Gutsy Friday Females: Stephanie Auch

Just after having my 3^rd child and only daughter I was mortified to realize in the OBGYN’s office that their scale only went up to 420 lbs. They couldn’t even get an accurate weight on me and inside I was horrified, shamed, and infuriated at myself. I had some complications with all my pregnancies but the last one left me with extremely high blood pressure that did not go away after delivery. This meant that I was on medication for my BP, high cholesterol, and a pill because my blood sugar had me breaking the threshold into Type II diabetes as well. I had a sad reality check that for probably the last 5 years I had only been looking in the mirror to put my makeup on and ignoring the rest…

I battled weight my entire life and I never ever was a normal weight considered healthy but had steadily gone from overweight as a teen to obese to morbidly obese in the past 20 years. It was a wakeup call that I might live to see my 3 beautiful kids grow up so I knew I had to do something.

At the same time this very rude awakening was coming to light my husband lost his business of 16 years and I had not finished college and was home with 3 small kids. We almost had foreclosed on our home and the floor was being ripped out from under us. I took control of myself and began my journey, which had many ups and downs as I returned to college and it turned the corner when I had a Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy on August 13^th 2010. It saved my life and I have lost over 250 lbs. It didn’t do it for me, which is important to note! Many people think that weight loss surgery does all the work and I’m here to tell you that is a misconception. It is a wonderful tool for those who have had long term struggle with severe obesity but everyday you make the choice what to put in your body and whether you move your butt or not. I am sure everyone knows someone who has had WLS and gained the weight back. This will NEVER be my story and I thank God everyday for the wonderful gift I was able to get to take control of myself again.

Since this is body image week there are a few things I’d like to say that helped me succeed in this journey and they probably are not what you would think. I had to grow into my skin when I was heavy before I could grow back out of it. I had to really put together the person in the mirror and accept the horrible self talk I had been giving her in my head for years. I grieved her and laid her to rest the day I had my surgery and I changed not only my eating habits, my exercise, my attitude but I also forgave and began to love who I am and vowed to just be me and know that that is way more than good enough!

Here I am today and am living loud and proud and participating with my kids and husband in EVERYTHING! When I had hit 215 lbs lost a year ago I celebrated by skydiving! How’s that for gutsy!

I plan to do an update once a month as I was accepted to Nursing school and start in 2 weeks and want to show everyone how I can not only keep myself healthy but also how to juggle an 8, 6, and 4 year old while going to school full-time with 3 cats, a dog, a husband, and a house that we were so blessed to keep! My life may be imperfect and comical to say the least but it’s all mine and I love every minute I’m here to share it!