From Zero To Velma

  On June 7th 2002, I followed through one of the most drastic and most complicated decisions that I had ever had to make in my entire life.  I made the decision that I was going to have Gastric By-pass surgery.  I know some of you out there see this as a "Get Thin Quick" surgery, but trust me, it's way more than that.  The surgical part and the diet afterwards is the easy part, but there's a long road ahead after that.  And I am here to share that.  I have gone from a size 32 to a size 12 within these nearly ten years that have gone by.  I am pretty darn proud of the progress I have made and will continue to keep on keepin' on. 

  First and foremost, I have no regrets in my decision of having this surgery.  Second, I did what I had to do in order to curtail my overeating to fill the voids in my life.  Thirdly, I wasn't ready to die from neither sleep apnea nor morbid obesity.  I wanted to live and I was willing to do whatever was possible to do such.  Surgery was my last resort.  And when the time came, I went into the operating room filled with nothing but positivity and my faith in the higher plane.  If I was meant to live, great.  If I wasn't, I knew I was going on to a better place.  But I lived and I am extremely happy that I made it through.

  Once the pain of the surgery and the adjustments ran its course, I now found myself at a crossroads.  On this, I got lost.  I thought I could eat the same things that I could before when I was at my worst (325 lbs to be exact), but that wasn't true.  I could no longer eat peanut butter without having heart palpitations.  I could no longer eat ice cream without having the "Dumping Syndrome," also known as Diarrhea Extreme.  Milk became my worst enemy as well.  At first, I was angry and frustrated about this change in my diet, but, overtime, I came to accept that now I had to do without these things in order to live.  I no longer keep Peanut butter in my cupboard.  I drink milk but only in very tiny doses and now taking calcium in pill form to make up for my lack of milk consumption. 

  In 2002, I was 325 lbs and extremely unhappy about it.  I ate to fill the voids of the deaths of my grandfather and uncle.  I ate to satisfy some sort of void that I felt needed to be filled.  In truth, food was both a close friend and an arch nemesis.  It was good to me, but in truth it was slowly killing me from the inside out.

  I thank god for me being kicked off that ride at the boardwalk to help me see the light and realize that I was slowly killing myself by eating to cope.  I have gone from being a zero to Velma all within a span of ten years.  And I am extremely proud of my progress and will continue onwards and upwards! 

  To my friends out there who struggle with their weight and being obese, know this:  You are not alone.  I know what it's like to be down in the dumps and to be ridiculed and made to feel like you aren't "normal."  I walked in your shoes and have experienced being rejected and pushed to the wayside.  I know what it's like!  You are not alone!  You are not alone at all!