My Re:You Journey
Oct 5, 2022
Disclaimer
Re:You Health are pleased to present a series of blog extracts from one of our patients and her journey leading up to bariatric surgery and beyond.
As with all personal recollections, this journey and opinions expressed are hers. We look forward to assisting you on whatever you would like to be yours.
Introduction
Hi, I am a 48-year mum of 4 teenage children and my weight has been a consistent battle for the last 35 years.
I am hoping by sharing my blog with you, it will help you understand that you are absolutely not alone. Taking that first step in your weight loss journey takes strength and courage.
If you are ready to take that step, please feel reassured that Re:You Health and their allied health team will be an amazing support for you. I know this as I am a patient of theirs.
If you have been thinking of giving them a call, I would love for you to take a few minutes to read my blogs. I hope that they spark something in you, to do something for YOU. Having a chat with one of the doctors at Re:You was that moment for me.
Taking that step
It took me a lot to make that first call to Re:You 2 years ago – a lot of trepidation, fear, anxiety, tears, doubt and that old “diet” feeling.
Will this be my solution? How long will the weight take to come off? How long will it stay off? How much extra will come back? How much will the doctor judge me? And to be honest, how long would it take for me to fail at another attempt at weight loss?
This, and many other loops of self-loathing conversation were on repeat in my head and louder than ever. These conversations were never silent and have been on continuous loop since I was 12 years old – I’m now 48. A long time to hear the same old, same old.
What was wrong with me? I was in complete control over so much in my life. I was sociable, had kids and a partner I loved, travelled, good career, why couldn’t I just stop being FAT!
According to the numerous heavily advertised weight loss centers, gyms and General Practitioners I had attended before, it was a matter of will power, self-control, dropping carbs, not eating after 6pm, going for a walk when I was hungry or brushing my teeth in the hope that anything else I shoved in my mouth would therefore be abhorrently minty flavoured, it really was a matter of self-control! Dig deep, grow up and get out there and run. “But hey” said one GP “don’t worry, at least you have a pretty face!” Wow! I didn’t feel pretty, in fact I felt ashamed, embarrassed and generally invisible.
My journey back to being me
In life, as I tell my kids, you will come across people for a reason, a season or a lifetime and each of these people have something to leave with you, that you will grow from. These reasons may not be obvious to start with and may not always seem fair or pleasant, but some will be absolute diamonds.
One of these diamonds given to me was through a friend I met when my kids were starting at a new school. She told me about a friend of hers who was a GP who had a special interest in weight management.
This lesson proved to be a big, sparkly diamond!
My first appointment
Just opening the sliding door of the consulting suite made me feel ill. Of course, I was dressed in head to toe in black (had always been told how slimming that was) and was prepared to be given a diet sheet and a list of do not touch foods and be sent on my way.
I’m glad that I was so unbelievably wrong.
My Re:You Doctor welcomed me into her rooms with a very kind and open smile and she just listened, well I guess she had no choice, through my tears for the next hour. I told her exactly how I felt and listed what all of my concerns were and how I really didn’t want to continue on this path of not only hating my reflection, but also wondering about the damaging effect I was having on my teen children who knew to expect the floods of tears and the horrendous anxiety before any social event. Not to mention the physiological effect that being overweight was going to have on my body and long-term health in the future.
For the first time, I felt listened to and unburdened by the fact that this was not totally my fault. Genetics and the bodies amazing ability to keep rebounding weight to it’s set point had also been major factors influencing my weight over the past 35 years. However, I am no fool and not going to rest my hat on this evidence alone. I could finish off a block of Kit Kat and a good wedge of French cheese better than anyone I know, so did a lot of my friends, but they didn’t have to throw out their wardrobe every season!
We discussed how I had previously been successful at losing weight, for weeks, months and even at one point for a year, but eventually the weight returned, usually with a few more kilos to literally tip me over the edge. The yearly silent promises to myself of “starting on Monday”, for my “next big birthday”, after the “birth of each child” just became too much to bear and I was done!
We went through all of the ways that Re:You and their allied health team made up of dietitians, exercise physiologists and a psychologist may be of interest. Pharmacotherapy and possibly even a surgeon could help me on my journey. The decision was completely mine and we could discuss this at my next appointment in 3 weeks’ time.
Decision time
I left my first appointment feeling hopeful. Although my Re:You Doctor had brought forward many of my feelings about past weight loss attempts, she never once judged me.
For the first time leaving a weight management appointment I actually felt empowered.
I had discussed with her that pharmacotherapy was the way for me to go. She told me to have a think, read the literature she had given me and she would see me in three weeks.
I’m not sure she knew she would hear back from me so soon, but that night I was in her inbox – “I’ve decided to get off this merry go round and have surgery”.
I slept well that night for the first time in a very long time. Lucky, as there were going to be some sleepless nights ahead!