A Bittersweet Relief: A End to my Personal Hell

11 months ago, the rambling weight loss train I was riding came to a very abrupt and difficult stop. I was losing about 2 and a half pounds a week until the beginning of August when the weight loss stopped. I tried all sorts of changes in diet and exercise, but to no avail. I saw a nutritionist, an endocrinologist, had all sorts of blood work, and even worked out with a trainer, but nothing I did could move the scale. As September rolled into October, I started insisting to my physician that something wasn't right, but all she had to offer is her nagging suggestions to have bariatric surgery.

By November, still with no weight loss, I started developing sinus infection after sinus infection. By February, the infection had spread to my eye and caused my right eye to swell shut. My eye was so badly damaged that I couldn't read or use a computer almost a month. So, I was referred to an opthamologist who referred me to an ear, nose, and throat specialist. After rounds and round of antibiotics and cortical steroids, I still saw no improvement. By this time I started gaining weight at a rate of about 3 pounds per week, no matter what I did or ate. Plus, to make matters worse, the steroids were making me retain water so I was puffing up in my face and stomach. After a clear CT scan of head, which also proved I had a real, fully-functional brain, it became clear that I had some sort of allergy issue. So, the doctor took some more blood and sent it off to Dallas for some allergy tests. I couldn't believe the results.

It turns out the ONLY things I'm allergic to are dairy, eggs, peanuts, tomatoes, chocolate, and wheat. It just so happens that I just named about 70 percent of my diet. My doctor said that these food allergies, especially eaten in large quantities on a daily basis, would cause the sinus congestion and drainage, which would feed the infections, and cause all sorts of congestion in my gastrointestinal tract. According to my math, I should have lost 45 to 55 pounds in the last 7 months and instead I gained 25!

I have cut dairy completely out of my diet and I've limited my exposure to the other allergens. I feel so much better and I've lost 9 pounds in the last 14 days! The problem I'm facing now is that I was trying to keep my weight loss pace fairly slow so that I could build more muscle and allow for my skin to slowly shrink, but the general consensus is that I'm going to lose 40 plus pounds in the next few months. After these last nine pounds, the skin in my stomach has already starting to sag and ,without being too graphic, I'm starting to notice a butt crack in the middle of my stomach and the skin under my arms is beginning to sag....

I can't describe how relieved I am to have all of this behind me and I'm hoping upon hope that I don't end up looking too grotesque. I don't like enduring all of this mess and still ending up self-conscious, but the alternative is unacceptable. So, life goes on and tomorrow is a new day with new challenges and opportunities. More than likely I'll eventually have to get plastic surgery to remove all the extra skin, but at this point it can't be helped. I'll just have to keep documentation from my doctors for when Oprah calls again! Onward and upward. Tomorrow is going to be a great day!

Quick Thought.....

I've been pretty sick and too time constrained to write, but give me a day to update you all to my medical issues now that I'm officially on the mend. I did want to share one thought....

There is an excellent waterpark where we work out so we take "my princess" there every chance we get. I have noticed, especially as the summer goes on, a great number of scantly clad 13 to 15 year old girls there and it get's me every time. My "male-dar" goes off as they walk by and then get all sorts of freaked out as I see how young they really are....

I'm not saying this to sound like a pervert, but I'm pretty sure that if my folks had taken me to the public pool more when I started getting interested in girls, I can guarantee you that I would have worked on getting skinny, fit, and confident when I was 12, 13, and 14 instead of 26, 27, and 28 years of age.

What amazed me as I started thinking about it is that there was maybe one or two guys their age for every say 10 to 15 girls there. Since I've already admitted that I missed out on growing up at he city pool, but has that always been that way? Are Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo really occupying they young minds at such a crucial time?

Just a thought....