Annette’s Story

This is my story and I hope it is an inspiration to you.

Weight Watchers, Easy Slim, Sure Slim, Tony Ferguson, Kate Morgan, and even Jenny Craig. I had tried them all and although some of them better than others, the most I ever lost was about 15kg and the worst thing was that I always put the weight back on and in most cases more!

Since having kids, my weight over the past 24 years has just slowly added on and on and on. I knew people that had Lap Band surgery and I  always said “Oh how drastic it was, I could never do that, I must be able to lose weight eating the right food”.  Realistically though, how many people do you know that have been successful losing a lot of weight and keeping it off eating the right foods only?!!

I was asked one day in a Weight Watchers class what I would do if I were slim. I had to stand up in front of everyone, already embarrassed and I said “I would love to be able to cross my legs”, as a tear ran down my cheek. That’s right, a simple thing like crossing my legs was a dream to me, that was one of the lowest points in my life.
At my heaviest, 130kg, I applied for personal insurance and was declined because of my BMI—because it rated as MORBIDLY OBESE…………………………morbidly obese, that couldn’t have been me! That’s when I woke up and ate my own words and said to my husband “I need to do something to get my life back, it has gone on long enough, I need to seek medical help to lose weight, I need to look into surgery”.

I never thought my weight stopped me doing things but now looking back it did—I had sore ankles and feet and knees, but it was never because of my weight!! Ha–  Getting dressed, pulling up pants, jeans, etc . seemed to be difficult, but again, it was never my weight! I always held back doing things that might have been a little challenging in fear of embarrassing myself, because I had lost my confidence in myself, but it was never because of my weight!  Yes it was!!

My husband and I went to Gordon’s seminars, listened to the guest speakers, his patients, with their stories—real people who had been through the same experiences but found a way out through weight loss surgery!!  We found it very informative and inspirational. I did some research on the internet, I even watched the operation on U tube. It was then that I decided that the Sleeve Gastrectomy was for me!  I made an appointment with Gordon and his team which also included his weight loss surgery dietitian and well here I am now,  in June 2011—1 year post surgery and down 42kg!!!

My only regret……………I wish I had done it 20 years ago!!