The Results My (Weigh loss Journey)

Let's face it -- being open, honest and vulnerable with you guys is essential to my brand. I get so much feedback and love from your comments and emails because I'm not afraid to be real and share my flaws.

So last year I chose the hardest thing I have ever done in my life and what lead me to where I am now I let myself go and it caused major problems for me in my personal life I stopped caring and was on overdrive with career and consumed with money and success so bad that I stopped taking care of the necessary things life that regularly a priority my relationships with my family were hindered my love life with my partner.

I lost my ability to do the normal things and trust people, I shut myself down and tucked away vulnerability due to the lack of loss, disappointment grief and a magnitude of things both physical and mental the number one thing is my health and physical appearance I allowed myself to reach my upper 200s leading to a increase in high blood pressure and altering my blood sugars ultimately making my diabetes worse, which is something that I struggled with since I was a teenager and my Anxiety to sky rocked but I was so hyped up that just because I was a little heavy that I should except that.

Last year I took two trips to my favorite place in this country the heart and soul of the melting pot my beloved New York where if you can make it there you can make it anywhere in April and when I go there I normally love to just see the city in its essence walk around enjoy the people the boroughs and relaxation being from a big city it feels like home much of the time I'm there but I found it incredibly hard to get around this time while I got to see a lot there was something different about it i didnt feel comfortable in my own skin and very much worn out

I remember walking in time square just worn out after a couple of blocks and thinking damn, I need to go back to my hotel and take a nap my knees and feet were swollen and on fire my legs felt like pins and needles where stabbing me and before I could reach the end of a city block I was huffing and puffing like I had ran a marathon up against my love who weighs a 170 wet and out walking me, I didn't enjoy it much I flew back to Chicago a few days later defeated looking at the pictures of the trip just like damn I looked huge compared to 6 months ago when I was at least 50 pounds lighter.

It bothered me so much that I made a second consultation to see a weight loss doctor now look this wasn't my first rodeo during the pandemic I remained active being a essential worker, I also stayed in the gym as much as possible, but wasn't losing like I would like, I tried everything I did the shots I have tried everything from Alli to Saxenda and it did horrible things to my GI tract I couldn't stay on those medications due to complications and let's be honest I might have only lost A few pounds anyway nothing major to gloat about.

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Be strong, be fearless, be beautiful. And believe that anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you.

Now at this time I'm on so many medications as well Saxenda metformin losartan omeprazole and anxiety medication yeah further down the sink hole so i make the appointment with my weight loss doctor who is amazing by the way Dr Barnes changed my life she said well we can try a alternative medicine but i would like you to meet are nutritionist and just go over you meals and make sure your eating enough because even tho you are meal prepping you may not be eating enough of the right things also have you though of alternatives like surgery as she explained how at least 80 percent of her Patients benefited from this surgery.

at the time it just sent me haywire into anxiety because all I read on some of these surgeries weren't good mortality wise, however I would think about it after I researched and she told me don't look too much into it meet with a surgeon and ask as many questions as possible to get clarity rather than sit on web media and all this false information on the internet

so I did that I met with a surgeon another amazing Dr in Chicago DR Zhu, who from start to finish explained every surgery there is for weight lose the benefits of each one the mortality rate what he actually specializes in and what his recommendations would be made my comfortability put to ease I still was convinced that I could do this thing on my own. So here I go back to the drawing board working out, walking running daily eating better choices, drinking more water and still not much change so I had to have a deep overview of my life and how important I was to myself this is stressing me out I'm discouraged I don't feel loved my own self consciousness speaking there

I'm not comfortable in this body and feel very much trapped in it And am I going to die one day seeing as I lost both parents to illnesses, stomach cancer and massive heart attacks, diabetic issues and a slew of family with other hereditary complications themselves didn't I want this to be my fate am I ready to part from this world in a painful way or can I do something that frightens me and puts me on edge but could be beneficial to me living a fruitful life hmm doesn't seem half bad. Needless to say I make another appointment and said let's do it and for the people who love to judge my fellow family in the weight loss community it's far from easy to go through this it is a mentality change it is a life altering makeover and assessment every day it starts with you putting yourself in check and reevaluating yourself daily.

What is the success rate of bariatric surgery?

Weight loss averages 65% for most patients with over 85% of patients losing and maintaining 50% initial excess weight

after my next appointment, I have to have several test ran EKGs endoscopies aids and HIV testing heart blood gasses ran several labs psychiatric evaluations nutritionists appointment, including going on a liquid diet for a total of 4 weeks with no food I did the work my surgery was accelerated where most people have to wait 6 months maybe even more to be approved for the surgery which sometime people don't get approved by there insurance companies as it an

Expensive procedure I got approved in 30 days, so this was going warp speed and the closer I got, the more my anxiety was through the roof would I make it through the surgery would I be different would I be in much pain I spent hours in forums talking to people who had had it trying to figure out what to expect up until the very day but guess what I did it it wasn't easy the journey is ongoing the road is still long

And I'm so proud of myself, my faith is restored, my confidence is through the roof and I am living a healthier and happier life I struggle sometimes, but not everyday this process was hard, but I have been told that anything worth having is worth the work and it's true I had to put in the work for myself and love myself more than anyone else could. My new secondary Birthdate is May 26th 2021 I made the choice to extend my life I made a choice to beat the stigma of my family's medical and mental history and break the cycle I make a choice everyday to do the wrong and right things for myself and sometimes I fail and most of the time I learn today I got the biggest news from one of my doctors and I was in tears when I left the office

I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in November of 2002 and I have been living with it ever since I painful disease I wouldn't eve want someone to have to live through or wish them with the anxiety around loosing my life or a child, my limbs or worse, my sight, my vision to have see all the beautiful things I have seen and one day lights out was scary for me when I started this process I was heading in the road to being on insulin having had pancreatitis many times putting a beating on both kidneys and pancreas and at a 6.6 A1C blood glucose level to now a whopping 5.6 in just a year and now out of type to diabetes to borderline and in safe numbers no medication feels more than amazing to hear this news I feel accomplish I was having a conversation with my now secondary primary doctor for the first time this week about were I wanted to be in numbers in terms of this

If you have a positive frame of mind, you can manifest positive things in your life.

And she said, let me run a blood test to check it and before I could leave the office, she met me at the front desk stood right next to me and put a sticky note on the counter and wrote me a private note that said you did it A1C 5.6 with a smiley face and said let's talk about what this means for you in are next visited. I left there almost in tears, feeling so accomplished

I did what I have set out to do thank you god for pushing on me when you knew I had it all along and to the community don't give up keep working on yourself it pays off I hope my story helps change the stigma for people about the severity of these tools and can help a person like me that was scared and unsure use me as a beacon of success i love talking to you if you have any questions about bariatric surgery or just need a support buddy email me at luvmrsninaross@gmail.com