When? Why? How?The important background BS

So, obviously, I'm not blogging about my journey with weight loss surgery for the hell of it.  There's always a how, a why, a when to how we got to where we are - isn't there?  You're reading this just as I would and thinking to yourself that it's true.  It didn't happen overnight, you didn't (I DIDN'T) wake up fat one day.  It was a journey to get here. Mine went a bit like this...

I'm told I was an average to large size baby.  I know I was a big kid.  Always the biggest in grade school...well, maybe not THE biggest but at least ONE of the biggest kids. Enter Mrs. C into North Pole High School. You guessed it...pretty much one of the biggest...don't get me wrong....certainly not where I am today.  Not even obese.  Put it this weigh...there were girls who had bodies built for cheerleading and those who had bodies built for softball/fencing/wrestling/football...umm, yeah...I was in that second group.  Side note...I didn't fence, wrestle or ball with my feet. Strike that, reverse it...only part of the weigh.  Even though I was in that second group, it didn't keep me from doing all the things (hint, hint) that the cheerleaders did (wink, wink).

Enter college...the Freshman 15 turned into the Freshman 115.  No kidding.  STOP...I know you won't believe this but TRY.  My diet really wasn't that bad.  But, like every ?good? college student, I supported the local "establishment" (aka watering hole, public house). Yes, I did my share of drinking.  Anyway, on a break home, I ended up at a nutritionist.  "Try this..." she said and handed me a diet plan.  You know the kind.  It read like this...Breakfast - six saltines, Lunch - Yogurt, 1 medium pear, 4 saltines, Dinner - 2.5 saltines, 2 apples, 6 grains of whole wheat rice.  That lasted a week.

My early 20s were filled with the same.  Just to get it in and because it's stuck with me...I have to share this goody...after college (no, I never did graduate), I ran into one of my best friends from high school.  I mean, such a best friend, I loved her like a sister. I still do even though she could care less if I was alive.  Anyway, we run into each other and she says "Wow!  You look the same!"  Mind you...it's only been a couple of years.  Me: "Really?! Geez, I've gained over 100 pounds!" with a look of despair.  Her:  "Whoa, that's like a whole extra person."  Me:

"Yeah, no shit.  Thanks for the reminder."

Eventually, I got hooked up with a reproductive endocrinologist.  Not because I wanted to reproduce in my early 20s but, rather, because this was still pretty new shit back then.  Endocrinologists were almost all "reproductive" back then because, well, quite frankly, if your lady parts didn't work the right way...who cared?  As long as you could get knocked up, right?! Anyway, this woman gave me some answers.  Oh, did I forget to mention?  I had had maybe 20 periods in my entire life (and I started menstruating - such a funny little word - at the age of 11).   And, by this point, not only had I gained 115 pounds and was not having normal (if any) periods but I was losing the hair on my head, growing it where I shouldn't have it and had a host of other oddities going on in my hot, young body (ok, ok, a girl can dream, can't she?!)  I had Stein Leventhal Syndrome. Stein WHAT - WhotheEffNThall???  Three little words - Stein Leventhal Syndrome.  Better known today as Polycystic Ovary Syndrome or PCOS.  That was pretty much it.  Here's some birth control pills to regulate your cycle, call me when you DO want to get knocked up as it'll probably be a struggle.  There isn't much you can do about the hair issues so you'll learn to live with it.    Now, that was then...and, that's how it went.  I'm thankful that there's more information out there for the young women of today.

You've made it through Claus 1.0 - happy you're still with me.  More about me & my jelly roll later.  Thanks for reading & have a great tomorrow!

-Mrs. C.