“Congrats, you won Gastric Bypass Surgery”

The day finally came for me at Kaiser when my fav nurse practitioner (NP) got so busy with patients that she let me go.  I attempted to try a few other NP and got frustrated.  Most of them had the personality of a sea sponge.  After chatting with the member services group, they suggested one NP that was very similar to my original NP.

I was late to my first appointment with her.  She came into the examination room and told me she was shocked I even got an appointment with her, as she was not taking new patients.  Being that she said “I will take you on but let me tell you about myself”:

Next time don’t be late.  I like to be on time with all my patients and if you are late then you throw all our schedules off. (fair enough)

There are 3 things I focus on in my practice -

1. Hypertension (great I want to get off my High blood pressure meds)
2. Diabetes (even better, I am borderline type 2)
3. Obesity (wonderful, I am on a quest to move more and shrink)

So, we carried on a wonderful conversation about what I have been doing for my health.  That my goals match perfect to her focuses and how frustrated I am with the lack of progress I am making.

Then she announced to me (like it was the most wonderful thing in the world or like I just won the lotto)

Sample of Successful GP

“based on your weight, YOU ARE A CANDIDATE FOR GASTRIC BYPASS SURGERY, whoo hoo!  Ok, she really didn’t say it that way but that is how I heard it.  I felt like a semi truck just hit me.  So many thoughts were running around my head…WHAT, do I have to loose that much weight?  How did I let myself get this fat!  This can’t be true!

Now I want to say that a few of my friends have had this surgery.  It was a great success for them.  It even saved some of their lives.  But for me, this was not the way I wanted to go.  I don’t take to any surgery well.  I also couldn’t imagine being limited to what or how much I could eat for the rest of my life.  I knew it was not an option for me.

I expressed my shock to her with tears in my eyes.  She said, “Ok then lets start on a plan that will work for you”.  She gave me a list of diet plan websites to visit and we started on setting goals (something I do very well with).

I left her office, got in my car, drove 3 blocks and pulled over to sob.  5 mins later I pulled myself together and at that point made a commitment to never be in the category of gastric bypass surgery again.

I found a great site that can help you make your own decision about Gastric Bypass Surgery. Gastric Bypass.com – Your Guide to Weight Loss Surgery

H20 Aerobics and it’s benefits

Once I decided to start “moving” (I don’t use the work exercise, too negative for me), I needed to find an something that didn’t kick my butt so much I would never do it again.  I love water, any type of water.   So, I thought water aerobics would be the best way to start.  I wanted to share with you my experience..

H20 Aerobics Class

When I showed up to my first water aerobics class, much to my surprise the instructor ended up being one of the most welcoming and warm person I ever met.  She had the class all say “hello” to me and made sure I was not only enjoying the class but that I was doing the movements correctly so I didn’t injure anything.  I learned later that this is very very important. Well, I was hooked.  I found out her full weekly schedule and followed her around from pool to pool.

Puffer Fish

No matter where i went the classes were always made up of women and men of different ages and sizes.  But, there was always the same crowd in each class that I call the “puffer fish”.  This was a group of people that would crowd together and chitchat.  There arm movement, tiny and slow, would remind me of the puffer fish.  During the class they would carry on conversations about their new hair cut, savings at various grocery stores, grand kids and other gossip type topics.

Keep in mind I was focusing on the movement and technique.  Once I got that down there was no stopping me.  The faster the movement is in the water the greater the resistance.  So, at the start of the class I would find a spot in the pool that gave me plenty of space to “work it out”.  Sometimes the puffer fish group would migrate into my space.  I would be pushing against the water so much that I was creating a wake.  Maybe my wake was sucking them in closer to me.  Anyway, as I plowed along I could hear the puffer fish stopping their conversation and say things like “oh my” or cough and gagging from my wake water splashing in their face.  A big part of a water aerobics routine is jogging the length of the pool.  This really is a great way to not only get warmed up but also get your heart rate going.  Well, I found myself many times running up the back of the puffer fish.  Some would try to keep up with me.  Running hard while looking behind them to see a speedboat in a black swim suit fast approaching their back.  Finally they would give up and back off to give me some space.

Water aerobics was the first serious workout I incorporated into my life.  I did it 6 days a week for over 8 months.  I toned my muscles and increase my aerobic stamina tremendously.  I even built up a nice collection of swimsuits and cute hats.  Soon I realized I my body was getting used to the routine and it was time to mix it up.  These days, I try to do one or two classes a month.  I still love water and the puffer fish know me so well now that they stay clear of my wake.

Here is a a great list of the benefits water aerobics from my instructor Ginnie Plato of AquaFit.

Water Workout benefits:

• Reduce impact relieves stress on joints and tendons
• Increased resistance builds strength and endurance
• Circulation is stimulated, yet blood pressure is naturally reduced
• The hydrostatic pressure of water reduces potential for sore muscles and injury due to overwork
• Balance and coordination are improved with water’s support
• Muscles receive a balanced workout due to resistance properties of water

The Beginning

I think we all have had these moments…you go to a party or family gathering.  Someone starts taking pictures and even though you try your hardest to avoid the camera (ducking behind plants, walls, people or holding a small child up in front of you) and then “SNAP”, they capture a picture of you.  You surrender (but not after you try to your hardest to convince them to delete it from the camera) and life goes on. Then suddenly it shows up in your email or even worse MySpace or your tagged in Facebook.  You look at it and say “Who the hell is that?” “That can’t be me!” “Who used photoshop to put my head on  someone else body?” “OMG how could I let this happen”.  Then the worse thought comes “Crap this is now public on the internet!”.

My starting point

This is happened to me many times in 2007.  I tried my best to bury these memories and always had a wonderful excuse (kids, family, job, dark roots, friends problems) not to hit the issue head on.  Maybe it was the universe or faith but those damn pictures just kept coming all year.  It not only became annoying to me but more like a screaming message, like a demanding 2 year old that wants a cookie, to start thinking about it more seriously.

To this day I still look at those pictures (at least the ones I didn’t trash) and think who the hell is that?  This was the beginning of my time to find out.