Rose1124
Where do I begin. I have been overweight for as long as I can remember. I remember being 6 years old and thinking it was "cool" that I was bigger than all the other kids. I thought it was cool because everyone thought I was in 1st or 2nd grade. Now that I think about it that wasn't cool at all. I come from a family of overweight people. My dad is from the Mississippi so he loves cooking and loves cooking with grease. It was how was raised on fried food. All of my Aunts on my dads side are bigger women, so for us weight was never an issue at home. If I said I was going on a diet, they would all look at me like I was crazy. I have always been a proud plus size woman.
About 3 years ago, I went to a gastric bypass informational meeting with my roommate in Boston. I had always been very againist the bypass surgery, I felt for a lot of people they were trying to take the easy way out. I just knew it wasn't for me, but I thought I would go and support my roommate. That was when I first heard about the Lap Band. When they were talking about it, I thought "I won't have bypass surgery, but I would do that" I think at the time the biggest thing for me was that it was done laproscopically and I liked that. I had started the process in Boston, saw the doctor, saw the psychologist and stuff like that. When I first decided to do it, I weighed about 374 and in order to get the Lap Band at that time I need to lose I think it was 20 pounds. I lost the 20 and then some, so since I was losing on my own, I decided that I didn't need the surgery and could lost it on my own. I moved back to MN and continued to lose. I was obsessed with counting calories and working out. It seriously was my life. I lost about 60 pounds total. Then I got pregnant and it all came back. I was going good during my pregnancy I gained about 25 pounds, but lost it as soon as my daughter was born and have now gained it all back.
After I had my daughter I started thinking about the Lap Band again. I talked to my husband about it and he thought it was a good idea. I called my insurance in January and they didn't cover it. I was trying to figure out if I could afford to pay for it out of pocket, which I knew I couldn't. I kind of put it on the back burner, thinking that as my daughter got older I would have more time to get to the gym and work out and eat better, not the case. I am a working mother so I don't see her all day as it is, so the last thing I wanted to do was spend another 2 hours away from her working out. I have started taken her on walks and being as active as I can with her so that is good. I realized that she is only going to get more active and I want to be able to be active with her. I decided that I was for sure going to do the Lap Band, so I called the insurance again this week and as of April 2007 they cover the Lap Band! I was very excited. SO I have started the process. And that is my story.
