The other day I had the opportunity to reconnect with a friend I hadn’t seen in a couple of years. As I entered his office, I was struck by the amount of weight he had lost since we last saw each other. As I remarked on this he shared that five months ago he had undergone gastric bypass surgery which resulted in his significant weight loss.
Since I also had a gastric bypass in May of 2017, we spent the next hour comparing notes on our respective procedures and outcomes. Being two years further along in this journey than my friend, he was particularly interested in my experience. Our discussion covered a wide range of topics from where to purchase clothes while loosing weight (my wardrobe is largely from consignment/second hand stores) to which protein shakes we prefer.
We also discussed how for most of our adult lives, both of us had struggled with our weight. In spite of regular exercise and dieting neither of us was able to lose weight and keep it off for an extended period of time. As a result, we both concluded that genetics had also played a significant role in our inability to manage our weight, a fact confirmed by our respective surgeons.
As I left his office, I thought about how many others have the same struggle that my friend and I shared with one another. As I contemplated embarking on my weight loss surgery journey, I spoke with two people who I knew had undergone the procedure several years earlier. I asked them one question, which was simply this. “Do you have any regrets about having had a gastric bypass?” I couldn’t have been more surprised to learn that both their answers were the same. “My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner.”
I was in my early sixties when I had my surgery, my friend in his early forties. I have two grown children and five grandchildren. My friend has three children, all still in elementary school.
In my case, in addition to the obvious health benefits of weighing 100 lbs., I’m looking forward to a considerably improved quality of life and time with my grandchildren (and in my friend’s case his children) than might have ever been possible had I elected to forgo the procedure.
Losing weight probably ranks number one of all the New Year’s Resolutions. If you’ve struggled with your weight and want to get serious about doing something about it this year, I want to encourage you to speak with a medical professional from a bariatric center in your area to learn more about the wide range of surgical and non-surgical options that are available to significantly improve your quality of life for years to come.