Wolfy

I've been losing weight and regaining it for years. This has been going on since I was in my late teens. I've lost down to completely normal weight many times, but never have I been able to keep it off. The most stark moments of this were once in 1997 when I used Deal-A-Meal and Sugar Busters combination to lose about 60 lbs. down from 240 lbs. to 180 lbs. The second time was in 2003-2005, when I used the Atkins Diet to lose from about 270 lbs. to 200 lbs. The latter was the longest I have ever kept the weight off, as I was on Atkins for several years. After going off of Atkins in 2005, I started gaining back, and this time gained even more than usual.

I noticed that after turning 40, the weight just didn't come off as fast as it had before. Not only that, I was gaining it back MUCH faster. I lost weight in 2007 and in 2008, both times using a home delivery diet, and while it worked, it was a LOT of work of a long period of time, taking up to eight or nine months to lose 40 lbs. or so. Then I'd go off of it, and I'd gain it all back in less than a month or two. This led me to feeling trapped after the age of 40.

I had never considered having weight loss surgery before this. It just seemed like such an extreme thing to do. However, as the situation just got worse, and I was reached a weight of 340 lbs., which is the most I had ever weighed up to that point, my attitude began to change. In 2010, I saw a sign on an interstate road for 1st Choice Weight Loss. I didn't pursue it right away because I was afraid that insurance would never cover this. However, when I finally did pursue it in September of 2013, I decided to give them a call and found that there were some options available to me, one of them called the "Hernia program", which was available to me specifically because I had a hiatal hernia.

The surgery choice I made was the Gastric Sleeve. I think if I had known of Gastric Plication I might have chosen that, but it's too late now and I am not going to spend my time in regret. I am now one week after surgery. I'm amazed to see that I am recovering so quickly. However, I can't really say that my hunger pangs and cravings are gone. I still crave the same things, and I still want to eat things I am not ready for yet. I can say that my appetite is greatly reduced, and I can also say that I don't eat as much in a portion as I once did. So I am expecting to lose weight, I just am not sure it's going to be as easy as many would think it would be with an operation like this.