A woman who felt ‘trapped’ in her body after years of struggling with diabetes and depression due to her weight has lost a whopping 178 pounds in two and a half years after undergoing weight loss surgery.
Kathleen Golding, 26, from North Carolina, grew up struggling with her weight and hit 331 pounds when she was 23 years old. She developed anxiety and depression, which made her turn to food for comfort.
After coping with a variety of health problems and taking high blood pressure medication at the age of 23, Kathleen, a photographer and operations manager, decide to make a drastic lifestyle change.
Past: Kathleen Golding, 26, from North Carolina, grew up struggling with her weight and hit 331 pounds when she was 23 years old
Transformation: After undergoing gastric bypass surgery and changing her lifestyle, Kathleen now weighs 153 pounds and is a size six
She booked in for gastric bypass surgery, a surgical procedure where staples are used to create a small pouch at the top part of the stomach. She now weighs 153 pounds and is a size six.
‘I have struggled with weight my entire life. Everyone in my family has a weight issue at some point so it’s not something that just kind of crept up on me,’ Kathleen said.
‘I started to notice I was bigger compared to other kids in the first grade.
‘By the fourth grade, I was about thirty pounds heavier than the doctor said I should be so my mom got a note from my pediatrician, so I could start the Weight Watchers program.
‘That was my first ever diet. My weight went up and down throughout my teen years and then I started to struggle with depression and anxiety around the age of 21.
‘I started binge eating as a coping mechanism and gained 100 pounds in one year. I was 331 pounds when I was 23.
Tipping point: After coping with a variety of health problems and taking high blood pressure medication at the age of 23, Kathleen decide to make a drastic lifestyle change
Decision: Kathleen coped with a variety of health issues before deciding to have the surgical procedure, during which staples are used to create a small pouch at the top of the stomach
‘I felt trapped in my body. I knew it was 100 per cent my fault for letting myself get to that point and that made me feel even worse.
‘It was like I was watching my youth pass me by and I was miserable. There were so many things I couldn’t do — I couldn’t fit in roller coaster seats, I couldn’t fit in most clothes, I couldn’t wear high heels.
‘I couldn’t sit comfortably in movie theater seats, I couldn’t walk up a flight of stairs — the list honestly goes on and on.
‘I was wasting years of my life, and I had convinced myself I wasn’t strong enough to make a change and that just fueled my depression.
‘There wasn’t a deciding moment. It was so many things that finally led to me saying “enough is enough”. I was taking high blood pressure medication at the age of 23 and I was a diabetic.
‘My joints ached from the massive amount of weight I was carrying around and I had zero confidence.
‘It also didn’t help that we live in a world where you are constantly told that you only matter if you’re thin and beautiful. I felt worthless. I wanted to be healthy, but I knew I needed help.’
Looking back: ‘I was wasting years of my life, and I had convinced myself I wasn’t strong enough to make a change and that just fueled my depression,’ Kathleen said
Remarks: Because she decided to undergo weight loss surgery, Kathleen has received negative comments from people who believe she didn’t have to work to shed the pounds
Clapping back: To those remarks, she responds that weight loss surgery doesn’t necessarily equate immediate weight loss
Because she decided to undergo weight loss surgery, Kathleen has received negative comments from people who believe she didn’t have to work to shed the pounds.
To those remarks, she responds that weight loss surgery doesn’t necessarily equate immediate weight loss.
‘I lost the weight because I made a drastic lifestyle change. Unfortunately, that statement right there is going to make some people mad because I had gastric bypass surgery,’ Kathleen said.
‘What those same people fail to understand is that you don’t wake up 179 pounds lighter after having the surgery and massive, sustained weight loss is not a guarantee.
‘I’ve completely changed my relationship with food and how I view my body because of what I’ve done. Hours of time in the gym and the kitchen are the reason I lost the weight.
‘Losing weight has without a doubt changed every single aspect of my life. My number one reason for the weight loss has always been to get healthy.
‘I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t love being a smaller size and how clothes fit me now, but the ultimate goal was always to be healthy.
Changes: ‘I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t love being a smaller size and how clothes fit me now, but the ultimate goal was always to be healthy,’ Kathleen (pictured with her husband) said
Tough: Kathleen said the hardest part of her weight loss journey was to change her relationship with food and begin to see it more as ‘fuel’
‘I am learning to love myself but it’s definitely a process. There are days where I am so unbelievably proud of everything I’ve accomplished and then there are days that I focus on every single flaw.’
The toughest process for Kathleen was mentally weening herself away from unhealthy food to feed her emotions.
‘The mental aspect was without a doubt the hardest thing about losing weight. Food has always been my comforter and friend,’ she said.
‘I would eat to celebrate, eat when I was sad, eat when I was angry, etc. Having to stop viewing food as a treat and see it more as fuel for my body was extremely hard. Now I don’t eat because it tastes good, I eat so I feel good.
‘People are always shocked. I never realized how big I had gotten until I lost the weight. I didn’t have one area that was a “problem” area. You can see from my pictures that everywhere was a problem area.
‘My favorite though is when people tell me that what’s on the outside now matches what was on the inside because I had this big personality, but my lack of confidence always held me back.
‘You have to do this for yourself. It can’t be for your family or your significant other. There are going to be days where you just want to completely give up and you have to reach deep down and pull out that inner strength that only comes from being totally committed.’