Life is fun! I haven’t always felt that way. I was an obese child who grew into an obese adult. I call it “the family curse” because several family members also had a life-long struggle with excess weight and the complications and health issues that come with it, namely, Type 2 diabetes.
My highest weight was 278 pounds and was accompanied by high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes and unbelievable fatigue. In addition, my heart stopped beating in 2004 and I have had a pacemaker ever since that day.
I began working out with a group of ladies led by Dana Doshier at what is affectionately known as “Dana’s Boot Camp” in 2010. After the first year, I was able to get off my high blood pressure medications and had lost about 25 pounds, but my diabetes was still not under good control. In 2012, I still had not lost any more weight and my diabetes was gradually getting more difficult to control. In fact, I was facing the dreaded insulin injections, because my A1C was consistently approaching seven.
Through divine intervention, I was led to The Center For Bariatrics at Bailey Medical Center in 2012. I had a Roux-en-Y Bypass in May 2013. Since that day my blood sugars have been normal, under 100. My A1C is 5.2, normal. I now weigh 175 pounds, give or take five pounds.
I continue to work out at Dana’s Boot Camp and have done several 5Ks, a 10K, a mud run and a half marathon. I walk two to three miles a day after work with a friend and co-worker, who had the same surgery about a month before I did. I also find that attending the support group helps to keep me up-to-date on the most relevant information. It encourages me to meet someone who is four years out from surgery and is still down 150 pounds. I’m often reminded of something I should be doing. David and Dr. Kirk keep saying we (post-op people) are supposed to be an encouragement to the “preemies,” but they often encourage me and their excitement is contagious. I can’t help but cheer them on.
I still have to watch what and how much I eat. Cookies and ice cream are way too easy to digest. I just have to remember that just because I can eat it, doesn’t mean I have to eat it. I choose to avoid things I think may drag me back into that old eating lifestyle, like fresh bread, pasta, rice, chips and other carbohydrates. I still follow the rules, like eating and drinking 30 minutes apart, eating slowly, no carbonation, 80 or more grams of protein a day and I don’t use a straw.
I don’t know if I will lose any more weight or if I’m at my “goal weight." I do know that I am healthier than I have been in years, maybe ever. I weigh less now than I did in fifth grade and can do more now than I could then. My husband bought a motorcycle and I love riding. We’ve been on several trips through Arkansas and Oklahoma. I was even approached at a clothing store and asked to be an in-store model for them, which I did, of course, twice. I have a smile that I can’t seem to suppress and a desire to do everything I was too afraid or too embarrassed to try because of my weight. The weight I lost is not nearly as significant as the confidence that I’ve gained.
-Karen Armstrong