I've Gone And Done It Again

I Joined Weight Watchers 

About three weeks ago I decided to join Weight Watchers because I have gained back 30lbs of the 40 I lost while at the Hope Center. This is all because of my sedentary lifestyle and bad eating habits. So, to get back into a better lifestyle of eating better I joined Weight Watchers. Many years ago I weighed 310lbs (at 5'11" tall) and did Weight Watchers then. It wasn't the answer for me at that time.

I am by no means that heavy now but I'm still not happy with my weight. Back then I had several other physical problems due to my weight that were only going to get worse. I was 30 at the time. So I made the decision to do something radical.

I Had Gastric Bypass Surgery in 2003

What is the type of surgery I had? The laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass procedure. It involves making several small incisions through which the surgeon inserts laparoscopic instruments to perform the surgery. The procedure is designed to make a small reservoir (pouch) for food at the upper end of your stomach. This pouch is connected to the upper small intestine by a new small anastomosis (outlet or stoma). The ingested food thereby bypasses the majority of your stomach, which remains alive and undisturbed, but functional otherwise. In other words, the majority of your stomach does not have food passing through. Like the sleeve, it is associated with about a 6 month period of decreased appetite.

The nature and purpose of this operation is to functionally limit the amount of food or liquid intake at any given time. There is a small component of malabsorption, at least initially. Like the sleeve, this procedure is often associated with fairly rapid weight loss initially, which stabilizes over time to a weight that is healthy for you.

 I lost 90lbs in a year and 150 in two years.

I lost more weight after this picture so I ended up losing 100% of my excess weight

This picture was taken when I weighed 159, around Christmas 2005

The problem is I gained some of it back. In 2006 I got pregnant. Then in 2007 I lost my job and became a stay at home mom and you've seen the story of my alcoholism. All of that contributed to my gaining back 50lbs of that weight! It is definitely possible to screw up and gain weight with these surgeries. you think it's for life, not getting to eat much and eating no sweets or very few, but I've cheated and taken the consequences for it quite often. I just get sick for a time after eating certain things or amounts. So, I still eat a whole lot less than a normal person would. I can't get satisfaction at a buffet restaurant, for instance. I can't eat a whole ice cream cone. But I can eat a lot more than I should be able to and if I eat a lot of small meals throughout the day, especially if they're bad for me, I can really rack up some calories.

There are some other issues I have to keep track of like malnourishment and certain medications I can't take in certain forms. 

Mainly right now I want to to lose around 35lbs. That would be considered a normal weight for my height (175). I believe Weight Watchers can help me do it this time. I did the whole lifestyle change a couple of different times before and I can do it again because I'm determined.