First Post

I am getting banded on October 23, 2008. I've struggled with my weight for as long as I can remember and am now at an all-time high (I'll post numbers once I've had some success -- too hard to admit at this early stage!).

So. . . I decided to do a blog after going through a few other "banders'" blogs and finding them to be extremely helpful and inspirational (special thanks go to http://www.lisetheloser.com/ (I really wish she hadn't stopped posting!) and to http://thinspiration4me.blogspot.com/). In making my decision, I made a long list of pros and cons, and -- after going over it in detail, realized that my biggest "con" was having to make a drastic change in my life, i.e. radically changing my approach to food. Looking through others' blogs took some of the mystery out of that process for me, and it really helped me to put aside my fear and commit solidly to going forward.

It's funny -- I was talking with a trusted friend about my decision, and went over my pro/con list with her. Once we nailed down that my real fear was making a drastic change to my life, she said something that gave me a lot of clarity. She said, "Catherine, you have two choices here. Regardless of whether you do this surgery, you have to either accept that you will be overweight or, you're going to have to make a drastic change in your life." Put that way, it made the decision a lot easier. The truth is, at the rate I've been going over the past 10 years, if I don't make a big change, I'm going to be hugely overweight during the next 10 years -- and that isn't a path I'm willing to go down.