This is the post I’ve been waiting to make since I joined this sub. I had one goal since starting this journey and I hit that goal today thanks to the help of r/loseit
About 18 months ago I was diagnosed with gallstones. Super duper painful, but I was newly pregnant at the time so they couldn’t do anything, just arranged for me to meet with a surgeon about gallbladder removal a few months after the baby was born. I was RELIEVED because I had been in pain for ~7 years at this point, had been tested for everything under the sun (except gallstones, apparently), eventually being told the pain was caused by “anxiety” and referred to the mental health team. So finally finding out what the problem was and being told there was a solution was awesome. At the time I was diagnosed I weighed 330lbs and had a BMI of 55.
Exactly a year ago I rocked up to my appointment with the surgeon, I’d had the baby and was excited and ready to get this awful organ out of me. And... the surgeon said no. I was too big and surgery would be too much of a risk. I had already lost some weight at this point due to being unable to eat fatty foods (but I could still smash carbs like a boss, so I hadn’t lost that much). They didn’t even weigh me at the appointment if I recall, just refused me on sight. He told me I had to get my BMI down to 35 before he’d consider me for surgery.
I sobbed for days. I thought losing that much weight was impossible for me. I’ve always been big, and I mean always. I was a fat baby, a fat toddler, the fat kid in school, and I just kept getting bigger. I’d tried bullshit diets in the past that I never stuck to and blamed everything else, before coming across the whole HAES crap on insta and deciding to stay fat because I thought that’s just where I was meant to be. So I refused to listen to the surgeon, went right out to the desk and made another appointment. Of course I got refused again. Undeterred, I got myself referred to a different hospital, the surgeon there said exactly the same thing. By this point I realised I was relieved when I walked out. I HAD to face up to this now, staying fat was no longer an option.
This sub showed up in my suggested subs around that time (maybe Reddit is listening idk) and the way everyone here spoke so matter-of-factly about weight loss and CICO finally made me realise that there’s no mystery to it, there’s no magic, it’s simple science. Put in less than you use. It’s not like that was new information but seeing it here and seeing it work just made everything click for me. I downloaded MFP and I took it seriously for the first time ever, not like the silly weight loss clubs I’d done before, just eating til I hit my calorie limit then stopping. Not treating every fleeting craving like hunger. Why had it never occurred to me before that I can say no to myself?
Shortly after I started, I found out I was pregnant again. God could that ever have come at a worse time. I was so poorly with my gallbladder I ended up in hospital for a while, but even from my hospital bed I was still logging my meals. I’d started and I wasn’t giving up for anything. I saw a dietitian and carried on losing weight throughout the pregnancy. I had the baby five weeks ago, and today was my consultation for surgery.
I knew what my BMI was going in, my weight today is 203lbs making my BMI 34.6 according to NHS calculations. I’d done it. I was still half expecting to be turned away and told I need to lose more weight, I am afterall still very much in the obese category, and I would’ve been ok with that since I know that I can do it now. However, my weight wasn’t even brought up at the appointment! He did an exam, pulled out a referral form and asked if I’m happy to go ahead. I could’ve cried!
Now, I may still hit a wall at pre-op since I’ve had other health issues recently that made the consultant very hesitant to put me on the list. So the likelihood of surgery actually happening soon may be slim, but right now I don’t care. I had one goal and I achieved it, and it may be my proudest moment. I still have a lot of weight to lose before I get to a healthy BMI but I’m prepared to get there, and I know I will. Thank you to this sub!!
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from loseit - Lose the Fat https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/alvbsa/nsv_i_got_approved_for_surgery/
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