** Disclaimer **
*** I DIDN’T Have a Weight Loss Operation,
This article reflects on what MIGHT have been if I had
My Weight Loss has come from CYCLING and cutting calories ***
What If ? ? ? ? ! ! ! !
Why ?
I was desperate to save my life, I was 40 stone, I had type 2 diabetes , sleep apnoea, High blood pressure and the strain on my heart and lungs were killing me, with 2 young kids and a family at home to look out for, I was under pressure to fix this FAST.
Post Op
It’s been 3 years since I had my Gastric Bypass operation, it cost me £11500, its going to take me around 12 years to pay it off, the idea being, by the time I’d be almost 45 years old and I’d have a great “Mid-Life” to look forward to, with my weight being solved and the operation being paid off.
When I woke up in the hospital, the operation had been a ” Success” , however there were complications , caused by my size, of the operation from the off.
Because in my younger days I was a smoker, I was in the 16% of people that suffered from a Ulceration of the anastomosis, resulting in many episodes of “Temporary restriction of the consumption of solid foods”
Because of the lack of Vitamins my body now takes in I’m on a CRAZY amount of supplements just to make me function each morning.
I went out within a month of having the operation for a drink with friends, oh my lord, one drink and I was “leg-less” 2 and I was passed out in the back of a taxi going home “I thought this was the start of a new, better life” ?
My social life went from poor to NONE after this operation.
There were many other “minor” issues that caused me to be ill/spend time in the care of doctors in the last 3 years too.
Weight Loss:
Well, I have achieved a 65% loss of my excess weight, putting me at a loss of 17 stone and at best I weighed in @ “just” 23 stone, I had originally said if I could get to 20 stone then I would be over the moon.
I JUST missed that BUT thats where things started to go REALLY WRONG !
See, I was still 23 stone, a size 5xl and had more “mobility” issues than I used to because of the lack of goodness my body was getting, truth be told, because of my SED, I was MORE healthy before.
Weight Gain:
So the depression set in, I couldnt work-out like I had always wanted to because of the lack of nutrition and energy, I had planned to buy a bicycle and cycle to work, that was out of the window, because of the amount of time I’d had off work, I no longer had a job, so I couldn’t cycle to work , nor could I afford a bike & even if I could, there would have been no way, my pale, malnourished body would ever have been able to cope.
One day I read on-line that there are way to “Cheat” the operation, you can “Stretch” your new stomach , you can eat as much ice-cream as you like without “Dumping” , since I was depressed and it had caused me more issues than I had before, I thought “Bugger it” and I went for it.
Sinking into tub after tub of ice-cream, it made me feel alive again, the scales quickly went back to how they were before “ERROR” meaning I was now over 30 stone again – so what, I was miserable before, it doesn’t matter, I can eat to forget about that £11k im paying off.
Death:
5 years after the operation I was 47 stone, having gained back all the weight plus just under 20%, I was malnourished, depressed and in severe debt, then one night my sleep apnea struck BADLY, my body fought by my heart was too weak and I died of “Obesity related complications” all before I was 40.
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The above, while functional, COULD well have been my reality , sure people are free to chose what route there weight loss path takes BUT there needs to be more information out there for people who think that it CANT be done without an operation, for those of you who landed her from google, in 3 years, I LOST 27 stone (350 pounds) from cycling and calorie cutting, I found my demons and I beat them up – I realised my eating disorder would be next to attack me so I struck first and I am working though that now, MENTALLY and physically I am a much stronger person, im also more confident and fulfilled, a gastric bypass might have made me lose weight, but It wouldn’t have made me fix what was REALLY wrong…….MY HEAD…..
If after reading this you still want a bypass/band, then good luck BUT PLEASE Make sure you fix what’s broken MENTALLY first as obesity ISN’T a physical condition, its a mental one.
& If you want to follow me and chose the “hard work” way, then check out the following video (you need sound)
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Sky Ride , a campaign to get one million more people onto their bikes by 2013
Cycle Of Life - Fix You 