Quick Stats –

Name: Katelyn Wilson

Age: 20

Height: 5’4

Weight: 257 lbs.

BMI: 44.1

Food Weaknesses: Anything fried, cake

Ideal target goal: 145 lbs.

 

“I started getting fat around 17.”

For a girl who used to comfortably slide on size eight jeans, that statement was a hard one for 20-year-old UNA student Katelyn Wilson to recall.

“In one year I had gone up to a size 12, and just two years later I now wear a size 18.”

In January, Wilson will undergo lap band surgery to assist with her weight loss goals. Just eight months before that, her roommate and best friend Erica Finn will have gastric bypass surgery.

The two girls, who have long considered other means to losing their weight, are at a crossroads in their lives. They can’t seem to lose weight on their own, so they’ll both be taking drastic measures to slim down.

The weight gain has been such a struggle for Wilson, because she said she knows how good she used to look, and never dreamed her body would ever look like this.

“I just recently gave up a two-piece [swim suit], and I know I should’ve a long time ago,” she said. “But it was like I didn’t want to admit it to myself.”

Trying everything from Nutrisystem to Adderal, Wilson finally went to have some blood tests this past fall to determine a reason for her excessive weight gain.

“And I found out I had Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome,” Wilson said.

PCOS is often associated with excessive weight gain. But for Wilson, she had more at stake than simply not looking like a super model around the pool.

“My doctor said if I continued my habits for the next year, I’d be a diabetic,” she said. “And that was my wakeup call. I knew I needed to do something.”

She said she didn’t want to do something as drastic as gastric bypass, so her doctor suggested the lap band surgery.

Wilson will undergo the lap band surgery, which places a band around the upper part of the stomach, dividing it. This will likely decrease food intake, and give the feeling of appetite satisfaction. Finn will undergo a gastric bypass procedure, where the stomach is made smaller to allow food to bypass part of the small intestine, which is where most calories and nutrients are absorbed. In this case, the hospital stay and recovery are longer than those who have the lap band surgery.

Wilson’s outpatient surgery was scheduled to be done during UNA’s spring break, but because of insurance complications, it will be taking place in January. She is hoping to drop 60 lbs. in the first six weeks. She also knows that to achieve that, a lifestyle change is in order.

“Snacks usually replace well-balanced meals for me these days, and I’ll have to quit eating out so much,” said Wilson. “I’ve always exercised, but I’ll have to step that up even more if I want to reach my goals.”

She said her body image isn’t just in the back of her mind, but always consumes it. Wilson hates running into people who knew her as a skinny girl at Bob Jones High School.

“People aren’t as accepting of bigger people, and it definitely affects my personal relationships,” she admitted.

Wilson’s kept two pairs of her old size eight pants as inspiration. The rest of her clothes have been replaced with long, loose T-shirts, sweatpants and empire-waist dresses. As her surgery gets closer, she’s more anxious than anything else.

“I’m ready to see results,” she said. “I look in the mirror now and wonder how I let myself get this big.”