So I have heard all these wonderful results people are having with gastric bypass and LAP band procedures and I think to myself…I have struggled for years trying to lose weight. I have tried every diet I can think of but the weight keeps coming back. I am going to go forward with this..after all, I want to live a long and healthy life and getting this weight off is the start. Not to mention at my last doctor’s appointment I was 281 and my blood pressure was slightly elevated – which I have low blood pressure so that is more than slightly elevated for me.
I look up information. I sign up for the information meeting. I go to my first meeting all excited that I am on the right track to changing my life for the better when they hit me with the news. I have to lose weight before I can have weight loss surgery! What the heck is that all about?! If I could lose weight and keep it off why would I be here in the first place?! On top of that I have to lose between 3 and 8% of my body weight before I can even be considered?! You have to be kidding me?!
Okay, so I try to calm myself down and realize I have lost weight before I can do this even if I have to go to extreme measures to do so. I go to my first dietary meeting and I weigh in at 278 – wahoo! I have already started losing weight! Then I find out I have to lose 5% of my body weight. 14 pounds! How am I going to lose 14 pounds?!
Apparently somewhere along the line someone misunderstood our cry for help. Lose weight before weight loss surgery…isn’t that a concept? Because I want this I decide to bite the bullet and jump on board.
Now let me tell you something right here and right now. If anyone ever tells you that by opting for weight loss surgery you are taking the easy way out, you have my permission to slap them! Easy way out! I don’t think I have ever worked so hard for anything in my life! Meetings, dietary visits, lifestyle change classes, psychological evaluations, etc. The next step is probably going to be security clearance!
I have seen many people try to lose the weight and fail and give up on the surgery so I took my job of losing weight very seriously. I want this more than anything and it is up to me to make it happen. Also, if I cannot be successful now, the changes I needed to make will not help me be successful after the surgery. I don’t want that! So I have to change how I eat now so that I will not fall back to where I was after the surgery making the wrong choices. I have to start an exercise routine because after the surgery exercise will be a huge key in my success at weight loss. I want to be successful!
