The Wilder Place

My last post was June 22nd.... seems like ages ago... 3 months IS a long time... a lot has been happening with me and my family....

I had the gastric bypass in early July. I've lost 45 pounds so far, but that's not why I had the surgery... I'm diabetic. My grandmother died as a result of complications from diabetes... I tried to lose the weight and would go up and down... nothing seemed to work permanently... while I wasn't eating candy.. cakes.. pies... chips.. etc.. I was eating rice, potatoes, pasta and fruit... all of which cause me to gain weight. Some will tell you portions matter... now... after the surgery... I know that's true... I eat so much less now... obviously I didn't need to eat everything on my plate before... that was a big part of the problem... my folks made me clean my plate... that's how I was raised... and our restaurants and families, meaning well... load our plates up. We (most of us) are eating way too much food!!

My doctor had been trying me on various medications for kidney problems... and after a series of reactions he said that I just had to face it... I was diabetic and I'd have problems and be on various medications the rest of my life... immediately I responded with, "No I will not!"... then I started doing research...

I found that medical studies claimed that the gastric bypass cured 70% of the diabetics and it drastically reduced high cholesterol (I had this too)... shortly after finding those articles I heard that medical studies showed that obese women who had the bypass showed marked decrease in stroke and heart disease... far greater than previously thought... since I had tried dieting and exercise I decided to talk to a doctor about this option... long story short... I had the surgery and since I was diabetic I have increased the number of years I'm likely to live.

Results: Not only have I lost 45 pounds in 10 weeks... but my cholesterol is normal and my diabetes is in control... I'm off 70% of the medications I was taking before surgery and expect to be off all medications within a year.

I caution anyone considering this surgery... it's NOT a quick fix.... it is also extremely serious surgery... people can and do die from the surgery and/or its complications.

The biggest change in my life is dietary.. my eating has changed and changed for the rest of my life... I eat only about 6-8 ounces per meal... 3 times a day... if I over eat, even a little, I get sick for 30 to 40 minutes... really sick... if I eat something high in sugar.. I get sick to my stomach... if I eat something high in fat... I get sick to my stomach... I do not like being nauseous... I watch carefully what I eat.

It's a life style change... FOREVER!

If one were to force themselves to go back to their old eating habits... they can undo everything the surgery has done... who in their right mind would want to do that? Not me!!!! I never want to go through this again... I also never want to weigh 239 pounds again!!!

Other changes? I take lots of vitamins... I've joined Curves... and I jealously watch what I put in my mouth... there's precious little space in me for food... I'm very selective about what I put in that space.

Now... I'm back... I'll write more tomorrow about another big change.... for those of you interested... I'll post periodically about the results of this surgery... the good and the bad.

Take care....