Before my transformation
I had reached my highest weight of 358 pounds. Low self-esteem, abuse and physical challenges contributed to racking up the pounds. I merely existed. I’d get home from work with no energy to do anything, including enjoy time with my grandchildren.
My goal
My goal now is to enjoy every moment of life and maintain my slimmer, active lifestyle. When I gain up to three pounds, I immediately work to take them off.
What I did
Ultimately, the life-changing decision was to have gastric sleeve surgery — twice. The first time, I lost 70 pounds but regained 35. I initially went down to 321 pounds in the five years before I had the first surgery. I had tried all kinds of programs and even took diet pills for a couple of months. Right before the sleeve-to-sleeve revision surgery, I attempted keto for two years. I lost very little with that.
How it worked
The first sleeve surgery wasn’t successful for me. I quit losing weight after five months; then I started regaining the weight no matter how much I tried to keep it off. Years later, my daughter was going to Mississippi Institute of Weight Loss Surgery for her procedure and suggested that I ask about a revision. I was quickly approved through my insurance and had the surgery within a few weeks.
This doctor’s practice was the success I needed. Being so large, I added the kind of exercise I could perform without adding stress to my arthritic joints: swimming a mile a day at an indoor pool.
My total weight loss was 205 pounds and 76 inches. My clothes went from a 3x to small/petite small. It took a year to lose all the weight, and I have maintained that loss for a year. It is so much easier dieting for two weeks to maintain than dieting for a year to get here. I’m never going back.
The hardest part
Food is absolutely a comfort, probably to most people. Not being able to indulge like I always could before was like losing a dear friend. Additionally, I was the opposite of a diabetic. I can eat, and my blood glucose will drop while I’m intaking sugars. This makes it very difficult to lose weight because the more I would eat, the more my sugars would drop, and I’d feel worse.
How I feel about myself today
I never thought I could look like this. Every day, I look in the mirror and can’t believe I’m seeing a skinny me. I love this new me. I stay active and don’t need to sleep as much as before. I can walk past things, and my hips and belly no longer knock into them or push things off shelves. The weight loss gave me the confidence to go on Tinder and meet and fall in love with a wonderful man.
My advice to others
Know first that you are valuable. Find the thing that works best for you, and don’t let others deter your decision; they aren’t living in your body. Analyze where you are now and why, and where you want to be, and form a plan to get there. Allow yourself mistakes, but quickly fix them and move on.