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Goals

To love and accept myself just as I am.

1 Person
 in progress, 
0 People
 achieved this

be the spokesperson for healthy lifestyle post-op.

0 People
 in progress, 
1 Person
 achieved this
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Surgeon Testimonial

Daniel Davis, M.D.
Dr. Daniel Davis is my hero! Dr. Davis is a skilled, laproscopic surgeon. He handled my unusual case with determination and superior ability. His bedside manner is kind, friendly, and professional. Because of his confidence in handling difficult cases, I felt I was in expert hands with Dr. Davis. After consulting with 5 different surgeons, none of whom were confident they could take-down an old Kuzmak gastric band, a friend suggested I pursue THE BEST surgeon in the area from NY Presbyterian at Columbia. I'm sure glad I did! I have recovered nicely and am losing weight easily. Dr. Davis' practitioner, Gio Dugay, gives me the attention and care I need. When I was hospitalized post op practitioner Gio Dugay was at my bedside as often as possible, Dr. Davis, Dr.Bessler and their team worked super hard to ensure my recovery. Dr. Davis' administrative assistant, Kristen, administrator of their office in Ridgewood, NJ was friendly and on the ball! I give this surgical team the highest possible rating for expertise in handling difficult cases like mine and patients in general. They are truly the BEST!.................... {{My first WLS was perfomed by Dr. Lubomyr Kuzmak who gave me one of the first Adjustable Gastric Bands in 1988. I required a revision in 1993. Both the initial gastric banding and the revision were done with full, OPEN surgical incisions that left me full of adhesions and scar tissue.rnAfter AGB (Adjustable Gastric Banding) surgery I realized that Dr. Kuzmak did not fully explain the nature of how the lap band supposedly decreases food intake. I was told I would feel \"full\" or \"satisfied\" after eating a small amount of food. Instead, after eating or drinking even a tiny amount of anything,rnI immediately felt the need to vomit.rnDr. Kuzmak told me to AVOID eating or drinking soft foods because the wholernpoint of the operation was to eat dense foods thatrnI would not be able to tolerate so that I would eat only a forkful or so for any given meal.rnEven that forkful would not stay down and I rnvomitted for a year after the initial gastric banding until my insides were so inflamed, the band had to be replaced.rnI believe that Dr. Kuzmak failed to provide referrals to professionals who could address rnthe cure of my compulsive over eating. Dr. Kuzmak rninsisted on keeping my band super tight because he told me I was a \"poor candidate\" for surgery to begin with and would most likely defeat the surgery. Dr. Kuzmak reprimanded me for not losing weight atrnthe expected pace. He retired without referring me to a surgeon who might be willing to reverse the band (thoughrnthe reversibility of the operation was onernof its selling points). When I contacted Dr. Bertha, the surgeon who supposedly adopted Kuzmak's practice, he was unwilling to even see me for a consult.}}.....................................rnrnDr. Davis had the complex task of 'taking down' the old AGB installed by Kuzmak. Although I was on the operating table for longer than anticipated, Dr. Davis was able to keep me closed and complete the surgery laproscopically! Dr. Davis performed the 'take down' and the Bypass that has helped me to save my own life. I believe Dr. Davis is one of the few surgeons in this country who could have handled my case successfully.rn
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belovedideas's Blog
belovedideas's Blog

eat your fatty protein!!
posted on 7/10/09 12:10 pm

healthy like a watch

Proud to be part of Real Food Wednesdays! (click here)
thanks to nataliedee.com
 
I've tried a lot of stuff in 3 years.
This blog just nicks the surface of my struggles to be....what?
Thin?
Small?
Not fat?

Was there ever a time in my life when I really wanted to be healthy?
I SAID I wanted to be healthy, but really I wanted to be thin.
To be thin meant to be socially acceptable, attractive, worthy and even enviable.
I'm finally getting to the point where I value my health more than I value my dress size.

All it takes is losing something.
Sometimes you have to lose something so you can realize its value.
I lost my health.
Now I understand the value of being able to wake, walk and function!
Thin??
You can't be serious.
Not after what I've been through this summer.
Thin is no longer the goal.
Healthy is the goal.

But but but...don't we all believe that we have to be thin to be healthy?
That's the bill of goods I was sold all my life.
My fat body was automatically judged to be an unhealthy mess.

In my efforts to take off the offending fat I ruined my health.

I won't even touch on the weight loss surgeries right now.
In a nutshell? Disasters.

What I do wish to touch on is the pride I took in eating virtually NO FAT for almost 2 and a half years.
It wasn't just that I was eating diet foods with tons of sugar or fake sugar with the words NON-FAT emblazoned on the label.
I was eating tons of whole grains, tofu, red sauce, fruit, vegetables, rice cakes, egg beaters, skim milk, soy milk, sugar free jello, sugar free ice pops, diet foods...and for what?

Sure I took off 140 pounds.
Sure I trotted off to the gym 6 days a week.
So why did my health crash and burn??

I burned out my adrenals.
I burned out my my ability to heal.
I totally malnourished myself.
And this summer, I broke down!
Just plain broke.

The exhaustion was too much.
If you read my blogs from the beginning of 2009 you'll see how desperate I was. I talked about feeling as if someone was pushing down on my eyelids.
I was drinking a pot of coffee a day and still struggling to get from task to task.

People keep asking me why I started this whole nourishing traditions way of eating.
They asked if something led up to this, some sickness.
Yes.
I hit an impossible plateau in my weigh loss despite a super low fat, supposedly health diet and ridiculous work out regimen
and
I had no energy left.

Before I could save myself my knee blew out over Easter weekend.
I'm spending most of the summer in a wheelchair.

Something radical needed to happen.
Another weight loss diet??

No.
I don't think so.

It's time for a different approach.
It's time to focus on health.

If I hadn't broken down the way I did, I'd still be hoping to lose weight even at the expense of my health.

Does that mean I'm giving up on losing weight?
Well, that depends on how you look at it.
Following a rehabilitation diet as prescribed by my nutritionist
along with exercise designed to reconnect mind and body
will lead to many changes in my health.
One of those changes will be regaining my ability to lose excess body fat.

Losing weight is not the focus.
It's the side effect.

Health is my priority, now more than ever.
I lost it.
Once I get it back, I'll never neglect it again.


*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*
What part of a watch tells time?
Remove one part and the whole watch stops.
Trying to lose weight?
Let's take care of our bodies and trust that the weight will take care of itself.
And it will.
Focus on fat loss is isolationist thinking.
Focusing on health will succeed because it acknowledes that it takes a whole watch to tell time!
Paul Chek talks sense, always.
click here
Posted by Lisa at 7:15 PM Labels: , , , ,


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