A Question From Meia

Meia Sue: Not to be negative, just curious. If you have changed your diet and are motivated to stay healthy why do you need the surgery?

I love this question and Meia’s courage to ask it. From my experience, most people who do not have weight issues do not understand those of us who do have weight issues. If it were as simple as just don’t eat as much, there would be no obesity. People like me would simply stop eating after a reasonable consumption of food and not be overweight. In the same fashion, if just say no worked for drug abuse, Nancy Regan would have won the war on drugs back in the eighties. Just like the alcoholic who can’t stop after one drink, and the junkie who can’t stop after one hit, I can’t stop after one chip. Something in my animal brain snaps and I can’t stop until the bag is empty. You might take a slice of pizza, feel satisfied, and stop eating. I’m going to keep eating pizza until the box is empty. In my brain, it may be a long time until my next successful pizza hunt.

Willpower and motivation are great, but sometimes it isn’t enough. Years ago I lost seventy five pounds. I was exercising. I was happy. I had my food intake in balance with my calorie output. Then I had a sports injury and I couldn’t workout. Try as I might to maintain on diet and restricted pool workouts, my weight slowly increased. A pound here and a pound there and then it one day I woke up and I’d gained back half the weight I’d lost. I don’t remember being consciously depressed. I don’t remember what food I turned to for a ‘fix’. But I know it happened and it started a spiral of poor food choices and bad eating behavior. The next time I opened my eyes and faced reality, I’d regained all seventy-five pounds and added twenty more; thus the cycle of obesity.

Our stomachs produce a hormone called Ghrelin. Ghrelin is produced in the large ‘bota-bag’ portion of the stomach and tells the brain, I’m hungry, feed me. In the vertical sleeve procedure I’m having, this portion of the stomach is removed. The process reduces the volume of the stomach and thereby the amount of food I will be able to eat. It also reduces the Ghrelin produced and therefor the ‘feed me’ signal to my brain. The combination of less stomach volume for food and less hungry signal to the brain goes a long way towards controlling weight.

  

When it comes to food and eating right, I’m weak. It’s true; right now I’m doing awesome. I’m motivated, I’m diligent and I have a goal. I’m also a realist. I know myself and my track record. I know that in the long-run the odds are stacked against me. I can’t do this on my own or I would have by now. I need help. I need every advantage I can muster. I want to live the rest of my life, not watch it go by.

That’s why I’m having weight loss surgery.