Describe your behavioral and emotional battle with weight control before learning about bariatric surgery.
I basically felt like a failure. I was trying to stick to a diet or exercise routine, and failing at that. I kept going to my family doctor, asking for a referral for bariatric surgery, but he kept telling me that I should be able to do this on my own. It was just a matter of eating less and moving more.
I was on medication for depression. I felt like i was being suffocated by my weight. Every thought, every action, every single thing in my life was affected by my feelings about myself.
What was (is) the worst thing about being overweight?
Feeling out of place no matter where I was. Feeling like everyone was looking at, and judging me. It was my own poor self esteem and judgment against myself, that I was seeing in other people's eyes, I now realize.
I hated being the victim of plus size fashion overlords, who decide that, because you're obese, you have to dress like an old woman, and you have some bottomless purse to pay exorbitant prices for ugly clothes.
If you have had weight loss surgery already, what things do you most enjoy doing now that you weren't able to do before?
I love being able to do what needs to be done, without feeling like i'm dying.
I love being able to tie my shoes or put on a pair of pantyhose without it being a huge ordeal. I love being able to put on a seatbelt when i'm in the back seat of someone else's car, and i loooooooooove being able to flip open my gas tank door without opening the door of the car and leaning way out!
I love being active and feeling like I'm a part of the world again. I feel like I belong to society.
I love calling myself a Runner. With a capital R. And, knowing that if I need to, I can run for my life.
I love being able to go into a "normal" store and try on clothes and know that they fit. I no longer just buy something because its the right size, and it covers everything up.
I feel sexy again, I feel vital, I feel alive. I no longer feel like the real me is covered under a costume of fat. I smile more, I laugh more and I don't hide at home. I go out and want to be amongst people.
Monica M.
