Weight Loss Success Story – Gastric Bypass Operation

I worked as a model, made commercials, participated in TV shows and I even had a fashion store at a local mall. The main reason that made me gain weight was the sudden death of my 2 parents. This triggered a depression and I found a “shelter” in food like many people does with drugs or alcohol. I gained weight very quickly and soon I got on the road of becoming an obese. In that period also occurred one of the saddest episodes in my life, which I need to think as a natural abortion, I was weighting 212 pounds when I got pregnant and I didn’t knew I was carrying a dead baby in my belly. That’s was a shocking moment, I got into heavier depression because of this, so I lived struggling to maintain my 240 pounds (or struggled to live, for that sake). Mainly because of this, in that period I finally reached a “higher level” of obesity and converted myself into a morbidly obese.

I started investigating about my disease and fortunately found a solution. It wasn’t that quick and simple, I needed to go trough surgery to have a gastric bypass operation. I read a lot about this, about people who dies while being operated and those who died on the wait list. I started investigating on the Internet, searched in forums, chatted with people who were in my situation and with some that went all of those traumatic events and are now living and having a pleasant healthy life.

I had the money, and was about to spend it on the surgery at a local hospital, in Brazil, were I am from. But I was so lucky to discover that a Japanese doctor that lived next to me at that time (when I was in Europe) who was very interested in doing the surgery at no cost. We talked in his office for hours, and clarified every detail. He studied in the United States, but at that moment he never made any kind of gastric surgeries. In spite of this, I was still convinced that he was able to do a great work. I asked for specialist’s assessment in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. They talked with the doctor about all the details of my operation. This might sound odd, but I felt very secure in the hands of my new and kind Japanese doctor, besides, this expensive operation would have no cost at all, and that was going to be a relief to my family who wasn’t going trough a good economic situation at that moment.

The hospital (in Brazil) imported high technology equipment, especially for my surgery. With the tests I needed to do, doctors finally discovered one of the reasons why I got obese in an abnormally short amount of time (besides my metal issues). My body has a tendency of anomalous absorption of nutrients, so if I ate very few, that food was going to be totally absorbed by my organism. My operation went ok, but the first weeks after I didn’t see any significant changes, I remained the same. But at the second month I lost 32 pounds very quickly.

Now at 8 months form the surgery, I loose about 10 pounds per month. I still have to eat in moderated portions, about 0.5 pounds per meal. If I eat more I puke. I also need to control myself, sometimes I fell very tempted to eat more than I’m able to .But these changes are making me fell better and better.

I’m, very convinced that my life will get better with time, as I’m still in a weight loss phase. It’s kind of odd, because every time I go shopping, I go directly to the large size sections.

This experience has showed a lot of things. By living as an obese person this has allowed to see how this kind of people suffer, but still they have the strength to go on, and to find support on each other.

Obese people are warm and united-. I received a lot of phone calls, diet products, coconut water, vitamins, and even the ventilator I needed. They never asked for anything in exchange. It’s now a brotherhood. I created an online group of people who went trough the gastric by-pass surgery. Now we’re more than 150.