Describe your behavioral and emotional battle with weight control before learning about bariatric surgery.
As far back as I can remember, I have always been fat. I would much rather sit and read than do anything that could make me sweat. My parents tried to make me exercise and eat healthy since I was a child. I got put on my first diet when I was about 9 years old, and pretty much spent the rest of my childhood and young adulthood rebelling against the fact that they wanted me to lose weight. I started menstruating at about 10 years old, and didn't like being different. I think at least some of the appeal of the added pounds were that they made me invisible in school.
I felt a strange safety in being fat.
I would gain weight and then stay stable for years, try to lose a little or get stressed out for a long time, and gain more. My last major diet was South Beach. I lost 30 pounds, but got bored in less than a year and gained 50 back.
I finally started looking at alternatives when my hygiene was affected and diabetes kept looming on the near horizon. I decided first on plication, but changed to gastric sleeve due to more experience with this WLS and the fact that a good part of ghrelin production is removed. Since my insurance doesn't pay for any WLS, I borrowed money from my 401k plan, since it looked like otherwise, I probably wouldn't live to retire.
What was (is) the worst thing about being overweight?
Self-concsiousness. I love swimming and going to the beach. This was a huge part of my childhood. As my weight increased, my willingness to expose myself in a swimming suit decreased.
Bumping into people or things because not enough room is left to walk through.
Being afraid I stink all the time because of a chronic yeast infection in thigh creases and under-arms, among other reasons.
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 just had my gastric sleeve done, so I haven't gotten to do anything fun yet. I'm still waiting for the swelling to go down. I had to ask for a seat belt extender on the flights back home. Something I hadn't had to do before, but at least will never have to do again.
elaine-is-ready
