I’m a 26yo female, 1.60cm and 98kg.
Bear with me this is going to be long.
At my heaviest I was 122kg, two years ago in July 2018 I had a gastric bypass surgery and I do not recommend doing any kind of wls.
Let me give you a little background. I’ve always been heavy, as long as I can remember I’ve been called fat and told I should eat less, this of course had major negative effects on my self esteem and my relationship with food. As a 14yo I had liposuction on my back, arms, stomach and a brazilian butt lift so I could be ready for my quinceañera, the recovery for that surgery was so long and awful I also don’t recommend doing it.
When I was 17 I was diagnosed with pcos and was put on birth control. In 6 months I gained 20 kilos, by the time I was 20 I was 100 kilos and diabetic. No matter how hard I tried I could not lose weight, tried every diet, but bc of the pcos and hormones I struggled a lot.
Then my parents met a gastroenterologist who told them the only way to reverse some of the problems brought on by my diabetes would be to lose a lot of weight (true) but the only way was to have a wls bc of my history with diets, hormones, etc.
I was opposed to the surgery but my family insisted, my mom has always been obsessed with my and her weight so she pushed me harder than anyone to do it.
Right before the surgery I lost 5 kilos doing the preop diet, but when you are over 120 kilos 5 is nothing. I went ahead with the surgery, spent a week in the hospital without eating anything, they don’t even let you drink water.
They cut away more than 80% off my stomach, when I was released I spent about 3 weeks drinking 1oz of chicken broth 5 times a day, then I moved on to chicken soup smoothies and jello 1oz 5 times a day. All in all it was two months before I could have solid food. The first time I ate I had like 30grs of chicken and threw it all up. After that for the first year I could only have up to 80 to 100 grs of food 3 times a day and up to 200mls of liquid.
I was losing 10 kilos a month until I got down to 80kg. After that first year my stomach started expanding and I could eat more and more. In the last 5 months I have gained 18 kilos.
Let me tell you the good things that came out of surgery:
I stopped injecting insulin, my glucose levels went down to a normal healthy number.
Huge confidence boost, I no longer had to buy on the special plus size section.
My fiancé, I met him bc I started to go out more, not bc he likes skinny chicks.
My periods became regular! Which I hate bc before I very rarely had my period.
The bad things.
I lost half my hair, bc you don’t eat your hair falls out.
I became lactose intolerant
I have saggy skin everywhere, even now that I gained weight.
I have a lot of gastrointestinal issues
I get diarrhea all the time, I don’t know why
I still can’t eat more than 250gr of solids per meal.
After the surgery my relationship with food got worse, I eat with a lot of guilt, and if I notice I can fit in more food than before I get this fucking panic attacks, I’m always counting calories and every gram and oz I eat, my eating habits changed only a little.
All in all I regret it, if I hadn’t been pressured I would not have done it, and I urge anyone to not have surgery, and if you wanna do it don’t do the bypass do the ballon it’s a lot less invasive and almost no recovery time.
Edit. I forgot to say that the doctor was very clear that 95% of people that go thru with surgery gain all the weight back within 3 years but he could tell I was diferente lol.
