Before & After VSG with Melanie, losing 170 pounds!
March 28, 2017Why I Decided to Have Bariatric Surgery
I was overweight pretty much my entire life. I always played sports and was generally active as a kid, so it never got too out of hand. When I went away to college and lost all of that "built-in" activity, I started to develop a larger weight problem, which continued after I graduated.
Since I was 12 years old, I would go through periods throughout my life of being more fitness-focused, I went to weight loss camp in high school for a summer, and I tried pretty much every diet, working with a nutritionist, hypnosis, etc., but I really couldn’t stick with any of it. I would constantly lose some weight doing something and then "fall off" and gain it all back, plus some.
In college, my activity level seriously decreased and I gained a lot of weight from drinking, partying, eating whatever and whenever – just living a pretty typical, unhealthy college lifestyle. In my first few years out of college, I was in a really stressful job that I thought was my dream, and I pretty much gave everything and all of me to that job. I lost sight of who I was, and who I wanted to be outside of my career, and essentially lost myself. I wasn’t working out and was eating pretty much whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, with no consideration for my health, my body, how it was affecting me, and how it was affecting my life as a whole.
Before & After VSG with Melanie
Name: Melanie B.
Total Weight Loss: 170 pounds
Surgery Type: VSG
Surgery Date: February 12, 2015
Surgeon: Dr. Alfons Pomp
Having Surgery and Life as a Post-Op
By the summer of 2014, I was in a truly unhealthy place, and I had no idea what to do about. It was the first time in my life that I really felt like I had a legitimate problem that was bigger than myself and that I had literally no control over.
This is when I decided that I needed to take some real action, and weight loss surgery felt like the way I could really take control and figure out my life. I had my surgery with Dr. Pomp in February of 2015, and it was the best decision I’ve ever made. It was the catalyst and tool that I needed to really be successful with weight loss. In small steps, I literally changed everything about my life, including how I ate, how I worked out, and here I am today!
My Milestones and Non-Scale Victories
There are so many! I would say the biggest milestone and NSV is that I am now at the point that I’ve had 2 plastic surgeries for skin removal. It is so amazing to know that 16 pounds of excess skin have been removed from my body in the past eight months, because of all my hard work and dedication to myself.
Some others include:
- Flying comfortably without a seatbelt extender
- Riding every/any rollercoaster without any concern about if I’ll fit in the seat
- My size 6 jean size/loving my body in general
- I have had a lot of cool features/interviews recently related to my weight loss/lifestyle change, which is awesome. Here are two of my favorites: Barenecessities and Swervefitness
Share Your Before & After Success!
Celebrate your own Before & After WLS Success, milestones, non-scale victories, and inspire others! The OH team wants to hear from you to share your weight loss surgery journey. Visit our Before & After Submission page for details.
