Lisa M.
As a small child I was always overweight. I was on this diet and that diet as far back as I can remember. I was not at all popular growing up and had a difficult time making friends. By the time I graduated high school I weighed around 200. I had very few dates. At that time being large was not good for your social life.
I used food for every emotion imaginable. Food was my coping mechanism. I had a lot of emotional issues to deal with and I used food for therapy. Not a healthy therapist.
So at 37 years of age I weighed 280 pounds. This was the summer of 2003. I decided it was time to do "SOMETHING".
That something was Gastric Bypass, I met with a surgeon and decided to jump through the "hoops" and proceed. Finally in November 2003 I received the approval and Dec 17,2003 I had surgery!
One week before Christmas. Wow was that an eye-opener!
So there were many struggles over the last 5 years. Only one complication and the doctor that treated me told me it may not have been because of the surgery at all. I had an intestinal ileus. It resolved itself after a couple of days. I now weigh between 150 and 160. I am still determined to see 130 at some point in my life.
It is so amazing how differantly people treat you when you lose a lot of weight. There is weight discrimination out there. It's very real, and very painful.
So that's the short of it! Here I am 5 years post-op and making it as best I can. Just being me.