May, 2006-May, 2016; Gastric Bypass 10-year Anniversary

[vpb0 1]

I'm forty-four years old, and had gastric bypass surgery May 6th, 2006. The first time I remember being called "fat"was when I was about eight years old at the skating rink and fell, causing the skinny girl behind me to trip. "GET OUT OF MY WAY FATTY!", she yelled. I was heartbroken and cried my eyes out. From then on, I never felt like I quite measured up to everyone else because of my weight. I battled with my weight from then on, going on every fad diet known to man. I probably lost and gained five thousand pounds. I lost down to 116 lbs my senior year in high school because I was eating 500 calories a day. I would come home from school and go to bed until the next day, but hey, I was skinny. I got married when I was eighteen and had two children, gaining around thirty pounds with each pregnancy, and keeping the weight on after the births. I was married for twelve years and then divorced. I remarried and had my third son....and gained more weight. My husband and I play in a band together, and we were at a festival in between shows. I was holding my son, who was around 5 months old. I weighed about 220 lbs, and my husband made a derogatory statement about my weight while I was eating. (He denies it today, but...). I realized that day that he would never respect me while I was fat. That was the day I decided to have the surgery. When I went in for surgery I weighed about 238 lbs. I went through all of the pre-surgery stuff, and made my goal weight at 150 lbs. The first year, the weight came off like hot butter, and I not only met my goal weight, I surpassed it ending up at 143lbs for about a year. That was surreal, because I hadn't allowed my mind to go past the 150 lb mark. After the first year, as I could eat more, my weight slowly crept up to around 150 lbs. I try to give myself a 5 pound limit, reigning my weight back in if I get to 155 pounds. I began going to the gym after my weight loss, and began weight training and running. After running several 5Ks, I ran a few half-marathons, and finally, about 4 years ago, I ran a full marathon in Savannah through the Rock n Roll series. I didn't break any world records, (well maybe for "slowest"). While I really never wish to run another full marathon, I wouldn't trade the six months I trained, and the actual marathon, for anything in the world. It made me realize how much I had limited myself all these years. I based every single thing I'd ever done on the "failure cloud" I'd hung on myself because of my weight. I went back to school, finished my bachelor's degree, and began taking prerequisites for PA school after 23 years of being an xray tech. The bad things after 10 years post-op? I am weaker physically, even taking all my Vitamins, and I have some memory loss. I don't know if that's related to the surgery, but I think it is. If anyone else out there is around 10 years post op and has had memory loss I'd like to know. I am a more confident person. I am still mad at myself because I underwent a major surgery because of what others thought of me. There's more stuff, I just can't remember it all...

[Spiceyfrog 269]

I am not 10 years post-op but wanted to thank you for sharing your story. I too give myself that 5 pound variance. I quit tracking for the most part, but still get on the scale every single day. It my weight starts to increase even a pound, I am very strict the following day or two. I have run on and off over the past 2-3 years and am training for a triathlon right now, so I have just been running the basic 3.1. I know it's important to be able to run more than the actual race distance, so yesterday I ran 3.5 and felt like I was going to die. I really have no desire at this point, but are their any tricks of the trade to becoming a distance runner? Do you still run?

[vpb0 1]

I am not 10 years post-op but wanted to thank you for sharing your story. I too give myself that 5 pound variance. I quit tracking for the most part, but still get on the scale every single day. It my weight starts to increase even a pound, I am very strict the following day or two. I have run on and off over the past 2-3 years and am training for a triathlon right now, so I have just been running the basic 3.1. I know it's important to be able to run more than the actual race distance, so yesterday I ran 3.5 and felt like I was going to die. I really have no desire at this point, but are their any tricks of the trade to becoming a distance runner? Do you still run?

[vpb0 1]

The best advice I can give on long distance running is to have a running partner or find a group to go with due to the longer times it takes, as distance increases, to get done. My buddy Melisa and I kept each other honest with our running schedule. There are mornings when you don't feel like getting up, much less running, and knowing she would be there at a set time could make me drag on out when I might have not gone on my own. I still run, but unfortunately my last DEXA scan revealed the onset of degenerative arthritis in my cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine. My primary care recommends that I lean toward less high impact exercise, so I've been riding my bike more, free weights, and yoga. Congratulations on your success. Please stay in contact with me on your journey!