Aaron L. Shaw

Here I grow again! I had surgery three years ago. It was a roller coaster ride, like everyone else. I did the pure liquid no carb pre op diet. I underwent surgery and after the initial feeling of having been through a bar fight, came out the other side ready to go! I was compliant with the whole thing, It was an amazing experience as the weight seemed to just melt off. . . until it didn't. I got down to about 250 pounds and hit a very long plateau. In response I went to the gym. . . A LOT. I managed to drop down to 210 pounds and decided to go in for skin removal surgery. Things went backwards from there. The plastic surgeon was HORRIBLE. He didn't place a drain, I developed a seroma the size of a pringles can (1 liter) and had an incision infection. The seroma kept filling up even after I went to a general surgeon to have it cleaned out and a drain placed. I was not able to exercise because of the pain. Old habits die hard. I became sedentary again, and I've gained back up to 257 pounds. Bad eating habits. A non supportive spouse. Too many carbs. Not enough exercise. Seroma is still there. I went back to my PCP yesterday and weighed in. Much to my horror I was at 257. When I looked at my weight history, 30 pounds of that has slowly crept up since January of this year. Compliance cannot be overstated. I went out and bought protein bars and yogurt. I'm cutting out any and all alcohol, and back to counting carbs. Since I'm a full time law student (at 46 years old with six kids at home) finding time to exercise regularly can be a challenge. Today I'm going to work some time after class into my schedule to go to the university's gym for at least 45 minutes to an hour each day (I have class 3 days a week). I didn't go down this long, and difficult road just to wind up back where I started. Glad to find this forum