AmandaB9780
I'm 36, married to my best friend of 12 years, I am a mother to 3 amazing girls and 1 pretty cool guy. We are a blended family with one helluva sense of humor. There is always laughter in our home, always.
My back story is that I'm naturally a very petite person. I come from an Irish family where almost all of the women start off fairly petite and then BOOM, marriage, kids and the 30's happen. I was not only late to this party, but I didn't follow the proper order. I had my oldest daughter at 17. So being young, very active and single, they all helped to make/keep me skinny after having my BB. My metabolism and energy level were at an all-time high. I was constantly on the go with my little girl, to the beach, to the pool, etc. I was also single so there was motivation to make sure that I stayed in shape.
Fast forward 8 years and I was pregnant with my youngest, happily settled down with my husband and in my mid-20's. Metabolism has started to slow at this point and then add in a baby girl that I wasn't supposed to be able to bring to term and you've a happily devoted wife and mother who is perfectly content to let her little Cupcake take her nap in my arms. I made attempts at losing my baby weight immediately after, but so many times I was left feeling so guilty leaving her after what we had been through. I also felt guilty leaving him! We were now a family of 6 with kids ranging from 0-10. So there wasn't a whole lot of consistency in my attempts. I maintained it pretty well there for a while, but just after my little one turned 3, I was laid off and became a SAHM. Hello 40 extra lbs! Not so pleased to meet you.
Fast forward another 7 years and here I am. I'm about 110 lbs heavier than I was when I first met my husband. I've had pretty good success with diet and exercise over the years, but over the last 3 years, my body has started fighting back. I've been diagnosed with Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA) and Osteoarthritis in my lower spine. This makes working out quite excruciating at times. It's become my own Catch 22. If I lose the weight, the OA will be relieved and stop progressing, and possibly even my PsA (it's a long shot, but Psoriasis can revert back to lying dormat the way it did before). However, I can't very well lose the weight when simply walking can be a challenge. This has resulted in me being at the highest weight I've ever been at. I refuse to allow this to be my life. I've never been a lazy person but I feel myself becoming one because moving hurts. I don't want this.
So last year I started the journey of checking off doctor's appointments and pre-op tests to prepare myself to take back control of my life. I have my final pre-op appointment next Friday 1/6 and I really couldn't be more excited! If fat girls could jump high enough to clear the moon, I'd be jumpin!
