WLS is NOT the reason I’ve lost weight (244 pounds) and kept it off for 12 years.
WLS was an event. It was something that occurred 12 years ago in a hospital in Michigan… on a specific day (Oct 4, 2010)… At a certain time (8 am).
It was certainly the catalyst for my change. It gave me a tool to use to accomplish a goal (dream, yearning, want, hope, longing, hunger, wish, desire…) that I had held for a couple of decades.
The reason I lost 244 pounds and kept it off is that I adopted and lived a WLS Lifestyle.
A WLS Lifestyle by my definition is 1) providing my body, on a daily basis, the proper nutrition it needs to do the things I want it to do, and 2) regularly moving my body in such a way that I build strength, increase flexibility, and give my body tools it needs to fight off disease, lift my mood and boost my energy.
When people ask me “How did you do it?” I always answer: “By living a WLS Lifestyle.” I never say: “Weight Loss Surgery.” To do so gives the credit to a single point in time… a single event… something I had nothing to do with (except paying for it and showing up). It really would be an easy way to lose weight. You deserve the credit. Give it to yourself.
When someone we know retires after a great career, we don’t congratulate them because years earlier they took a job. We celebrate the length of their career… their accomplishments, their successes, their hard work, their dedication, and the consistency they delivered day after day, year after year. Anybody can start a job. It takes years of constant, vigilant effort and willpower to turn it into a successful career.
Next time someone asks you how you lost weight, don’t answer by saying ‘Weight Loss Surgery,’ instead say, with all the confidence and self-assurance that you can muster, “I lost weight and I maintain my health by following a WLS Lifestyle.”
Celebrate the lifestyle you’ve been able to utilize to make a change and build the life you dreamed about… not the tool you used to build it. Paint brushes don’t create masterpieces of art, artists do.
Be the artist that fills the canvas you were given at birth, and paint your masterpiece.
Hi Bill - Dr. Sabir was also my surgeon in 2016. I’m maintaining a 200 lb weight loss and have also found an athlete inside me that I never knew existed. I strength train (working with a trainer for the last 6 years) and I have discovered running! Dr. Sabir asked me to be a part of the Ascension WL group when you do your ride, but I can’t be in Michigan during that time, Wishing you a safe and enjoyable ride!
Cathy Cordle
that was inspiring! Thanks! I never think of my journey as done. I can nail down the date I started doing research on WLS, and the date of my first appointment to discuss my goals with my surgeon, surgery day, and the day I weighed my lowest. I lost 210 pounds. From 448 to 238 in 2 years. My sleeve did not make it happen-there are thousands of ways it could've give wrong, but adopting a WLS lifestyle is truly what did it and helps me maintain, while I'm doing the work trying to lose more. I've dropped from a BMI of 63 to 41. I don't know if I'll ever reach a "normal" weight, but I need to be…
I loved reading your story!
Thanks for sharing!