Ellebronwyn

Hi all!

I'm a post-bariatric 34 y/o mother of 1 who has struggled with obesity for most of my life.  A little bit of background, I have PCOS and Pituitary Adenoma, both of which made losing weight extremely difficult, if not impossible throughout my life, even with extreme dieting and discipline in my teens and early 20s. 

               In 2018, shortly after the end of my marriage, I decided to go through with Bariatric weight loss surgery.  The stress and sadness during this period of my life made me gain over 60 pounds or so, and I got up to about 268+lbs (the highest in my adult life).  At 5'5", I knew this was getting out of control, and my health was at risk.  I developed mild sleep apnea, had episodes of falling asleep during the day while at work, and had severe body aches and pains in my joints.  in May 2019 I had VSG, and for about a year everything seemed to be doing fine.  Initially, I was successful and almost 100 lbs down.  I got down to 174lbs within a year.  Almost 14 months later, I was dealing with a new stressor in my life (an abusive situation) and ended up developing extreme GERD, reflux, and would feel burning acid come up each night--sometimes choking on it and breathing in my own stomach acid.  I ended up suffering with bronchitis and pneumonia due to the extreme GERD several times within a short period of time. My surgeon stated that this is one of the possible side effects of VSG as well as extreme stress, and offered revision to do the RNY and a hiatal Hermia repair.  All went well, and at first, I seemed to have recovered well.  But now, here I am in 2023 and I have slowly gained over 30lbs in the last 2.5 years, going from my lowest post-bariatric weight of 174 lbs to now at about 207.7 lbs.  Not really sure if it was a result of surgery, or poor eating habits (or both), because from the moment I woke up from surgery and in each phase of my bariatric diet, I felt as though my "pouch" or new stomach was no longer feeling restrictive, and I was able to eat much larger portions than before.  However, I am very much aware that this weight gain was not only mechanical but purely out of being irresponsible with my diet and bariatric lifestyle (i.e. not taking vitamins, skipping on the protein, larger portions, drinking large amounts of fluids while eating, eating out more etc.).  At the end of the day, I am aware the only one who sticks food in my mouth is me, so I need to get back on the ball.

I am here looking for support as I try to reestablish my healthy eating and lifestyle choices and put myself and my body first again.