My weight, the ups, downs, and plateaus

As I think more about this blog, I've been thinking more about what I'd like to share with you all. Some topics that come to mind are my family and their weight issues, why I chose bariatric surgery, issues I've have with weight-socially, romantically, and in school, and more. Feel free to comment or email me at chunkymonkey6491@gmail.com to suggest what else I talk about.

I've always been chubby but I really started tracking my weight when I hit 100 pounds in about 5th grade. I was around 5 feet tall then (maybe a little shorter) and I had a really round face and tummy. I found myself in a very small class in a parochial school with exceptional bright students who also happened to be thin and athletic so that wasn't a fun time. Not because I was teased, but because I compared myself to them among other things.

When I entered high school I weighed a little over 140, already at a higher weight that I should be during my adult life. At the beginning of high school I stopped doing Tae Kwon Do but took up gymnastics and dance and eventually transitioned back into martial arts and competed in sparring at tournaments. There was never a time when I was completely inactive. I was also active in many, many clubs and activities in and out of school so while I might have been sedentary sometimes, I was never a kid who just sat in all day and played videogames.

I graduated high school around 190 and began college at precisely 206. My freshman 15 was a freshman 30, due to dining hall food, stress, and a lack of the activities I had grown accustomed to (although I was loyal to my elliptical machine). My weight went up to 230 and finally 256 during the course of my college career.

I know that some girls freak out when they gained weight, but for me that was a normal condition. The weight would just creep up and then my weight would plateau and the cycle would repeat itself. I tried many, many, many diets but never lost more than 15 pounds really and found that I was always sabotaged by my appetite. I could deal with reducing my food intake for  a few days but after about a week I got so hungry that I would have to start adding back food and ultimately I ended up back where I started.

After 20 years of this cycle with no end in sight and a father who has lost and regained 100+ pounds twice as well as a grandmother who died at 61 from type II diabetes, I chose to have weight loss surgery.