After the birth, I ended up piling on weight again. In January of 2011 I did a 10 week challenge at a local club that combined 6 days of exercising. Alternating days of kickboxing and strength training. Nutrition was on a macro basis -- a certain protein to carb ratio depending on age/weight, etc. As long as you stuck to the plan and worked out all 6 days, you would get one free day. I saw a great deal of success with this. After the 10 weeks, I continued and also added in a boot camp program. I think in that timeframe I lost something like 40 lbs.
I then found out that my mother had cancer -- she provided my child care, so I didn't have the same flexibility to work out after work. From there I slid right back into my bad habits and from September of 2011 until now I gained back everything I lost and then some. Which has been typical for me. I have always been able to lose weight, but never get to goal and not able to keep it off.
After speaking with my health care provider in May of 2012, we looked at WLS again, specifically gastric bypass. I started the process of getting approved by insurance. I am currently in the end stages of that process. I had to complete a 12 week nutrition class, but other than that had to demonstrate 5 years of greater than a certain percentage of BMI along with at least 2 co-morbidities.
In early November I went to an orientation where I learned about gastric sleeve. I also had my first consultation, had to complete a sleep study, a ton of lab work, EKG (found an AV block so I need to follow-up with a cardiologist), chest x-ray, abdomen ultrasound and psych eval. In addition to the follow-up with the cardiologist, I also need to see if my insurance will cover a colonoscopy since my mom had colon cancer.
As long as everything is finished up and there aren't any concerns, I should have a surgery date in the last half of February/early March. I wanted to start this blog to document my journey as well as help in keeping my compliant. My biggest fears about having the surgery are having complications that worsen my quality of life even more than it is now or regaining the weight. A majority of the complications my surgeon sees are related to noncompliance. They do have pretty strict standards, but overall I think that is good.
Since it is a new year, I wanted to outline the reasons I am pursuing WLS to remind myself when the going gets tough, why I am doing this. Today I weigh 334.5 lbs and I am about 5' 9"
- My two wonderful little boys. I want to be a healthy, active role model for them.
- I want to be alive for them... I currently have high blood pressure, high cholesterol and sleep apnea.
- My 7 year olds friends tell him I am fat
- I am afraid to sit in chairs, afraid that I might break them.
- I can't comfortably fly/travel
- I want to be able to ride amusement park rides
- I want to stop turning down social engagements
- I want my knees to stop hurting
- I want energy and vitality again
- I want to run
- I want to be able to clean the house or walk up steps without it being a major effort
- I want the seatbelt in my car to fit without straining
- I don't want to be controlled by food
- I want to participate in my life and not be a bystander
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