10 years ago

I got an email last night reminding me that April 15 was my ten-year anniversary since having my RNY. On the morning of surgery I weighed 379lbs. I had none of the traditional side effects of the excess weight in regards to blood pressure, blood sugar, etc. but I was 27yrs old and couldn't walk through the mall without stopping at every single bench. I have no doubts that within 5yrs my body was going to start giving out in a huge way.

I know a lot of people think that gastric bypass is the "easy way" out. A lot of them don't see that weight loss as any sort of accomplishment at all because it was through surgery. This upsets me. I weighed almost FOUR HUNDRED pounds. I was a ticking time bomb. There was NO WAY I could have lost that weight on my own. I couldn't exercise. I couldn't change my eating habits. Sure, other people may have been able to; but there was no way I could have.

After having surgery I lost almost 120lbs. Before surgery my surgeon told me that he didn't do as drastic a bypass as they do in the states and therefore losing the first hundred pounds would be easy because of the surgery but the last hundred pounds or so would be up to changes I made. I consider my surgery a success. I lost almost 120lbs. I stopped letting my weight be the main focus of my life. I gained a lot of self-esteem. I had two children. I gained about 12-14lbs with each of my pregnancies and lost it soon after.

After my husband left us when our youngest was 13 month (we had been together 11.5yrs) my weight did creep up over the next few years. I "played" Game On early in 2011 and was disappointed to see my starting weight as 291lbs. I am loathe to admit it, but I did gain back a small amount of the weight I had lost after my surgery.

Fast forward to yesterday. 10 years post-op. Wow. That's such a huge concept to me. Enough for another post for sure; but I do need to reflect on the fact that as of yesterday, I have lost 146lbs total since the day of my surgery. I have lost 58lbs of that due to my sheer determination and willpower. I have been tracking my food and exercising my ass off for about a year now and I am damn proud of both of my weight loss accomplishments!

A Brief History of Me

I feel like I was always destined to be fat. I was an average sized newborn, but by the time I was three my mom had written in my baby book "a very heavy weight!". I spent my entire childhood fat. I was a fat teenager. I was a fat young adult. By the time I met my now ex-husband I was over 300lbs. When I had gastric bypass surgery in 2002 at age 28, I was 379lbs. My surgeon had explained to me that the surgery would help me lose about half my excess weight but the rest would be up to changes I made to my diet and exercise.

After my RNY I lost weight fairly quickly and in less than a year I was at my lowest adult weight of 262lbs. I had two children, my husband left me for a girl he met online, I hit rock-bottom, then started to pull myself out of the doldrums.

In January 2011 I was back up to 291lbs and I had a new doctor. Of course, he mentioned my weight on my initial visit and he wanted me to do something about it. I figured that I was finally at a point where I was ready to put in some effort into my health so I agreed.