My name is Amy. I am 28 (soon to be 29) years old. I live in Australia. I have Gastric Banding, which I got in March 2010. My starting weight before banding was 118.6kg. I managed to get down to 82kg but I’m an emotional eater and when in September 2011, my Father passed away from Lung Cancer I ate, and started to gain the weight back, I was almost back to the point I could start again when in March 2012 my Grandmother passed away also from Lung Cancer, as if that wasn’t enough, in January 2013 my Grandfather passed away from Liver Cancer, he had had a Melanoma back in 2001 but it had come back at the end of 2012 as Liver Cancer. I have had an up and down time since then. I keep expecting to see them around where they used to be, even now. But I am starting to get back on track.
Now that parts out of the way, shall we move on? I am the eldest of 3 children, I have a sister 4 years younger and a brother 9 1/2 years younger. I grew up in a country town about 3 hours from the main capital city. I wasn’t really one for school. The best part about school, in my opinion, was seeing my friends. Growing up I had many hobbies. I did T-Ball, Netball and Archery at various stages. I wish I’d never quit archery now, as I have no idea how to get back into it. I did love it and would like to do it again. I tried out golf and rowing once each. I actually liked rowing but at the time wasn’t about to do it as a sport.
My memory has never been great so I can’t remember much clearly. One thing I remember from early childhood was when I was around 6 I think, mum had taken me to Sydney to visit my Great-Aunt. I still have the book mum did for me with notes on what we did, where we went, and pictures and tickets stuck in it. Anyway, I remember one night waking up because there was an earthquake, though I didn’t know what it was at the time, I was only little, but I remember being told that it hadn't just shaken my bed but the whole house, and I got to stay up and watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles til I fell asleep again. I don’t really remember anything else about the trip apart from that.
I loved going out on the boat crabbing with my Dad. It was always so much fun. He used to say he saw a dolphin that’d come up and let you pet it out on the boat but I never believed him because it never happened when I was there. Then, one day, when mobile phones had evolved enough to take and send pictures he sent me some, and he was right there was a dolphin. I was so devastated that I never got to see it as I loved dolphins.
I didn’t get my first dinosaur mobile phone til I was in 7th grade. It was an old black and white Nokia brick. No internet, no camera, etc. There was none of that at the time (or at least not cheap if there was). I loved that I got a mobile but a few days later I jumped into a pool at my sisters friends house with it in my pocket. I was devastated, I was sure I’d never be allowed one again. But I did get another, I cant remember how long later, but I did get it.
I traveled through school for what seemed like forever, though now seems like a blink of an eye. I passed year 12 and went on to do Information Technology, then Business Administration at TAFE. I did a few traineeships at various places and also did a seasonal harvest job in Oct-Dec for 5-6 years. From August 2010 til June 2011 I moved interstate to try to get a job. I moved to a major city because my Aunt lived there and said I could stay with her. During my time there I had interview after interview but nothing ever came out of it.
After moving back to my hometown in June 2011 I went back to volunteering at the local Red Cross as I had been before I left, but fortunately not long later I had to leave as they no longer had much for me to do because they had hired a new person while I was away that did all the things I used to as a volunteer before I left. So instead I went on to volunteer at LifeLine, where I still am today.
In 2014 I found work in a servo (petrol/fuel/gas station). I was a call in casual at first, but after another member left I was given permanent hours. As of late last year I got enough hours to FINALLY get off of welfare. I was glad for it as I hated depending on it and being called a dole bludger, people seemed to think that just because some people were happy to sit around doing nothing on welfare that everyone on welfare was the same. They didn’t care that I was volunteering off my own back (towards the end of my welfare days it did come in as mandatory to do voluntary work for a certain time but I was doing it long before I had to because I wanted to), they didn’t care that I had a job. But I learned to stop caring what those uninformed people thought but I was still very happy to get off of welfare none-the-less. In February this year our hours were cut by management. The store hours where shortened. My boss managed it so that I didn’t loose to much money by putting me on weekends, which I was grateful for. I don’t do much on weekends normally so it wasn’t a bother. But in order to save money I have now moved back into my parents house.
Ive struggled with my weight my whole life. I’ve got photos of a chubby toddler me and a little fatty child me, an obese teenage me. I never really thought about my weight growing up. The bullies at school used to try to tease me but I didn’t care, I ignored them. It wasn’t til I was in year 11/12 that I started realizing that I was overweight and unfit. I couldn’t go shopping for normal clothes, I had to go to the plus size section, which even now is getting smaller and smaller by the day as shops here seem to be cutting down on the bigger sizes.
It was my Great-Aunt (from Sydney) who also has Gastric Banding, that suggested it might be good for me as well. My mum also has it and she agreed. So I went to all the appointments and such and 12 months later I had the surgery.
I love to read, mostly non-fiction stuff such as True Crime, Unsolved Mysteries, Paranormal, etc, with a little fiction thrown in. I love to listen to music, my favourite band is Good Charlotte (and The Madden Brothers). I got to meet the Madden Twins in 2014 on there Greetings from California tour where my mum helped me get VIP tickets. I’m not a hugger but I got to hug them both, and I would again. I also like Green Day, ABBA, Lee Kernaghan, Simple Plan, Martina McBride, Celtic Thunder, and lots more.
My sister has a 3 year old Daughter who is a ball of energy. I would love to be able to keep up with her for even 5 minutes. You blink and shes gone, shes fast lol. My sister also has another Daughter due in August this year, so that’s 2 I’ll need to keep up with lol.
Anyway that’s a bit about me. Feel free to ask me questions and I will try to answer them. Again I’m new to this blog thing so please tell me if I’m doing it wrong. I’m sorry if this seems all over the place. I just wrote stuff as I thought of it. I’m sure I’ve left a ton out as well lol. As ive said my memory is not the best. Anyway that’s it for now. Good luck to everyone on their journeys. Thanks for reading.