Mary K.
My WLS journey started in 2008 after struggling a lifetime with obesity, getting as high as 360 after my first son's birth in 2000. I also had PCOS, depression, and anxiety. After being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at 34 and not succeeding to change with meds and diet, I decided to have gastric bypass, primarily to beat diabetes. It worked for that at first. I lost about 70 lbs, after starting at 314, but that was just the beginning of my difficult realization that WLS did not truly help my problems with food. A surgeon explained later that dumping from sugar and fat is hormonally determined, and they do not know why, but some people get one or both, or none. Sadly, sugar, to which I am addicted, did not make me sick.
So, here I am, 10 years post op, weighing 283, with still 100lbs to lose, anemic from lack of absorption of iron, and back with Type 2 diabetes, dependent on Victoza to keep my sugar down.
I am trying to find a spiritual answer to how to stop eating sugar. I recently read Heal Your Hunger by Tricia Nelson, which is helping. Emotional eating is why I eat sugar...i.e. a self-medication, so if I can heal that addiction, more the better.
I am also starting a support site for people with emotional eating problems as well. I am a counselor, so my dream is to beat this for myself and help others. If you would like to share struggles with emotional eating, please come visit and share.
Thanks,
Mary Kirkpatrick
