August 2011 – Singing / Acting / Dancing – Stage 1 Theater – “FAME” – Miss Sherman

June 2011 – Singing – Stage 1 – 50′s & 60′s Revue – “Downtown”

March 2011 – Singing – Newark Memorial High School – “Listen”

Dec 2010 – Acting – Irivington High School – “A Christmas Carol”

September 2010 – Singing / Dancing – Stage 1 Theater – “Cinderella”

July 2010 – Acting / Lead Female Singer – Stage 1 Theater – “13″ Patrice

May 2010 – Singing / Dancing / Acting – Newark Memorial High School – “Les Miserables”

April 2010 – Singing – Quinceanera - ”You are My Hero”

April 2010 – Singing – Hayward Idol – “You Raise Me Up” & “The Best Day”

Dec 2009 – Singing /Dancing – Newark Memorial High School – “Age of Aquarius”

Dec 2008 – Singing – Mariachi Juvenil de Hayward – “Volar, Volar”

July 2008 – Singing – Relay For Life – “National Anthem”

March 2006 – Singer – Wedding – “I Finally Found Someone”

Sooo some of you may remember me… some of you may not… this is Kary Loredo
Welch checking in. Today is my 3rd year anniversary of my surgery and I have
been thinking of many of you!! So I thought I’d check in.

For those of you that don’t know me… I started my journey at 400 pounds
exactly and had my surgery 8 months later at 327 pounds. Over the first six
months I continued to lose weight rapidly and lost a total of 175 pounds my
lowest weight being 225 pounds. Then I started drinking alcohol, that not only
spun my life out of control with my behavior I allowed it to derail my food
program and I began putting weight back on.

As an update… yesterday was 2 years that I’ve been sober! I’ve been going to
AA and when I say my name I say “I am an alcoholic/addict” because I am clear my
first addiction in my life was food. My current weight is 265 pounds (literally
going to the scale to weigh and type this). I am sober and feeling healthy
physically.

My struggle has been since surgery and clearly before that mentally. My self
image, my self control, my self will. Day to day life is a struggle and each
challenge seems to create another one but I just continue to do my best and put
one foot in front of the other.

I’ve been lucky physically, once i quit drinking and paying attention again I
leveled off with my weight gain. I wish I could say I was the poster child for
taking my vitamins and what I eat but I’m not. I make better choices than I used
to and am fully aware of what I put into my body but sometimes those choices
aren’t good ones.

When I was 400 pounds I used to have to set my alarm 30 minutes before I needed
to get up so that I could take 4 Aleve, ONLY THEN could I get out of bed because
my knees and back hurt so badly. I don’t have that trouble today. Although I am
3 years older than when I had my surgery I do not have the aches and pains that
I did at 400 pounds and I am grateful.

Sooo for those of you that have gone before me, those of you going through
things now and to those of you thinking about future surgery… I say… as
different as each one of us are in our personalities so is this journey for us
individually. Base your choices and decisions from your heart and put one foot
in front of the other… every day, every minute… just don’t stop moving
forward.

To my old friends… I do miss you… life is difficult and it’s hard to look
some of you in the eye… I am working three jobs and volunteering also so my
schedule is filled with work, stuff and sleep… in that order. Keep keepin’ on
and thank you for your amazing voices that still are in my head on those
difficult days!

Hugs, Kary

So much has happened over this past year and the tendency is to make a list of shit to tell you everything… but I am not going to do that… i am going to move forward and the important stuff will come up in conversation as needed. Just know that i’ve been busy, very busy… so busy that on the first day of school a few weeks ago it took me till about 1 pm to sit down and say to myself, “What was i doing in June?”

I’ve said many times it is as simple as lining up 10 different people that have had the same surgery and ask them a simple question such as “Can you eat grapes?”  Because everyone is so completely different you get answers from “Heck no, i get sick right away” all the way to “Oh yeah, I freeze them and can eat them all day!” and every other answer in between.  So remember, if you are on the road to having this surgery your experience is going to be different than mine… take what you can use from my story and leave the rest that doesn’t work for you.

