Before & After RNY with Carlos, down 185 pounds!
May 26, 2020Why I Decided to Have WLS: Before & After RNY with Carlos
My name is Carlos Otero and I'm glad to share my journey in this Before & After RNY with Carlos article. I started my weight loss journey over 18 years ago, and I weighed 403lbs. I’ve been overweight my whole life. Growing up wasn’t fun.
I was one of those kids that got picked last to be on a team, got made fun of for being fat and I even had to sit at a table rather than a regular desk. Buying clothes was the worst. I never had regular size clothes I had to go to the big and tall stores.
As a kid I had always wanted some "under-roos," but they didn't make them in my size. From childhood to adolescence getting around to do normal activities was starting to get difficult. I like going camping, but even that started to get difficult because I couldn't really set up a tent anymore, plus, it was too hard to get off the ground.
I liked going to Disneyland, but even that was getting to be too hard to do. I couldn't walk around as much without my back and knees hurting and me having to stop and rest every 10 minutes.
My life changed when I ended up in the hospital and the doctor told me I had high blood pressure and diabetes. I was devastated. Diabetes is no joke. I hated taking insulin shots four times a day plus taking a lot of pills. I tried dieting and going to the gym, I did the yo-yo thing, losing and gaining weight.
I lost some weight but wasn't truly committed, and didn't have my mindset to do it right. I realized I couldn't do it myself and needed help. I decided it was time to lose some weight and started researching various bariatric surgery procedures.
Before & After RNY with Carlos
Name: Carlos
Total Weight Lost: 185 lbs.
Type of Surgery: RNY
Name of Surgeon: Dr. Robert Schuster MD, FACS
My Surgery and Post-Op Life
I consulted with a couple of physicians, went to a few support group meetings, and heard the people there talk about their success stories and had decided that Dr. Blackstone, would do my lap band procedure. It was what I needed to do. It seemed like it would work for me too. It also seemed better than cutting most of my stomach away. I had the lap band procedure done in 2005, and lost 85 pounds. It slowed my eating down but I could still eat a lot.
Over the next 10 years, I started to regain weight because I started overeating and mostly ate the same bad foods. And, with the regaining of my weight, the weight was too much for my back and I got sciatica and with that also got depressed. I was mad at myself for regaining the weight and more. I knew this wasn’t working for me.
I decided I needed to get focused and start going to some therapy and find a support group. I went to Community Bridges and found Dr. Schuster, who worked with me. We decided that the gastric bypass was best for me, so it was done on November 20th of 2017.
My mind is refocused and set right, I go to the gym at least three times a week, I watch what I eat, I don't drink sodas or eat anything that has sugar.
Special Milestones & Non-Scale Victories
My life has changed for the better. I don't have diabetes anymore. No more injections… no more pills. My doctor says he wants to try and see how well I do without my high blood pressure pills. I don’t have to buy clothes online or go to big and tall stores anymore, I can buy clothes at a regular store.
I now go to Disneyland at least two to three times a year. I'm catching up on all the fun that I missed out on when I was too big to do anything. I go camping again, but this time I go to explore by hiking and mountain climbing. There's nothing that limits me from doing anything physical.
There's no shame in asking for help. I wish I could've done this years ago.
In all, I've lost a total of 185lbs. and my journey isn't over. I still have 40 pounds to go. I want to get down to 180lbs.
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