heidieva7
I have been overweight my entire life. I had three major weight loss experiences. After each, I gained all of the weight back, and then some. Meanwhile, I lost all self-respect and confidence in myself. I decided to have weight loss surgery because I was so tired of the struggle. I was terrified of having surgery, but it felt like the only long-term option I had left. Turns out that the surgery was the easy part. While I was sore after surgery, I never felt any pain. Once I was home I never took the pain meds. My biggest fears were vomiting and hair loss. I have never vomitted. But, I did lose handfuls and handfuls of hair. It has begun to grow back, though. Fortunately I had thick hair to begin with. I have experienced dumping syndrome. It is a horrible feeling and best avoided. I have found that I can eat some sugar without dumping (which disturbs me). I do best when I abstain from sugar all together. Otherwise, my eating can still spiral out of control. I have lost about 120 pounds. I was a size 22, I am now a size 4. Losing the weight was easy - I had no appetite for a long time. But, that does change. Maintaining the weight loss has not been easy. I still struggle with food, just in a different way. Eating protein is hard for me. I would rather eat carbs for each and every meal. So, I continue to refine my eating and focus on maintaining a healthy weight. I still feel and think like a fat person. My self-image has a lot of catching up to do. I am scheduled to have a tummy tuck and thighplasty on 12/20/07. This is a surgery I am excited for! My insurance is actually paying for both procedures. My surgeon will be Dr. Adam Lokeh. He had weight loss surgery himself and seems to have a real passion for helping others who have undergone this process.
