On the road to bariatric surgery, Cheryl Parker, 42, never dreamed her weight loss journey would take her where she is today. This is her story. When the doctor told me that my EKG glitch was "normal for someone my size" during my bariatric surgery consultation, I knew I'd made the right decision to lose weight. At 41, I was 5'6'' and 272 pounds—obese category III. I had shortness of breath and heart palpitations all the time, even when I was sitting on the couch. Two of my grandparents died in their early 60s, and I realized I was living on borrowed time. I had to change, and this time had to be different. (Take back control of your eating—and lose weight in the process—with our 21-Day Challenge!) I say it had to be different because I'd battled my weight for most of my life, learning the hard way that meal replacement shakes and fad diets only work temporarily. In June 2014, I peaked at a size 22. To be at a healthy weight for my height, I needed to lose more than 125 pounds. Given my dieting history, I didn't think there was any way I could do that on my own, so I embarked on the surgery path. To address the elephant in the room and prevent people from asking me tons of questions about my weight loss, or from whispering "I think she had bariatric surgery…" behind my back, I created a Facebook group announcing my plans within my existing friends. In the meantime, I attended the required 4-hour-long seminar. As I heard the instructor list the postsurgery "forbiddens," I felt myself get nervous. "You won't be able to drink from a straw forever. You will not be able to eat sugar forever. You will not be allowed to eat bread that hasn't been heavily toasted forever." I kept thinking, forever is a long time… Even though I knew there would be restrictions before I attended the seminar, hearing them made it different, and I started to second-guess my decision to go forward with the surgery. Source
