Celebrating a Non-Scale Victory – Building the Confidence to Run
July 6, 2015"Having the VSG has been the best decision I have ever made for my health and my family." ~ Michelle Sierzega
OH Member, Michelle Sierzega, had the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy (VSG) weight loss surgery procedure on January 26th, 2012, and lost 185 pounds. While the number of pounds Michelle has lost is amazing, so is overcoming her fear of failing at exercising as something she wouldn't be able to do. Michelle's non-scale victory (NSV) is overcoming that fear and running fast-forward to another NSV in October 2015.
Even though Michelle started her journey in 2011 when she made the decision to pursue having the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy, she really began the process a couple of years earlier. Michelle works for a bariatric surgeon so she watched patients go from pre-op, have weight loss surgery, and lead healthier, happier lives. She saw patients were making a difference in their co-morbid conditions too. Patients were changing their lives right before her eyes, and Michelle wanted the same for herself. After going to her doctor for a yearly physical, Michelle was told she was borderline diabetic and her cholesterol was highly elevated. Michelle's family has a history of diabetes and high cholesterol so Michelle decided it was time to make some serious changes. On January 26, 2012, Dr. Ryan Heider of Lake Norman Regional Medical Center, performed Michelle's VSG weight loss surgery.
Celebrating a Non-Scale Victory - Building the Confidence to Run
"I’ve never been into exercising, so I never thought much about it until after I’d had WLS. I knew since I was losing weight I was going to need to tone-up. The reason I never exercised was because I didn’t think I could do it. Since I was scared, I bought a couple of the Biggest Loser videos so I could do them at home, with no one around in case I didn’t succeed. I surprised myself by getting all the way through the video but I was exhausted. Refusing to give up, I continued doing them three times a week to begin with. Every day got a little easier. After a month of doing the different videos, my confidence began to build and I decided it was time to try something that I’d always wanted to do but never believed I would - could I run? Once again, I started off slow. I did a combination of walking and running - honestly, more walking than running. Over time, that changed and I was running more than walking and finally it was all running! One of the girls I work with asked me if I wanted to do a 5K with her. I knew it was time to test the waters so I said I would. I don’t remember my time of that first 5k but that doesn’t matter. As the photo shows, what matters is that I DID IT! I now run four times a week and I’m running in my first half marathon in October 2015." ~ Michelle
After losing 185 pounds, Michelle feels so much healthier now. She loves to run races, exercise, spend time with her family-especially her two children, and have an overall more active life. Michelle maintains her weight by eating a healthy diet, exercise regularly and enjoy a new sense of well-being every day. This past year, Michelle was finally able to go and have excess skin removed from her abdomen. Her next surgery will be to have the excess skin removed from her thighs. Michelle loves the fact that she now has the energy to do things with family and friends that she wasn't able to do before. Michelle has overcome her fear that she would fail at exercise and now has a new confidence that, yes, she can run!
Michelle is sharing her weight loss surgery journey as a member of the Grad Panel at the ObesityHelp National Conference 2015, in Raleigh, North Carolina, on October 16-17, 2015.
Photo credits: Michelle Sierzega
