How would you like to add 20 years to your life?

I haven’t really wanted to discuss some of the things going on in my life post-layoff as I have always been a bit superstitious. Often, I feel discussing something that is pending publicly (outside of a small inner circle) dooms the chances for success. I know I should ignore such impulses as unrealistic, but it is a challenge for me… Not everything is fully complete that I will discuss in this post, but I needed to discuss it more openly to clarify my own thoughts, feelings, and expectations.

While I haven’t spoken of it, Heather has commented about our foray into IVF and the subsequent delays. This has been one of two major events that we’ve been facing in addition to my loss of employment. This has been difficult for a variety of reasons, but we’re both committed to pursuing the path and have high hopes for eventual success. I don’t yet have a strong desire to go into depth on IVF or my layoff.

The third event is coming soon and it is the main reason for this post. I think if you’ve read this blog or know me personally, you’ll know that I have a weight problem. I am a very big guy. The last somewhat successful diet I was on was with Weight Watchers in the second half of 2007. I lost 10% of my body weight falling from 360.6 pounds down to 323.8 pounds at my lowest point. Unfortunately, at that point I plateaued and failed to accomplish any further loss. During the plateau, I became more and more demoralized and eventually fell out of the diet and began to gain my weight back. Eventually, I rose above my previous high to my current weight of ~370 pounds. The reality is that with diet and exercise alone it is difficult at best to correct a weight problem like mine. If you’re looking to drop 10 to 15 pounds or something similarly small, it’s not a real issue, but when you’re trying to lose 100+ pounds the situation becomes somewhat more tricky. This has to deal with my body type, metabolism, tiredness, etc. You see, the high weight has brought on conditions such as sleep apnea which results in decreased energy levels (working to deal with that independently) and other complications/co-morbidities. These conditions reinforce the weight problems and make a solution that much more difficult. Backslides become less possible and more certain. Giving in to temptation results in immediate weight implications which further deepens the spiral downward. All of this boils down to painful repeated failure.

Flash forward to this year. Somewhere along the way, I became convinced that I needed to take more drastic action regarding my weight. This led me to look into gastric bypass surgery (also known as Roux-en-Y) more seriously. The layoff helped push me forward even faster as that horrible event opened the doors to having the surgery without worrying about using sick time/vacation or pressures from the job. Being able to start a new job fresh with only needing to follow the proper diet was exciting. Also, the thought of having a surgical change that would help to enforce lifestyle changes was empowering. You see, gastric bypass involves both restrictive and malabsorptive components. The first is a shrinking of the stomach that enforces smaller meals and a physical response to sugary foods (referred to as dumping syndrome – becoming nauseous after eating/drinking simple carbohydrate-based foods. Malabsorption acts to prevent less of the food from being absorbed by the body. These two together drive a resulting diet that is 900-1000 calories a day and provide strong warning bells when you stray off of the proper diet path. This surgery when pursued with a proper diet (which is physiologically reinforced) and exercise is basically guaranteed (nothing is ever really guaranteed) to force large amounts of weight loss.

I’ve gone to multiple pre-surgery appoints such as a nutritionist, psychologist, gastrointestinal doctors, etc. to ensure I was physically/mentally ready for surgery. All of that has now passed and I have a surgical date that is fast approaching. I’m ready and I’m actually excited to get things going. It will actually be easier for me as this is the same surgery Heather went through five years ago. I’ll now share in and understand the experiences she had in a more personal way. We may actually be able to split an entree when dining as under the bariatric diet that is likely to be enough food for two. In going back to re-edit this draft, Heather suggested a new title. It was something that my surgeon has mentioned on more than one occasion. Basically, if you take the statistics of males with obesity such as myself, you find that they typically live about 20 years less than the average due to complications from the excess weight. Today, he started my final results visit with the question, “So, are you ready to add 20 years back to your life?”. Now, I know that there are no guarantees in life, but the chance to do so is what is driving me. The chance to spend more time with Heather, to see Ben get through college, start a career, and get married. All of what comes will be totally worth it.

I’m quite sure I will blog on this and keep a series of posts detailing the progress of my weight loss and what I experience in the surgical aftermath. I’m considering weight charts, daily profile photos, etc. I may even start a second blog so as not to force content that has little to do with my typical fare. Let me know what you think as I know this won’t be of interest to many except possibly my close friends, but it is always helpful for me to be accountable to more than just myself and I also hope this can help others decide if this surgery might be right for them.