Handling Stress After Weight Loss Surgery

I had my vertical sleeve gastrectomy 16 months ago and I have successfully lost 100 pounds. I have been wondering lately how much I would currently weight if I had not had the surgery.

It has been a difficult year. My husband had his second heart bypass in 11 months in November. The first one failed. I have felt a lot of emotions and dealt with a great deal of stress over the past year.

Before my weight loss surgery I always turned to food for comfort. If I was sad, or lonely, or stressed, food was my solution. My gastric sleeve changed all of that. I will not say that the change was always welcomed by me. There were times when I wanted to eat and felt very frustrated that I could not. What I will say is that I am glad that my weight loss surgery forced me to deal with problems in a different way.

I am certain that without my gastric sleeve I would have piled on more weight this year, probably another 20 or 30 pounds. My high blood pressure would be even more out of control. Who knows what other health problems would have developed. I am grateful to have had my weight loss surgery when I did.