Sacred territory? This must be intense.
It is, peeps. It is. I’m going to let you in on my battle
and lay it all out on the line.
The truth is that I’ve given food way too much power in my
life for far too long and I don’t want to be that person anymore. I’m tired of
being overweight. My mom passed away from complications of a stroke at 54 and
she was at a healthy weight. What am I setting myself up for by not being
healthy?
I promise I’ve tried as many weight-loss programs as I
could: Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, LA Weight Loss. I know they work for some
people but I’ve failed at every single one of them.
I’m so lucky to have a good friend who loves me enough to
tell me she thinks bariatric surgery would be a good option for me.
We were sitting at her house, when she said, “You need to
watch this Youtube video.” All of sudden, I was watching a young girl describe
my life exactly. She loved food so much
it began consuming her life, always thinking about the next meal and scheduling
her life around it.
In other words, living to eat instead of eating to live. A
feeling I know very well.
She took back her life by having a Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy,
which is a surgery that removes a large portion of your stomach.
After hearing her story, I decided to talk to my husband
about it. He reacted exactly like I
thought he would, adamant that a diet change and intense exercise is the right
way.
Sigh. I love my husband. But he falls under the
I-quit-pop-for-a-week-and-lost-30-pounds category.
I’m much more of the
I-quit-pop-for-forever-and-gained-four-pounds person.
If only life was fair.
Knowing I would need his full support, I was contemplating
my next move when twelve hours later, he called me and was so overcome with
emotion he could barely speak.
Away for work, he has been sitting in a hotel watching ESPN
when a documentary came on. It was about a group of professional athletes who attempted
to complete a workout with eighty pounds of extra weight strapped to them. In
the beginning, the participants were critical of being overweight and, through
the show, their voices changed to expressing kindness for those struggling with
extra weight.
Watching this had completely changed my man’s mind on his
wife pursuing a medically-supervised weight loss surgery.
Wow. Since my husband is obsessed with sports, I’m usually
like, “Babe, you know you’re not on the payroll, right? Stop screaming at the
TV because the Denver Bronco coaches don’t care what you think.”
But in this case, I was like, “Thanks goodness for ESPN.
Watch some more.”
So the next step was to attend the free seminar at Bingham
Memorial Hospital.
On my way, I almost chickened out. You see, being overweight
has amplified my anxiety to new levels. I don’t want to put myself in any
situation where I feel vulnerable. But my dear friend, who initially expressed
concern for me, was riding shotgun and wouldn’t let me turn around. When I
tried, she threatened to roll down her window, throw her arms out of the car
and scream like she was being kidnapped.
I am so thankful for good friends.
At the seminar, the doctor explains all of the
surgical weight loss options and stayed until every question has been answered.
I can’t tell a lie. On the way home, I wept.
I was so overcome with hope I couldn’t take it. Instead of speaking out of judgment, Dr. Medvetz spoke with compassion. When others look at you with disgust, he treated every single person in the room with kindness.
Take it from me, you don’t find that everywhere. It was in
that moment, I decided to move forward with my own Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy.
Am I scared? Yes.
But I’m more scared not to try.
If you want to watch my story in video form, go here: http://binghammemorial.org/katiesjourney
If you want to watch my story in video form, go here: http://binghammemorial.org/katiesjourney
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