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I was asked me why I went ahead with weight loss surgery despite my (at the time) success with losing weight. :) I'll try my best to answer.
1. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in April of that year. Surgery was successful, but the doctor told me that breast cancer has been linked to obesity, and he said I needed to drop the weight quickly. At that point, I didn't know any better than to ALWAYS listen to my doctor.. no questions asked.
2. Upbringing. My parents ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS harped on my weight. Sometimes I think I got so big just to spite them. Even as a size 6 teenaged cheerleader, I was told that I should only eat dry toast and tea three or four days a week to "get those last pesky pounds off" so that I could "finally be the pretty girl that was trapped inside". When offered what I thought would be an easy weight loss alternative, I was ALL OVER THAT.
3. The weight loss only came after I entered the pre-surgery program and I used the "magic surgery" as motivation. I was able to stick to a ridiculously strict diet only because I knew there were going to be almost immediate results.
For the record, surgery is NOT the magic easy pill that people think it is. (This is all based on my PERSONAL experience.. everyone that has had surgery has a different experience)
The initial weight loss is easy, sure. You can't eat more than 4 bites of food and anything with carbs or sugar makes you feel like you are dying. When your caloric intake is around 400 calories a day and you are fighting to even stay hydrated, the weight just falls off. That lasts for a few months. Some of the icky side effects of weight loss surgery stick around forever (at least they did with me). I still can't eat anything sugary. It makes me ill. Too many carbs also make me ill. Weirdly, it seems to be specific foods. Like Ramen. Never a good food choice to begin with, but if I eat ONE bite of any sort of Ramen, I react very badly. Soda is another one on the "can NEVER have again" list. Which is okay with me at this point. I don't really miss it at all. Pizza is alright, though. And, if it is a thin crust pizza, I can eat more of that than just about any other food. Pizza and chips are danger foods for me.
After the first year or so, you are able to eat a bit more and the caloric malabsorption goes away. You STILL can't absorb some vitamins well, though.. so, although you can easily gain the weight back, you still need to take quite a few supplements.
All of that being said, I am not sorry that I had the surgery. It did help me lose a massive amount of weight (like 220 lbs in total). It taught me that being thin wasn't the answer to being happy. (A lesson I don't think I could have learned any other way). And it still keeps me away from the worst of the foods. Also, after the first 8 months or so, I had to really keep a healthy diet to maintain my weight. I still eat a fairly healthy diet, but not quite AS strict and after my hysterectomy, a "fairly" healthy diet just wasn't enough. I immediately started gaining between 2 and 6 pounds per week no matter what I did. That seems to have stopped, but it left me sitting at just under 200 lbs.
So, now I am struggling to get back to stricter and healthier eating habits. (I hesitate to call it a diet). Also, I want to get into things that always sounded fun to me, but I was scared to do.. like hiking, maybe even zipline. I am getting older and I want to LIVE before I die.
I hope that answered your questions without coming off as lame, preachy or TOO boring.
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633 kcal
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Fat: 49.86g | Prot: 30.78g | Carbs: 24.14g.
Breakfast: Bob's Red Mill Chia Seed, Sugar in the Raw Stevia in the Raw, Lucerne Heavy Whipping Cream, Decaffeinated Coffee, Coffee (Brewed From Grounds). Lunch: Pictsweet 3 Pepper & Onion Blend, Bacon (Cured, Pan-Fried, Cooked), Scrambled Egg (Whole, Cooked). more...
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