Good morning MFP!

My name is Jennifer.

My highest weight that I'm aware of was 426.

I'm married, live in Central Virginia and work from home as tech support.

I am actually in the process of trying to figure out if bariatric surgery is for me so for the now I'm doing it the old fashioned way, diet and hard work. In the end I may still need the surgery, but that's neither here nor there, this is the start of a journey, not the end.

I'm currently 412.8 lbs after cutting out sodas and starting to make the healthier choices in foods. I'm attempting to stick to the Keto diet, but I find the low carbs and high fiber really hard to hit. But in monitoring my numbers and what I'm eating I find my self making different choices when I prepare food.

It's taken me a LONG time to realize I need help. I've always been big. My father used to pick on my about everything to do with my weight and eating so I would hide what I was eating and snacking on and still have meals with the family. As a kid I got to see an army nutritionist who gave me a diet in which I had to measure EVERYTHING (Aka serving sizes) and was told to my pubescent face that the first place I would loose weight was out of my then developing breasts. Tell ya what you tell a 12 year old girl who is already shopping in the women's section for bras because holy cow life has chosen to be generous that she can actually reduce her bust size by rubbing speckled turn poo in her belly button 5 times a day, she will do it. So for 6 months I measured and suffered my dad's teasing and my parents not even attempting the same kind of control and restraint I was only to find out that I had lost 1lb and my bust had gotten bigger. I never dieted again.

Over the years I've modified what I'm eating, but when results fail to show I slip back into it.

My lowest weight in the past 10 years was when I met my husband, I was 300 lbs. And plateaued for 4 months at that weight, going to the gym 5 or 6 days a week eating 4 smaller meals a day, had cut out fast food, was still eating processed, but less and less. Then we moved and it all fell apart.

I stopped using scales becuase they couldn't read my weight.
I said "I'll go to the gym tomorrow" and tomorrow never got here.
We started eating fast food again.
I would for stretches not leave the house for a month (Except to go onto the back porch to let the dog out).

I went to a GYN (Lady bits doc) appointment and was weighed.... 406. Four hundred and six pounds. Oh... My.... God....

She looked at me and said, you need to do something about this. You need to loose the weight if you ever want a child. You need to loose the weight if you ever want to be able to keep up with a child. And she referred me to a WLS clinic and to this gym which is an amazing gym and with their program I managed to get to 398.

Here we are almost a year later.... I haven't had my first Doc appt for the surgery (You have to have a certain number of visits in a certain period to prove you cant loose weight via "normal" methods. And I'm up to 426.

I state now for all those that will listen and hear me.

I am Jennifer. I am strong, proud and beautiful. And it's up to me with the support of my husband and friends to do this. I will loose the weight, I will make the changes. I will be active, I will one day again ride horses. I will fit in roller coasters. I will not automatically choose the soda over the water, I will not take a desert, I will take control of my life and live it the way that *I* need to and the way that *I* see fit. I will be open and honest about what I'm doing, I will not hide food or the fact that I have eaten it. I will get off my *kitten* and go out that door. I may not be able to walk far now, but one day I'll be able to walk as far as I want.

I am Jennifer and this is my journey. I. Will. Succeed.