My name is Sherri.   I have a story just like everybody else.  I will keep this as short as I can so you can enjoy the rest of my site.  I have always been over weight/obese.  I guess the first time I really found out I had a problem was when I was 10 years old.  We had recently moved back to San Diego.  My mother took me to the pediatrician who had not seen me since she had saved my life as an infant.  She told my mother that I was overweight and that something had to be done.  This is when my struggle with dieting started.  I was put on a low carbohydrate diet.  I remember losing a little weight but not a lot.  Then I started different gyms diet programs, jazzercise, weight watchers, more than I wish to list. I even tried accupuncture.  All with no lasting success.  When I graduated high school, I weighed 230 pounds.  By the end of the next year I ended up at around 294.  Boy was I discouraged.  I was now on my own and working.  One of my co-workers said here try this.  It was white crosses.  I tried it and I was hooked.  In nine months I was down to 175 pounds and feeling good.  The only problem was that I was taking about 30 pills a day and taking 5 just to wake up and get out of the bed.  I got married and then got pregnant.  I had to stop taking the pills that had help me succeed.  I gained up to 297 and after delivery I was down to 267.  I went to nursing school and tried the pills again but could no longer get the same effect.  I was miserable.  By the time I became an ER nurse, I had gained up to 348 pounds.  I was then put on fastin and pondimin.  The famous fen-phen diet.  I got down to 220.  I was happy.  Then another baby was coming.  No more medicines.  And guess what?  If you guessed that I gained my weight back then you are exactly right.  After delivery, I weighed 267 and started back on the fastin.  Pondimin at this time had been taken off the market.  I didn't lose any weight.  I steadily gained.  I stopped all medicines at this point.  I was a failure.  Forget it.  I will have to live with my fat forever.  At 379.9 pounds,  I was having joint pain like crazy.  My feet were hurting so bad after working that I couldn't even get to the bathroom from the bedroom without pain.  I couldn't breathe.  I was a goner if I didn't do something.  This is when I decided on weight loss surgery.  I checked in to the lap band and now my life has started again.  

I now have a future I can look forward to.