The new posts are at the top, please go to the bottom posting for the start of my journey and read your way up. Feel free to leave a comment or email me directly!  Thanks, Kary

Now that is all the good stuff… let me share the bad stuff. I am bummed that I stopped around the 230 mark and didn’t keep going. I started to drink alcohol only 4 months after my surgery and have learned that I cannot do that! The skin bugs me and there is no possible way we can afford for me to get anything ‘fixed’. And I am NOT the poster child for taking my vitamins but I am working on it!!

Well… that’s a quick update for now… I am working on celebrating the good times… dealing with the bad times and staying in the moment! Sometimes is one moment at a time but most of the time it’s one hour or even one day at a time… cause that’s what life is all about!!

What’s new… We had Amelia’s Quincenera in April! She turned 15 and we had a wonderful party for her! She looked like a princess and acted like a princess! She even sang… you can find her song on YouTube and there are more details on her page here.

Hmmm then we were busy with her play. She is in the Drama program at Newark Memorial High School and they did the production of Les Miserables… it was INCREDIBLE! And not just because she was in it… she was in the ensemble and although she went to all the rehersals and worked very hard and I am a very proud mom… the main singers did a wonderful job! I went to every single performance and the last two nights were standing room only!

Now we are ramping up for the Relay For Life in Hayward. We have a team “Croppin Out Cancer” and we are raising money for the American Cancer Society. It’s been a rough year with that terrible disease in my family. We lost my Uncle Jim in November quickly to it, then in January my step-father, Bill was diagnosed with lung cancer and has been going through treatments. Then recently another family member was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer and we were optimistic until last week when we found out it is also in her liver. I HATE this crappy disease and will continue to fight any possible way I can to help raise money to find a cure. Please go to my “Relay For Life” page to learn more about this year’s event.

Weight Loss… hmmmm I’ve leveled off around 225-230 and have stuck at that. I am feeling GREAT! My hips hurt a bit but that is it, my knee pain is gone and I barely take Tylenol as needed.  Since November I’ve been volunteering once a week at the Fremont Kaiser visiting patients that are having bariatric surgery… that has been very helpful!

Alrighty that’s it for now… i just transfered to this new format for my website and need to learn more about it… check back in later this week to see the progress I’ve made on it!

Thanks, Kary

When we look back I hope that most of us see the good things like weddings, babies, new jobs, new opportunities, new friendships, good health and so many more things that make us happy and joyous. But there are also the hard things like death, job loss, breakups, sickness and more. It is the joy that we have each and every day in our life that keeps us going through those hard times. And when we need it we can call on the strength of our friends and family to help carry us through. In time I have learned that there are things that there are some things we have control over that happen to us but most of the things that happen are not controlled but us, the only thing we have control over is how we go through the situation.

For those of you old enough to remember those old movies that we used to watch in school… you know the ones with actual FILM… the wheel in the front and the wheel in the back… a projector… yeah those… hehe. Remember how now and then those would get stuck and there would be that disturbance in the classroom, the loud clicking, the rush to the projector, the lights going on and the groan from the kids! Well imagine each moment as a frame in that film, we are going along in life good moment to good moment to good moment, then all of a sudden we have BAD moment and things get completely “stuck” and out of control! If we can just calmly stop, take a deep breath, rethread the film, reset things and turn the projector back on… then life will return to normal again and go on to enjoy the rest of the movie.

I do hope that this new year brings wonderful things into your life but I also hope that when things that aren’t so wonderful happen you get through them with the help of the people in your life taking you to the next wonderful frame in your movie and so your movie ends with the wonderful line… “and they lived happily ever after”.

Kary

“We had an incredible meeting for the post-ops on Thursday night and I wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who was there and to Juliette for getting us a place to meet.

We have been talking about the emotional side of eating and we really noticed how much some of us had in common. One of the big ones was the need to be in “control”. This has always been a HUGE issue for me and I am working hard to get a handle on it.

I am 16 months out from my surgery and this has been a huge EMOTIONAL journey for me. I’ve transferred my eating addiction to other addictions and it has hurt me physically as well as mentally since my surgery. It’s exciting to be a part of such an amazing group of people that can share openly their own struggles which helps hold a mirror up for me.

