My journey with VSG

12 Mar My journey with VSG

In my family, we use food for every situation of life.  Someone’s birthday?  Let’s have dinner.  Had a bad day?  Have some comfort food.  Busted your lip?  Here’s a popsicle.  New job, promotion, funeral, someone broke up with you, Sunday after church, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, St. Patrick’s Day – food is at the center of all of it.  It’s no surprise that by the time I was in fifth grade, I weighed right around 200 lbs.  In my adult life, I tried multiple diets hoping to lose the weight.  Weight Watchers had been the most successful.  In my early 20s, in a six month period, with Weight Watchers and a TON of exercise, I lost 60 lbs.  I felt really good about what I had accomplished and how strong I was.  I started having the “treat yo self” mentality and within another 12 months, had gained 60 lbs back…and more.  The day I gave birth to my youngest child, I weighed 334 lbs.  I was miserable; and not just because I was 9 months pregnant.  After the birth of my son, I managed to lose a whopping 17 lbs.

I wanted to lose the weight, I tried to lose the weight, but I felt hopeless.  My sister and a friend of mine had already been through the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy procedure.  My sister, more than a year out, had lost almost 100 lbs.  In my mind, she didn’t have that much to lose, so she should have just done that on her own.  I didn’t see any reason to have surgery for something you could do on your own; just simply eat less.  In the summer of 2018, at the county fair, I had a wake-up call when I was unable to fit in the bumper cars with my daughter.  That Monday, I requested the paperwork and began my journey with VSG.  I was scared throughout the entire process and almost walked out of the hospital the morning of surgery.  I kept telling myself that I should just be doing this on my own, but my reality was that I was not able to do it “on my own.”

I could have went back on Weight Watchers and spent six days in the gym again, but I knew that I needed a bigger tool to help me.  Once I realized that VSG is a tool and not a solution, I discovered the secret to its success.  And, since my surgery on December 12, 2016, I have lost 130 lbs and am maintaining.  And I’ve done it “on my own” using my VSG tool and others I’ve picked up along the way.  Since surgery, I’ve had nine people close enough to see my journey that have went through with the VSG procedure.  My goal is that I can encourage and inspire others to take control of their health with whatever tools that make sense for them!