This is me in 1998. I was a senior in high school, in my best shape and happy to be on a choir trip in Hawaii. At this time in my life I never thought I'd let myself go. I never imagined my life would be what it was, just a couple years ago, or even what it is now.
Life changed when I met my husband in 1999. We fell in love right away. Our engagement was short and we were totally committed to each other. Twenty-three years later he is still my best friend, partner, and number one person in my life.
We began creating a family sooner than planned... that story is for another day. Although life was taking us in unexpected directions, we were happy... and growing.
This picture was taken around 2009-2010... just before disaster struck. Skyler lost his job, my dream of continuing to stay home with my kids was crushed. We made changes to keep our family afloat and in the midst of all our trials, hard work, stress and worry we managed to continue to grow our family, but eventually lost ourselves. Despite all the great times we experiences over the time between 2010 - 2021 we had let ourselves go...we neglected our internal needs. The picture below is one of great joy and sadness. We were in a proud moment with our second oldest son, but when we saw the picture it was obvious what we had done to ourselves. Change had to happen again!
After a lot of research and sincere effort, both of us decided the only way to change was with bariatric surgery. So for all of you asking how I did it... this is how. There was no way out. We were so far gone that no diet was going to fix it. We needed real help so we took the leap and went for it.
In July 2021 Skyler and I both went to Mexico and had the gastric sleeve surgery. This process was hard. The diet was hard. Even though it was hard, the end result is sustainable. We don't have the yo-yo we had before. We are slowly reaching our goals.
The next picture is about 3 months after our surgery. Both of us had lost about 60lbs.
Skyler's weight goal is very different than mine. His journey is different than mine. His health issues are different than mine, but his accomplishments have been amazing. The biggest realization we have come to is that this journey is ongoing. It is not a quick fix and it takes patience... lots of patience. About 6 months after our surgery we decided to make another change. We took steps to make a leap by moving our family to Texas. At nearly 80 lbs down we started interviews and made our first trip with just the two of us to our potential new home.
By June of '22 we arrived! All my hard work in my career and my diet was paying off. I was 100lbs down and wearing a size med/large (depending on the brand).
Today I am now 120lbs lighter and I have 30lbs left to go. Skyler is staying on par with me, but chronic health issues are keeping his weight from dropping quickly. Hormones are no joke people! The goal is for him is to lose 200 lbs so he can have hip replacement surgery. We are a little over half way there!
Change is not easy. We all get stuck in our ways, but sometimes taking a step into the unknown is just what we need to get to the light!
If you want to know more details about my journey, or where I went to have this done, I am happy to share! Just DM me. I am not advertising and do not want to share information about the businesses I used publicly. There are tips and tricks I've learned along the way. I know how difficult weight loss is and I am simply sharing so others can see they are not alone.
Part 2 will be mostly about the other side of this leap - my career move. I can't wait to share!
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