macloyd2006
After gaining weight pretty steadily since high school at an average rate of 1 lb / month, I found myself at 373 lbs. I decided after about 10 years of thinking about it, talking about it, and having it recommended to me by doctors, I finally decided in June 2008 to have gastric bypass surgery.
I had tried Jenny Craig, a mail order package from Kathy Smith, The Diet Workshop, Atkins, Xenical, and Weight Watchers (several times). I had achieved some level of weightloss with each of these methods, but never more than about 30 lbs and that was just the tip of the iceberg for me. When I first started trying to lose weight, I had no idea what I was doing. I thought it was as simple as you ate less and you lost weight. I had no concept of counting calories or how many or what type of calories were in each type of food. I didn't know the difference between empty calories and nutritionally sound calories.
With each method, I learned more, but I had gained more weight in between. Eventually, I knew how to lose weight, but the journey was too long to rely on willpower alone. Very few people have the willpower to drive through a 238-pound weightloss at a rate of 2-3 pounds/week (that's 80-120 weeks or 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 years).
As many obese people are, I'm used to succeeding at what I try. I am a perfectionist by nature, although I have been working on this and having kids, I've learned to let a lot of the unimportant things go. My weight has been the one obstacle that I have not been able to conquer. RNY was decidedly the best solution for me.
It took me 15 months to get through all of the hurdles that my insurance company required, but I finally received my approval letter on September 21, 2009. I immediately called my surgeon's office to schedule my surgery. My surgeon available to do the surgery the following week, but we had arranged that my mother would come to help us out during the initial post-surgery period and she was unavailable that week. I scheduled the surgery for October 14th (2 days before my 40th birthday). I'm now 10 days post-op and doing well.
