Anyone who has had difficulty losing weight and maintaining a healthy lifestyle has a story and mine, just like many others, happens to contain a lot of excuses. Since I was about 10 years old I have struggled with keeping my weight in a healthy range. Discouraged, I became less and less active throughout high school and college. Mixed with poor nutrition and emotional eating I was walking example of what it is to be unhealthy. Growing up I loved to play sports and be active whether it was basketball, volleyball, biking, hiking, and my all-time favorite skiing, but as the weight piled on I became more self-conscious of my body. I didn't want to be the fat girl out on the court or out on the slopes so instead of being proactive about my problem I retracted and wallowed in self-pity.
By the time I entered college I was 195 pounds and by the time I graduated college I tipped the scale at 235 pounds. So much for just that freshman fifteen! During this time I discovered that I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), which is a hormonal imbalance that makes losing weight more difficult than for the average person. Less than one year after graduating college I managed to gain another 26 pounds, which again had to do with my sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy food choices.
In early 2011 I had enough. I wanted to make a permanent change to my life. I wanted to be happy, but for years I convinced myself that I had truly tried to lose weight and that nothing worked. With this self-defeating attitude I initially began looking for an easy way out: weight-loss surgery. I went to a lap-band specialist for a consultation and he told me I'd be a perfect candidate for the surgery. Initially, I was thrilled but then after coming to terms with the extensive amount of paperwork, doctor visits, costs, and post-surgical upkeep I began to second guess this idea.
My life-changing moment was when I went to a seminar that all weight-loss surgery candidates must attend. I remember walking into this huge banquet hall filled with many other overweight people like myself and just feeling absolutely ashamed of myself. With all other aspects of my life, particularly academically, I've prided myself on working hard to reach my goals so why not with my health? This was the very question I was asking myself over and over again as I sat there. I knew from the moment I stepped foot outside that seminar that I was going to drop all excuses and begin a transformation into a healthy person. No more fad diets or barely breaking-a-sweat-workouts. Just hard work, self-motivation and determination, and the persistence to change my life for the better. Since April 10, 2011 my life has profoundly changed.
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