Maria's weight loss journey

I had gastric bypass surgery on July 1, 2013. I started at 250 pounds, and I now weigh 192 pounds. That is 58 pounds gone! I started the process wearing 26 or 28 size pants and 2XL or 3XL shirt depending on how the clothes were cut. I am now a size 18 or 16 in pants and am a L or XL shirt.

Before the surgery, I had debated getting it for years. I looked into the options and kept putting off for this reason or that reason, thinking that a diet would work this time! The fact was, I just wasn’t going anywhere with diets. Exercise works, but it caused me to be hurt so badly afterward. I would do one day of easy to moderate exercise and barely able to move for days afterward. And of course, when you are laid up, you eat more and negate the exercise you worked so hard to do. My cholesterol was being watched closely by my doctor because it was high and diabetes needed to be medicated. I was only 30 years old! I didn’t want to have a heart attack or the doctors to remove my feet because of diabetes. I needed help, more than any fad diet or once a week exercise could do.

My husband had the surgery first after I mentioned the benefits and how he better not die on me because of his weight related health issues. The fact that he had the surgery first helped me mentally prepare for the changes I needed to make in eating and lifestyle. My main concern was that I wouldn’t be able to kick my sweet tooth. After the surgery, I realized quickly that my taste buds had changed. The smell of anything sweet was enough to turn my stomach. I no longer crave sugary foods.

It’s amusing to find how hard it is to gauge how big you are after you lose some of the weight. I remember looking at plastic lawn chairs after surgery and wondering if I was going to break them or if I could squeeze between parked cars. I didn’t break any chairs and I fit between cars without even touching them! After losing 50 pounds, I decided to buy new clothes and started looking at size 22 pants. I thought for sure they would be too small. After trying on about 10 pair of pants, I finally figured out that I was in a teeny tiny size 18 (tiny to me). I was a size 18 in high school, around 9th grade.

Now I’ll sit on my husband’s lap and think I’m squishing him, and he’ll laugh and say, “You are not as big as you think you are.” And you know what, I’m not. It’s hard to see in yourself the changes that have taken place but others notice.

Being able to get up and down from the floor and play with my young children (Bug, two-years-old, and Bella, nine-months-old) is amazing. I can go up a flight of stairs without getting winded or my legs cramping. I walked/jogged my first 5K this past year, which I never would have attempted to do before the surgery. My cholesterol is perfect now and my diabetes was dormant when I left the hospital after surgery. I love the life that the surgery has made available to me.