I got my surgery one year ago yesterday. Since then I've lost 100 pounds and I feel damn good. I'm more athletic than I've ever been before (even when I was young and thin in the Army). I ran a half-marathon and I signed up for a half-triathlon next year. Women look at me (sorry ladies, still happily married), and I just love the way I look when I look in the mirror. In fact, I'm pretty sure my wife gets annoyed with all the time I spend checking myself out. :)
My life isn't perfect. Far from it. But at least now I'm not plagued with the problems that came with obesity and food addiction.
The other day a friend on Facebook hit me up with advice about getting bariatric surgery. If you're overweight and have failed to lose the weight for years after constant diet and exercise programs, then I absolutely recommend that you get it. Make sure that your insurance will cover it. Under the Affordable Care Act most insurance companies now have policies on the various exchanges that cover bariatric surgery under certain conditions. You usually have to have a BMI of 40+, or a BMI of at least 35 with a obesity-related condition to be eligible, and they'll expect you to spend six months on a diet regulated by the surgeon first. If you can't meet those conditions, you'll have to pay out of pocket. Some surgeons have financing options. As for what type of surgery to get, you'll have to ask the doc about that. I picked the gastric sleeve because I wanted something more permanent than the lap band, but I still wanted to be able to eat enough to meet the nutritional requirements for when I decided to start doing athletic things.
Anyway, I still have a lot of fitness goals to meet. Along with doing the half-tri next year, I still need to get below 240 so that I'll be eligible for skydiving. I'm looking forward to the day when I get to face my fear of heights and jump out of a perfectly good airplane. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment