My 11 Year Success Story......

published in Barb Thompson's newsletter February 2012: 
I had my RNY gastric bypass surgery over 11 years ago. My BMI was 60, I was taking 16 medications, walking with a cane, and had numerous co-morbidities. My highest weight was 353 lbs. and through surgery, I lost 225 lbs. I dropped a total of 12 dress sizes. I’ve been blessed with no complications in 11 years and have maintained my BMI.

First, God gets the glory. He’s molded me into the strong, committed, self-assured woman that I am today. My weight loss surgery may have been complication-free, but my life has not been.  My past was full of abuse and dysfunction. I finally ended my marriage, but not without suffering post traumatic stress disorder and completely losing myself. I had to lose everything, including almost losing my life twice before I decided to turn all this adversity into something positive for me.

The first step was weight loss surgery. It gave me hope when I felt hopeless. It’s not the easy way out! My life had been anything but easy, but I was ready to channel what I learned from all that adversity and pain into something positive, encouraging, and hopeful for myself. We learn nothing if we risk nothing. Risking hurt, rejection, failure, and ridicule wasn’t new to me. It's how I choose to react to that adversity that is different!

I have maintained my weight by working hard to change negative self-talk into positive self-talk; exercising; attending support group meetings; attending counseling; following the 12-step program; volunteering to help other weight loss surgery patients; having my own support group; staying accountable to people; having strict boundaries; vowing to never stop learning, growing, and changing; and never quitting. I choose to see my blessings, not my obstacles. This journey is very hard, but so was my life before weight loss surgery. This one has far better rewards.

It wasn’t my fault that I was treated so badly the first half of my life. But how I chose to react to my adversity was my responsibility. I chose food, and made other bad choices that compromised my health. I’ve learned to make better choices. Many people think that I can now eat whatever I want, just in smaller quantities. I say to them, “I didn’t have weight loss surgery so I could eat whatever I want, whenever I want. I had weight loss surgery so I could DO whatever I want, whenever I want to do it!” I could “choose” ice cream which I ate every day before weight loss surgery. Instead I choose to wear gorgeous, sexy dresses when both of my son’s got married. One son got married in Aruba, so weight loss surgery not only allowed me to fly to this tropical paradise for the wedding on the beach, but also to have an awesome vacation in my swim suit and shorts.

From the very beginning, my primary focus has been on changing my behavior and attitude that caused my morbid obesity. The number on the scale was secondary. I acknowledged the invisible wounds on the inside, and found a new way to deal with them besides eating.

I am a food addict. My success is measured one day at a time, not so much by the things I’ve done right, but by the lessons learned from the mistakes I’ve made and worked hard to not repeat. I’m very committed to stay on track but I’m not perfect. I screw up, but I don’t give up!  There is nothing I can't do if I believe in myself and have faith!