Day 139 -- The Surgical Option

Gastric bypass surgery is in the news.  The governor of New Jersey has just admitted that he had it in February and comedian Lisa Lampinelli lost 106 pounds after having the surgery a year ago.  These two bits of news got me to thinking about my own decisions regarding weight and diet.

I have to admit that there were times when I thought about having the surgery.  It came at a point when I was really convinced that I couldn't do this on my own, that there was no way I could stick to a diet for more than a month or two.  I was stuck in a spot where there just didn't seem to be any way to make a positive change and that was a pretty dark place for an optimistic person like me.  Believe me, I'd looked at it from all different angles and the surgery seemed to be my last best option.

There was one very big problem, though.  I couldn't afford the surgery.  My insurance wouldn't cover it and I didn't have an extra $20,000 in my bank account.  So my last best option wasn't an option at all.  And I'm really thankful that the diet gods conspired to make that so.  Because it forced me to look at other options.  And I found a way to do it without putting my health at risk.

I decided to go vegan for several reasons.  My friend, E, was always posting yummy vegetarian and vegan recipes on her Facebook page and I found myself thinking, I should make that.  I'd really like that.  I've known a few vegans and one thing I'd noticed was that I'd never really come across an overweight vegan.  I know some overweight vegetarians, but it's difficult to be an overweight vegan.  You really have to work at it.  And I knew if I went straight vegetarian, the cheese and the sour cream would be too tempting.

Once I made the decision to try vegan, low-fat vegan to be precise, I decided that I wasn't going to limit the amount of food I ate.  I'd been through point-counting and calorie-watching and carbo-minding.  As long as I was eating vegan, I'd allow myself to eat as much as I wanted.  I wasn't going to eat less food, I was going to eat better food.  And it worked.  It worked just as well as the surgery option.

Along the way, I've learned more about food and nutrition than I ever thought I could learn.  The great thing is, I'm still learning and discovering new things every day.  Food has become something fun again, something positive.  Eating is no longer accompanied by a massive amount of guilt.  I'm happy that I didn't have the option to take the surgical option.