Who Am I?

So....I decided to try to do a blog.  Not sure why, but seems like the thing to do right now.  So...who am I?  I am a 39 year old mother of 4 boys who is married to the most amazing man in the world.  I have an amazing life, life in my own house, have a career, the car, the dog...but something was missing in my life.  My health.  You see, I was morbidly obese for many years.  I was diagnosed diabetic and recently diagnosed with sleep apnea.  Both because of obesity. 

I have always been heavy.  I was born big, and just continued to grow. Having babies did not help, but neither did the abusive relationships I was in.  Now I am not going to "blame" anyone or anything other than myself for my obesity, but I also know that there were other circumstances that also contributed to my being obese.  Obese...what a word.  Anyways....My life has been one that has been a challenge, but also something that I can be proud of.  I grew up in a home that was confusing in some ways and good in others.  My mother was always there for me, my step father not so much.  I became his "bedtime toy" when I was 12 and I used food, alcohol and drugs to survive it.  I got sober over 18 years ago, but continued to use food as a way to cope.  While I have been actively involved in a 12 step recovery program, my addiction to food got out of control.  My diabetes diagnosis did not change my food behaviors.  In fact that just increased my denial of what all was going on in my life.  When I met my current husband 9 years ago, my diabetes was so out of control, that my doctor told me that I was going to die within 10 years if I kept living the way I was living.  So I got my blood sugars under control, but it did not "fix" my addiction and kept me living, while better, unhealthy and obese.

A year and a half ago, when I was seeing my NP for my annual checkup, she suggested that I look into having gastric bypass surgery.  She said that along with the weight loss, I could possibly see my diabetes reverse.  I struggled with the idea of having such major surgery, but after discussion with my husband, we decided to at least go to the seminar.  Well...after the seminar we decided to move forward with the surgery.  My insurance excluded the surgery from coverage, but my husbands insurance covered it.  I went through a 6 month supervised diet, exercise, education program.  Numerous labs, counsling services, and lots and lots of soul searching.  Finally, my new life started on December 21, 2009. 

Surgery went well...no complications and to date I have lost 65 pounds.  But...most importantly, I am no longer diabetic!  What a blessing!  So....now that I have my health back, anld am no longer "Morbidly" obese, what am I going to do?  I'm going to continue this journey and write about it.  Thanks for reading!  More to come.

Click

Ok...so I LOVE Click!  It is a great way to start out the day with a protein espresso drink.  I get mine at Amazon.com and I am signed up for the auto ship, so I get a discount.  Check it out!