tinkerbell of winter
Keep Moving Forward-Walt Disney
- Joined
- Sep 26, 2004
Hello everyone! Support, comments, encouragement and advice all welcomed!
My name is Christine, I am 38 and have been overweight/obese basically all of my adult life. I work as a Nurse Practitioner and formerly worked as a Registered Nurse in intensive care and surgery. I am obese not for lack or trying to lose weight, but more for inability to keep it off. I know we all share that struggle, at least those of us that have lived life with obesity. To be perfectly honest I used to be one of those people that considered weight loss surgery (WLS) the easy way out. Just recently after some further research I now know that is not the truth. And another thing I know is that as hard as you try to lose weight on a diet once that diet or lifestyle change slows down the weight comes back on. Life happens, you get busy, you hit bumps in the road, you forget to care for yourself because you are caring for others and bam, all of a sudden you are 140 pounds overweight. I have always tried to be active, but I have also ALWAYS struggled with my weight. Always feeling hungry, because of that darn grehlin hormone! I have trained and run multiple races, 5, 10, 15 Ks and four 1/2 marathons. I can hang with the best of them at Disney, starting at 7 AM and lasting well past midnight, without a nap, without a rest, I just keep going. Yet I am still obese. My mother once said with the amount of running around I do I should be skinny. Which actually now makes sense to me. If I had a normal metabolism and normal body composition sure, but life happened and bam i'm sitting here with a BMI of 42. Weighing 275 pounds in January, I have lost about 5 pounds but honestly I haven't been trying that hard, having been in a bit of a funk.
Well I have been doing a bit of reading lately, about obesity, and the long term metabolic effects of obesity. I now no longer see WLS as the "easy way out" as there is nothing EASY about it but as a powerful tool that can lead me to maintain a healthy lifestyle and do the things I have always wanted. To be able to see what I can do in a race when i'm not wearing a 100 pound fat suit, to be able to shop in the clearance section for clothes, to be able to get on the Harry Potter ride and any roller coaster at Universal. People aren't always obese because they are lazy, sometimes they have so much going on and are busy working, going to school, taking care of their family that it kind of just happens. Sure it would be great to be naturally blessed with a thin frame, and the metabolism of a thin frame but it's just not in my genetics. One of my favorite pictures ever taken at a race is a pic of me in my tinkerbell outfit weighing about 240 at the time running in the last mile of the Princess 1/2 two years ago flanked by two skinny chicks weighing about as much as my left leg apiece. Well in the pic i'm smiling and flashing the thumbs up and these two girls look like they are about to die. So fat does not always equate with lazy and now that I have realized that the metabolic dysfunction associated with obesity is what presents the constant challenge I am ready to take the step for a gastric sleeve to lose the weight once and for all and keep it off.
Thank you so much for taking the time to view my thread, I started this to help others and chronicle my experience. I will post regular updates as milestones come along. My consultation appointment is March 10th with the surgeon
I would love to hear from others in similar situations.
My name is Christine, I am 38 and have been overweight/obese basically all of my adult life. I work as a Nurse Practitioner and formerly worked as a Registered Nurse in intensive care and surgery. I am obese not for lack or trying to lose weight, but more for inability to keep it off. I know we all share that struggle, at least those of us that have lived life with obesity. To be perfectly honest I used to be one of those people that considered weight loss surgery (WLS) the easy way out. Just recently after some further research I now know that is not the truth. And another thing I know is that as hard as you try to lose weight on a diet once that diet or lifestyle change slows down the weight comes back on. Life happens, you get busy, you hit bumps in the road, you forget to care for yourself because you are caring for others and bam, all of a sudden you are 140 pounds overweight. I have always tried to be active, but I have also ALWAYS struggled with my weight. Always feeling hungry, because of that darn grehlin hormone! I have trained and run multiple races, 5, 10, 15 Ks and four 1/2 marathons. I can hang with the best of them at Disney, starting at 7 AM and lasting well past midnight, without a nap, without a rest, I just keep going. Yet I am still obese. My mother once said with the amount of running around I do I should be skinny. Which actually now makes sense to me. If I had a normal metabolism and normal body composition sure, but life happened and bam i'm sitting here with a BMI of 42. Weighing 275 pounds in January, I have lost about 5 pounds but honestly I haven't been trying that hard, having been in a bit of a funk.
Well I have been doing a bit of reading lately, about obesity, and the long term metabolic effects of obesity. I now no longer see WLS as the "easy way out" as there is nothing EASY about it but as a powerful tool that can lead me to maintain a healthy lifestyle and do the things I have always wanted. To be able to see what I can do in a race when i'm not wearing a 100 pound fat suit, to be able to shop in the clearance section for clothes, to be able to get on the Harry Potter ride and any roller coaster at Universal. People aren't always obese because they are lazy, sometimes they have so much going on and are busy working, going to school, taking care of their family that it kind of just happens. Sure it would be great to be naturally blessed with a thin frame, and the metabolism of a thin frame but it's just not in my genetics. One of my favorite pictures ever taken at a race is a pic of me in my tinkerbell outfit weighing about 240 at the time running in the last mile of the Princess 1/2 two years ago flanked by two skinny chicks weighing about as much as my left leg apiece. Well in the pic i'm smiling and flashing the thumbs up and these two girls look like they are about to die. So fat does not always equate with lazy and now that I have realized that the metabolic dysfunction associated with obesity is what presents the constant challenge I am ready to take the step for a gastric sleeve to lose the weight once and for all and keep it off.
Thank you so much for taking the time to view my thread, I started this to help others and chronicle my experience. I will post regular updates as milestones come along. My consultation appointment is March 10th with the surgeon
I would love to hear from others in similar situations.
