Brian W.
My battle with weight began at the tender age of 2 when my doc told my mom I was 5 lbs overweight. By the time I was 4 I was 75 lbs and by 5 I had reached 100 lbs. The weight kept increasing really fast, by age 9 I was already in men's sizes and by 13 I was over 350 lbs and could no longer be weighed on a regular scale. I was checked for every type of medical condition and thyroid problem and nothing was found. The big question is why...and it is a question that I ask myself quite often. I do not remember anything emotionally significant that would cause emotional eating, all I remember is that I liked food.
Both sides of my family have obesity history, my mom has battled her weight all her life, my brother too until recently. My family environment was most likely the cause because we lived with my grandma who did all of the cooking. And being of Portuguese heritage, she cooked a certain way, the fatty way. Even though she cooked the fatty food we ate and encouraged us to do so, she would then always complain about how fat we were. In the morning, she'd make comments, then in the afternoon be baking a cake for dessert that night. By the time I was self-aware of what was going on, the weight was already out of control.
I did try to lose weight, I did 2 stints at the local gyms, and even though I thought I was doing good, I could never measure progress. I still see the scale as a progress marker and good or bad, that's what it is. I could never get on the scale, so I could never get motivated. I also could never get the food part right. Yes I went to nutritionists several times, but it really went in one ear and out the other. I knew I couldn't do this by myself and family around me was unwilling, didn't care or sabotaged my efforts.
Weight continued to increase throughout high school and college, I mostly stayed to myself and made very few friends. Once I graduated and was making money on my own, my eating habits got worse and the weight started to gain more steadily. It got to the point where I couldn't even shop at the Big and Tall stores anymore, I had to order clothes online. I also had to give up my favorite sport, bowling. I could no longer take the strain on my hips. Walking just a block would really zap me. Somewhere in 2001, I just gave up. I resigned myself that there was no way out of this mess and I would never be normal.
My mom and brother were losing weight through Weight Watchers in 2002 and doing well. My mom would make comments several times a week "We gotta do something about your weight Brian" and this really ticked me off. I mean ticked me off to the extreme, I don't know why I held back, but I internalized my anger. When she said that, I would always say to myself "You had 25 years to do something about my weight and NOW you want to do something." I had other thoughts that were far worse and not fit for print here believe me.
So where did I get turned around? Well I was surfing the Net one day at work and went to an old site that I used to visit. It was the homepage of a couple of Internet DJs that I used to listen to. One of them named Dan Schulz was a really big guy, about 350 lbs. On the site was a link to a new site he started about Gastric Bypass surgery. I spent a lot of time there listening to the archived shows that he did with various doctors and patients. Dan himself lost about 100 lbs with the surgery and looked good. I could identify with him and his story, for the first time I thought that I could escape this fat prison. I started researching doctors and came upon the Liv-Lite Program. They had a center in Los Angeles and I began the process of contacting them.
I attended my first seminar in September 2002, I didn't meet Dr. Nazarian, just listened and Program Manager Rick got the ball rolling with the insurance. Intially I was supposed to have surgery in October, but at the October seminar I met with Dr. Nazarian and after examining me, he didn't want to operate. He said I needed to lose 40-50 lbs. I felt like I got hit in the gut. I was too fat to even have this surgery, I really was cursed. I didn't even know how much I weighed, but I must be a lost cause. After talking with my mom, I finally relented and went to Weight Watchers. They had a scale that could weigh me and so the next morning, we went to the early Sunday meeting and I stepped on the scale. It was October 20th, 2002.
585.2....585.2 is what that read. I was more stunned than anything. 14.8 more lbs would be 600 lbs. I had no idea things were that severe. My WW leader Frank was positive and upbeat that I could do this, so I gave it a chance. I followed the program and I finally had family support since my mom and brother had been on WW and my grandma was out of the house due to health problems. The WW program combined with a water pill that I was on, helped me drop 16 lbs in 1 week, all water weight of course, but it was still 16 lbs. I continued to drop and lost 45 lbs in 2 months. I also got cleared by a cardiologist and pulminologist who saw no reason I shouldn't be able to handle surgery. When I saw Dr. Nazarian in November, he was pleased and surgery was then scheduled for December 13th, 2002.
I left for Los Angeles on December 11th and the next day I went through a battery of tests. The worst was the abdominal ultrasound, not because of the test itself, but because I had to lay flat on my back and my back started to spasm. All my tests came back normal and I checked into the hospital about 3:30 pm on the 12th. After visits from many doctors, including the psych, I was in my room awaiting surgery. I don't know how much sleep I got, but I don't sleep well in strange beds anyway. I wasn't tired when I was awaken by the nurse who took my BP. Soon after, my parents arrived and then I was wheeled in for surgery.
The first thing I remember waking up was a clock on the wall in the hallway, it read 1:20 pm. I had gone into surgery about 7:30 am, I was out about 6 hours. I could hear people around me, but my perphial vision was still blurry, all I could see was the clock and feel the pain in my back, it was spasming again. I had asked the doc to keep me sitting upright after surgery so at least lessen the pain in my back. I did feel some pain from the incision, but it wasn't bad. I realized I was in ICU and had pulled through surgery, I had a tube up my nose, but it wasn't bothering me. My parents were there too.
After 24 hours in the ICU, I was moved to a regular room with a special bed so I could pull myself up. I had no tubes, just the IV in my arm. Later that day, I was taken for the Barium swallow test to test for leaks and I insisted on walking there because to get in a wheelchair was the worst pain imaginable. Bending over any degree was painful and the wheelchairs were so low that it was 10 times as bad. The test came back good and I was given ice chips to "eat" well no way I was hungry, but I had some anyway. The next day I was started on some clear liquids and an awful protein drink, tasted like sand, but I drank what I could. 1 day before I was to be released, a nurse gave me a drug called regalin (sp?) that was supposed to restart my intestines and bowels. Boy did it ever. Before surgery, I suffered quite badly from IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and this stuff made my colon go into overdrive. For 3 days it was non-stop diarreha. Dr. Nazarian wouldn't release me and called in several specialists before 1 doc finally figured out that regalin was the cause and gave me some Immodium.
I was discharged on Saturday the 21st and went back to the motel my mom had been staying at. I finally flew home on Sunday and began recovery. Dr. N's post-op eating program was 3 stages: 1 month of liquids, 1 month puree and 1 month soft foods.
Liquids were not too bad, but I would sit in front of the TV a lot and the fast food commercials would drive me insane. I could not bear to eat with my family, so I drank my meals in another room and never went out when they were eating. It was the only thing that kept me sane. My first weigh-in post-surgery was about 10 days after I got home from the hospital, it read 507. Whoah! I weighed just before I left the hospital and weighed 540, so in 10 days I had lost 33 lbs. That was all the motivation I needed.
I returned to work after 4 weeks off and began the puree stage, that was the roughest part because puree food is like baby food consistency, it was awful. I much rather have liquids than that, but I preserved because I wanted to succeed. About 6 weeks post-op, I started to excerise. At that point, I had lost about 70 lbs since surgery and started with short 10 minute walks. My building was big and in the back was a deserted parking lot, so I could walk and no one could see. I began to increase the time as I got more comfortable and eventually started to lap the building. I continually wanted to challenge myself and challenge my body.
I was losing weight rapidly and reached the 100 lb loss mark in mid-March, about 3 months post-op. When I got my own apartment in May 2003, I bought a treadmill and could work out at home. I keep a strict excerise routine and can do 3 miles in 60 minutes.
Well that's my story, don't want to be too wordy and hope you can take some inspiration from this in your journey as well.
Brian
