Success Stories

Before

After

Lori Luck
Surgery Date: 8/05/02
Weight Loss: 235 Lbs

I went in to the office for my 2 year check up and much to my surprise, Jackie said, “would you please write an article for the November issue of Beyond Change “. “Oh ya, you have until Tuesday to submit it to me”. After I picked my jaw up from the floor, I thought, what would I have to say to anyone reading this paper that they have not heard a hundred times already? Then I thought, I would tell “my story”. They have not heard “my story”, so in this aspect it will be new information.

I was heavy all my life, not really fat, but “heavy” as I was growing up. I constantly heard “you are such a pretty girl, with such a pretty face….if only you would lose some weight”. My family would just use the direct approach, “You are too fat! You will never find a boyfriend. No man will ever marry you”. These were not exactly confidence boosters.

I tried every diet know to man, as we all have. Then it became a control issue. Like all other eating disorders, it is not about the food, but the perceived lack of control in your life. My parents were relentless about what I did and did not eat. I was policed all the time. Every morsel was monitored as it went into my mouth. If we were out in public, either nothing was said and I would get “the look”, or I would be embarrassed as they would say, “do you really NEED to eat that”? Unlike the anorexics or bulimics who either obtained control by not eating or eating and purging, I would control what I ate and how much I would eat in private. I became a food “sneaker”. I would sneak food into my bedroom, usually candy and sweets, things I was not allowed to eat by my family. I am sure my parents knew I was doing this because I continued to gain weight. When I went away to college, it was like free time! There was no one to police my food intake anymore. Pizza, ice cream, and junk food at all hours of the day and night. Of course my roommates were all skinny, so they could afford the calories. After my first year at college, I weighed about 225 lbs.

I graduated from nursing school in 1981. I worked in a couple of hospitals for 5 years, and then I moved to Home Care. I visited about 7 patients a day in their individual homes. I would instruct patients about their disease processes, how to care for their wounds or diabetes, etc. Much of my teaching included the importance of exercise. It became very difficult to get patients to “buy into” the theory of exercise being so important when their nurse would get short of breath just walking up a flight of stairs. Many of my patients who were 30-40 years my senior were actually in better physical shape than I was!

My weight continued to go up year after year as I continued to show my independence and “control” my life. I was now 45 years old and I still felt that the only control I had in my life was by the types and the quantities of food I ate. I was at an all time recorded high of 372 lbs ( I am sure it was higher before surgery, because I think I ate like I was going to the electric chair for a couple of weeks prior to surgery)! I did not spend all of those years in nursing school for nothing. I knew things were out of control. I was short of breath, my blood pressure was through the roof and I was on the maximum dose of 4 different blood pressure pills, my ankles and feet swelled all the time, I had no energy, and would come home from work and vegetate in front of the TV until it was time for bed.

I did manage to prove my parents wrong though. I got married to a great guy in 1999. He accepted me as I was, and loved me even though I was now obese. There, I said it…the dreaded “O” word. We went on vacation the summer of 2001 and we couldn’t find much that we could do other than sit and eat. My inability to walk too far without becoming short of breath or having leg pains frustrated my husband because he could not think of many things we could do together. He finally said “you need to lose a little weight so we can do more things together”. I was mortified! I thought maybe he hadn’t noticed that I was obese, that I had fooled him the way I was trying to fool myself that I was one of the “healthy fat people” because I included a lot of fruits and vegetables in my diet (along with the junk food).

I began looking into Bariatric surgery. I figured that I had tried every other avenue of weight loss and did not succeed. I fought with insurance companies, switched insurance companies and 18 months later finally had my surgery. This was my first experience of being on the other side of the medical field. I cannot say that I like it quite as well on that side, but that is another story! The first year was kind of rough. I had a hard time coping with so much attention. Now everyone was watching what I was eating and commenting on how LITTLE I was eating (that was a new one for me!). As the weight began to come off rather quickly, I heard new words that were foreign to me, like “skinny”, you look “great”, and I almost didn’t recognize you because you got so “thin”. I knew from going to my bi-weekly support meetings that this is a common problem with Bariatric patients. We have a hard time accepting our new body image. I still struggle every day with what I “really look like” and still go back to the larger sizes when shopping, because I cannot believe that I can now wear smaller sizes. I started working out with a trainer last December because I was afraid of hurting myself on the machines at the gym because my joints are all so messed up from carrying all the excess weight around for 46 years. I have been working out for an hour and a half 3 days a week ever since. I never thought that I would be so paranoid about missing a day at the gym. It has become routine now, and I worry if I stop, it will be too easy to slide back into those days of no exercise, so I go to the gym religiously. My lower body lift is now completed, and the excess tissue removed from my upper arms and my breasts relocated somewhere closer to their point of origination and further away from my knees. I have lost 235 lbs in the 2 years after my surgery. My current weight is 145 lbs. I have a goal to complete the new me by the time I turn 50 in February of 2006. Look out world! If you thought Oprah was fabulous when she turned 50, you ain’t seen nothing yet! Just wait till Lori turns 50! Now that will be fabulous!!!!

Lori Luck