat (I come from a BIG family of awesome cooks), but never had to worry about my weight. I went away to college and put on the freshman 15. That still didn't worry me because I was active enough to not gain any more. I started working at a grocery store in the deli department. I tasted every food that was available. Every day something new to try. I gained a few pounds, but still thought I looked good. I hadn't noticed that I had gotten to 160 lbs (I will be glad to see that again). Then 180. Then I got pregnant with my son. I was 200 lbs by the time he was born. I lost back to 160 with Fen/Phen. Then gained that plus 20. You know the story. I would lose it, but then it would find its way back with friends! Food, over the years, had become my friend...my confidant. Food didn't talk about you behind your back. Food was ALWAYS there when you needed it. I finally decided that I needed to take control of my life again after I had 4 deaths in my family within a year. Two of them were cousins that died of weight related illnesses (type 2 diabetics, heart disease). They were in their 40s. I didn't want that to be me. My family is large (in size and weight). Every generation seems to get bigger than the last. I want to stop that cycle now. I want better for me and my son.

So many things in life that create who we are or how we behave. Unfortunately, I can't pick out one thing that is the key to my eating. No huge tramatic experiences like others. Sorry to all of you who have experienced so much pain. For me, I love the taste and the comfort food gave me.