I am an addict and in working on controlling my addictions a couple weeks ago I thought of myself standing on a ‘balance board’, like a board placed on top of a ball. The board could tip at any time, any way and I could turn to food, shopping, alcohol, drugs, etc. There was something missing from my visualization though because I was feeling like a failure for not being good enough to hold my balance, until Thursday night! During the meeting we began talking about co-dependency and someone said “I’ve learned that I don’t have to catch every ball coming at me, that I can let a ball touch the ground once in a while.”.  OH BOY!!!  Now I picture myself standing on my board and trying to catch balls being thrown at me, even reach for some balls that are being thrown to someone else near me. No wonder I’ve lost my balance so many times!!!!

Now, I was soooo pumped from this realization that I came home and told my loving, non addictive husband and his response was… “Why are you standing on a board on a ball, why don’t you just get off the board?” He didn’t get the point and I felt bad about that until I remembered I AM THE ADDICT and being an addict I will always be on the board on the ball. HOWEVER with that help I realized that there are things that I could do to help me keep my balance.

I could stop catching balls that come at me until I am balanced enough and certain that it won’t throw me me off balance. I could get help by putting little supports under my board by going to support groups, reaching out to others for help and finding other things to help my board from tipping. I could strengthen my core by working on myself emotionally, recognizing the things that could set me off balance earlier so that I can correct myself BEFORE going off balance.

This is an amazing incite for myself… almost as good and “I am a Tigger inside an Eeyore suit” and that one helped me decide to have the surgery… so we’ll see where this one takes me. I thought I’d share.

If you’ve gotten this far, thanks for reading this long drawn out story of mine, have a blessed day and see you at the next meeting!

Kary”

September 24, 2009 – 1 year, 1 month post-op (232 pounds)

The trip to Florida was GREAT!!!  For the first time in YEARS i didn’t have to ask for a seat belt extender! I wanted to scream outloud the excitement that I felt when I didn’t pour over into the seat beside me! I wasn’t sweating unbearably and was able to handle my own luggage. I did miss my connection in Miami and my mom and sister had to drive from Ft Myers to get me in the middle of the night (a 4 1/2 hour round trip) and I was freaking out that I was going to be the one to ruin the surprise of the party, but we played it off pretty good and she had a GREAT TIME at her party.

There is a new found energy inside myself because I need to step up to the plate at home right now. We’ve had some physical challenges with Mark and at this point is is unable to work. This is putting a financial strain on us as well as emotionally. He must focus on his health completely so that means I need to kick back into gear here at the apartments but also pick up a part-time job to help make ends meet.

I have found myself doing the old “should have’s” and “could have’s” and catch myself. An example is I said outl oud the other day “I wish I had gotten off my butt the past few years and finally gone to nursing school”. But i had to stop myself. I was 400 pounds I could barely get out of bed and walk to the sofa because of the pain I was in there was NO WAY I could have handled a nursing job on my feet all day. Because I’ve taken off 170 pounds, the pain is mostly gone and my energy level is back up… i need to remember that things are different now and cut myself some slack.

Remembering the 12 step saying “One day at a time”… sometimes it’s “one hour at a time” or even “one minute at a time” …. but no matter what it’s always looking forward not backward!!

Kary

Today is my 45th birthday. I weighed in at 229 pounds. I had a personal goal of 185 and got pretty stuck mentally because I did not reach the goal. However today is a new day and I am excited about the weight I did lose and how I am feeling.

I was 200 pounds when I graduated high school and so being this close to that so many years later feels really great! The vitamin regiment is good, the rashes are gone and tomorrow I get on a plane for the first time and I am nervous and excited to see how I do in an airplane seat!

My sister is turning 50 years old and we are having a surprise party for her. I am flying to Florida for the weekend as a surprise, meeting our mom and two Aunts and her best friends have organized an amazing party for her. This is significant because we grew up in a religion that didn’t celebrate birthdays and Kyra has never been married. Think about it… I do believe this is the FIRST party for and about her!!  I’ll be sure to post pictures when i get home and let everyone know how I did on the plane!

I want to say thank you to everyone that checks in on my progress and has been so supportive over the past year. I tell anyone and everyone that I discuss this surgery with… for ME… this journey has been much more mental than it has been physical. Learning to eat differently hasn’t been as much as my issue is as dealing with the emotional side of losing the weight, why i gained the weight in the first place, and how to deal with the bumps in the road along the journey.

Again, thank you to each of you that have listened, suggested and even kicked me in the butt… I needed each and every one of you.

Hugs, Kary