My Weight Loss Journey by Sarah Zell

Hey Guys!   Please read the story below!  This is blog from my friend Sarah Zell.  This is her story about her battle with weight, weight loss surgery and her quest to regain her life.  I went to high school with Sarah in a little town in West Texas (Cisco) and I know she can help a lot of people by sharing her story.  She will be guest blogging for me, telling her story about her journey.  Please join use for the ride!

My Weight Loss Journey by Sarah Zell

Thanks for stopping by!  I know there are a million weight loss surgery blogs out there, so why read another one?    Well, if you are anything like me, reading about someone’s real-life personal experience with something as scary and life-changing as weight loss surgery is far more informative than the thousands of websites out there that are obviously written by the doctors and manufacturers in the industry.  Don’t get me wrong… I’ve read all of those too, and they help a little. But most of the information that I found to truly be helpful has come from reading blogs and talking with actual people who have been through what I was about to go through.  So, I will do my best not to bore you to death, but I hope that by sharing my experiences of both the lap band and my upcoming sleeve revision surgery, somebody, somewhere can feel a little more confident about making the life-changing, even life-saving decisions of whether or not to get on this ride.  And I’ll be honest from the beginning…this ride is not for the faint of heart!

So let me begin with who I am and why you should bother reading my personal story.  I am currently 38 years old. I am a wife and mother of a sweet little boy.  (Well, he is 13 now, but is still a little boy to me.) I have a master’s degree in physical therapy from Texas Tech University, and I currently teach anatomy and physiology at a local college.  My education in both of these areas included extensive information on healthy eating, causes and risks of obesity, the importance of exercise, and the dangers of smoking.  However, regardless of how “smart” I became, I was still one of those who ate too much, exercised too little, and smoked entirely too often.  I can’t blame anyone but myself for my weight spiraling out of control.  I have been overweight most of my life.  Looking back, I could blame a thousand things for my weight problem.  I never did, and still don’t like to exercise.  I guess I just wasn’t raised thinking it was all that important.  I ate when I was bored and ate when I was stressed. I just loved food! Like most of us who fight the battle of the bulge, I have been on every crazy diet out there only to lose and gain on the proverbial yo-yo.  After getting married and having my son, it became even harder to lose weight.  My parents became ill and we fought a long battle only to lose them both within a year of each other.  Once again I turned to food to feel better. I was totally out of control.  So finally, in mid-2008, after being sick of the embarrassment, sick of shopping in the big girls’ section, sick of not being able to find anything cute to wear, sick of the doctors telling me I wasn’t healthy,  terrified to look at pictures of myself, being called the “Fat girl in room 1” at the emergency room, and ultimately getting on the scale and seeing I had topped out at 294 pounds, I decided that if I didn’t do something serious and do something quickly, I was probably going to die too young like my parents did, and I could not imagine doing that to my son and my husband.  And so began my long and interesting ride on the bariatric surgery roller-coaster.  There have been ups and downs, successes and as my son would say, “Ultimate Fails”, and with my upcoming surgery in two weeks, I’m sure there will be more of the same.  I hate cliché’s, but I can think of no better way to describe this journey than as a really long and tall roller coaster.   I hope you continue to follow my ongoing story and maybe find some hope, humor, and useful information to help you make the right decision about getting on the ride of YOUR life!

Sarah

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