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Well, I'll start with my name. It's Craig, I was 29yrs old and 500lbs when I had my Roux en-y. I'm from Dayton OH and there were a lot of things leading up to my surgery. I was born with a hip disease called leg perthissess. My parents & Dr. caught that at around the second grade. That is probably where I had my biggest weight gain. I was pretty much forced to strict bed rest by my Dr. & my parents... So while all my friends were outside playing I was inside watching reruns of Mr. Belvedere & eating comfort food. I was in a exercise restrictive leg brace until the 6th grade. After I finally got my hip back to 100% or as close to that as possible for me. Then life seemed to be getting back on track for me. I started playing hockey competitively and was very good at it but not good enough in Dayton OH, to get paid for it. Had I lived in more of hockey town, who knows. At any rate I started a real job. At 19 years old I started working in a factory, 3rd shift and making decent money. At this time in my life most of my friends were out partying & trying to get laid, maybe working part-time job. I was busy paying on a brand new truck I had bought before I realized that the insurance was gonna cost me as much I was paying on the truck! Working 3rd shift really messed with my eating schedule. I started gaining a big amount of weight. I would eat with my parents through out the day & then eat again. at night with my friends. I worked at the factory for a few years and then began a career as a professional Body Piercer. Now, the factory was hot, and it was physically demanding. Being a Body Piercer was not! My body was still out of wack due to a extreme lack of exercise and sleep depravation. I am a firm believer that you never get to catch up on lost sleep. That being said I also believe that your eating schedule and sleep schedule should kind of be balanced. Mine were no where near balanced. At around the age of 21 I started dating a girl that I got very serious with. I thought I was around 300lbs. Later that year I got sick with phenomena... I eventually had to have lung surgery. I was put in ICU and weighted to find out that I actually was about 380lbs. At this point I started looking into Gastrick Bypass Surgery. I had no health insurance at this time(still don't by the way lol). So I figured I'd just diet. I had a very hard break-up and moved to Columbus for a year. When I moved back to Dayton I had no

choice but to live with my parents for while. This is when they really saw how out of control my health had become. I talked with my mom about the procedure and she offered to pay out of pocket for it. I went to Dayton Bariatric and saw Dr. David Bruce who in my opinion saved my life on 1-7-09. On the day of pre-surgery testing I weighed 498lbs I couldn't believe that I weighed that much. The first day I could walk afterwards they weighed me and I had already lost close to 30lbs. From that point I started losing weight rapidly. In 3 years now I have lost a total of 260lbs. It was after my weight loss seemed to be on-track that my "other problems" , started! I began to replace comfort food with other comfort coping tools. I start popping Vicodon like candy. At one point up to 20 a day. Keep in mind up to this point in my life I had never done a drug let alone start to abuse them. I did Vicodone regularity for about 2.5 years. For the last 6 months I have struggled with staying strong to keep away from Vicodone and any other pain meds. It's been hard on me and life partner. I feel like I gave up my food addiction for a pain pill addiction. I know I never did these things before when I was 500lbs. I am trying but everyday is a struggle. I would really appreciate some feedback. I'd love to hear some of your experiences other than my own. I can't be the only 1 out here that this has happened to. Thanks for reading I know I'm long winded sorry again and remember that there is answer you just have to ask the right question.

Craigs Story

Thank you Katie for your support through all of this I love u and U are my everything!!!

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    • Doughgurl

      2 days until I fly out to San Diego to have my Bypass Surg. in Tiajuana Mexico. Not gonna lie, the nerves are starting to surface. I don't fear the surgery itself, or the fact that I'm traveling alone, but its the aftermath that I'm stressing about the most, after this 8 week wait. I'm excited to finally be here, but I am really dreading the post surgical chapter. I know its going to be tough, real tough and I think I'm just in my head to much now that the day i here. Wish me luck, Hopefully I'm one of the lucky ones, and everything goes smoothly. Cant wait to give an exciting update,. If there is anyone else have a June bypass or even a recent one, Id love to have someone to compare war stories with. Also, anyone near San Antonio Tx? See ya soon with the future me. 💜
      · 1 reply
      1. Phil Penn

        Good Luck this procedure is well worth it I am down to 249.6 lb please continue with the process..

    • LeighaTR

      I am new here today... and only two weeks out from my sleeve surgery on the 23rd. I am amazed I have kept my calories down to 467 today so far... that leaves me almost 750 left for dinner and maybe a snack. This is going to be tough for two weeks... but I have to believe I can do it!
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
    • Doughgurl

      Hey everyone. I'm new here so I thought I should introduce myself. I am 53y/o and am scheduled for Gastric Bypass on June 25th, 2025. I'm located in San Antonio, Texas. I will be having my surgery in Tiajuana Mexico. I've wanted this for years, but I always had insurance where bariatric procedures were excluded. Finally I am able to afford to pay out of pocket.  I can't wait to get started, and I hope I'm prepared for the initial period of "hell". I know what I have signed up for, but I'm sure the good to come will out way the temporary period of discomfort and feelings of regret. I'd love to find people to talk to who have been through the same procedure or experience before. So I look forward to meeting you all. Hope you have a great week!
      · 2 replies
      1. Selina333

        I'm so happy for you! You are about to change your life. I was so glad to get the sleeve done in Dec. I didn't have feelings of regret overall. And I'm down almost 60 lbs. I do feel a little sad at restaurants. I can barely eat half a kid's meal. I get adults meals often because kid ones don't have the same offerings at times. Then I feel obligated to eat on that until it's gone and that can be days. So the restaurant thing isn't great for me. All the rest is fine by me! I love feeling full with very little. I do wish I could drink when eating. And will sip at the end. Just a strong habit to stop. But I'm working on it! You will do fine! Just keep focused on your desire to be different. Not better or worse. But different. I am happy both ways but my low back doesn't like me that heavy. So I listened (also my feet!). LOL! Update us on your journey! I'm not far from you. I'm in Houston. Good luck and I hope it all goes smoothly! Would love to see pics of the town you go to for this. I've never been there. Neat you will be traveling for this! Enjoy the journey. Take it one day at a time. Sometimes a few hours at a time. Follow all recommendations as best you can. 💗

      2. Doughgurl

        Thank you so much for your well wishes. I am hoping that everything goes easy for me as well. We don't eat out much as it is, so it wont be too bad in that department. Thankfully. Also, I hear you regarding your back and feet!! I'd like to add knees to the list. Killing me as we speak! I'm only 5' so the weight has to go. Too short to carry all this weight. Menopause really did a doosey on me. (😶lol) My daughter also lives in Houston. with her Husband and my 5 grand-littles. I grew up in Beaumont, so I know Houston well, I will be sure to keep in touch and update you on my journey. I may need some advice in the future, or just motivation. Thank You so much for reaching out, I was hoping to connect with someone in the community. I really appreciate it. 💜

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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