“The most amazing thing that happened after surgery, was when my young son hugged me and looked at me in a amazement and said, “Mom, my arms fit all the way around you and touch in the back!!! It was both touching and yet heart wrenching because it made me realize just how much of my life I’d let pass me by because of my weight. I will never regret the decision to have this surgery.”
My story is a lot like so many others. I was obese as a child and never learned good eating habits. I was raised in a household where good southern cooking was the norm and everything was cooked in grease (even the veggies) and the portions were huge. After my Dad committed suicide when I was 9, things really got out of hand.
I was over 200 lbs by the time I was 14 and that was way before it was so common to see obese kids and teens. I went on my first diet when I was about 14, when my mom bought into the Cambridge liquid diet hype. I tried that, I tried low calorie diets, low fat diets, more liquid diets, Nutri System, Diet Light, Prism, Weight Watchers, etc… some with some successes, but most not lasting for more than a couple months at most. As most people do, I’d always gain back the weight and add on some more. After I had my 4th child, I weighed 321 lbs and went on Weight Watchers.
I did a lot of research online and decided that gastric bypass was what I needed to do. I had my surgery in April 2009. I had lost some weight before hand and weighed 278 on surgery day. I had an easy recovery from surgery and was back to work 4 weeks later. I’m 18 months out from surgery now and weigh 164. I am still losing though, and plan to get down to about 140-145. I look and feel healthy now though and am amazed every day by how different things are from when I was morbidly obese. I can walk into a room and don’t have to look for a chair that I can fit into.
I can sit in any car and be sure the seat belt will fit. I can shop for clothing in any dept. store. I can go into a restaurant and not worry that I am going to block the walkways when I sit down in a crowded area.
* Please note – Results and individual symptoms may vary.
