I have not always been morbidly obese. I was a pretty skinny kid until I hit puberty and even then I was only about 20-30 lbs overweight. I pretty much stayed that way all through high school. It wasn't until my early twenties that things started getting out of control. When I found out that I was pregnant with my daughter, I was already at 220 lbs. At my six-week check up I was back down to 230 lbs...mind you that I only gained 30 lbs. Ever since then, it has been creeping (sometimes running) up to my current weight of 290 lbs (I can't believe I am admitting that here). At my height of 5'6" that puts my Body Mass Index (BMI) at around 47. Anything over 40 is considered Morbidly Obese. So far I have been lucky that I do not have any serious co-morbid conditions (diabetes, hypertension, heart problems...to name a few). But as far as the way I feel, I feel like I have been hit my a Mack truck. My body is always aching (my feet, legs, joints, back), I lose my breath doing simple little things like getting up from sitting on the floor, I am tired all the time (which I believe has to do with undiagnosed sleep apena) and just all around crappy. This isn't a pity party for me, I just want you to understand how I feel on a daily basis and why I have chosen to do something about it. I don't like feeling like this. I want to be able to play with my daughter, chase her around at playgrounds and watch my daughter grow up. I don't want to die this young!
I know that some of you may be thinking "Just watch what you eat", "excercise more" or worse "you're taking the easy way out". Just watch what I eat...I've done that and I just see it all on my hips now. Excercise more...I'd like to make sure I don't have a heart attack by over doing it( I am not saying I don't excercise, but you put on a 150 lbs "fat suit" and see how you do). The easy way out...I don't see anything easy about having to make sure that you are eating enough protein, drinking sips (not gulps) of water all day long to make it to your 64 oz requirement, making sure that you chew your food at least 30 times before you swallow, not being allowed to drink while your eating a meal...that doesn't sound like the easy way out to me. I am willing to do all this and more to make sure that I succeed with my new "tool". I know this is not a cure, it is a tool and I have to use it and obey rules in order for it to work.
