Seeking help to slam the breaks on bad behaviors

Previous attempts to get medical help with curbing my weight gain and lose the more than 150 pounds I'd gained since my mother's passing had led me only to the discovery of an even graver issue: I was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. And that complicated things. Fortunately, my vitals were not so bad that I was at a heightened risk of stroke, so I was put on simple aspirin therapy and scheduled for an ablation. The problem was, my return to morbid obesity meant the ablation was less likely to be successful. So a medical solution to my weight gain became a priority.

On May 5, 2018, I finally met with a group of doctors at University of Virginia's Heart and Vascular Center, including not just a cardiologist but also an endocrinologist and a nutritionist. My weight at that appointment? 426. Shocking, I know. The doctors were on the verge of recommending gastric bypass or some surgical solution, but I told them I was confident I could lose the weight through diet and exercise - I just needed some sort of boost to get me started. The depression was still very real, and that had to be addressed first.

Photo taken early May, just before seeking help

The medical team prescribed Wellbutrin to curb my anxious eating, and I consulted with the nutritionist on how to deal with the fact that my job requires me to dine with resort guests at a buffet breakfast and lunch five days a week at work. I won't go into the lifestyle changes that resulted just yet, but I wanted to post something quick to let my readers know the good news that I have slammed the breaks on my escalating bad behavior. As a result, since that appointment in early may I have lost about 35 pounds.

I'll be posting more here on the MyFitLife2Day blog, and I'm Tweeting again @myfitlife2day, so if you're interested follow me there. It's debilitating when you have enormous weight loss success and then gain the weight - and then some - after years of maintenance. But I'm hoping my journey will prove that you can get knocked down and get back up again...not just once or twice but every single time it happens. (Check out this blog from the beginning to learn some of the back story of my "diet", and past successes, if you're interested.)

Photo taken early June, after losing first 25 lbs.

For some folks, failure is not an option. For others, it is a devastating end of the road. But for me, it is an opportunity to learn. I've learned a lot throughout my fitlife journey, and I have a feeling the lessons are far from over!