i can feel my collar bones now
Last December at 32 years old I went to my doctor requesting a referral for weight loss surgery. One week later I was booked in for gastric sleeve surgery in March 2025.
Weighing in at 130kg (286 pounds), I was in constant disbelief at how all this weight had stacked on and how I had never been able to lose any despite some efforts. In just one decade I put on 30kg (66 pounds), and I knew that if I didn’t intervene I would continue gaining weight.
I had tried supplements, medications, drastically changing my diet and eating clean, exercising with a personal trainer, and none of it ever added up to significant weight loss that was needed to get me to a healthier and happier place. The most weight I ever lost as an adult was in early 2020 – as of the First of January I decided I would eat completely clean and move more. I cut out all soft drinks and unhealthy snacks, choosing to mostly eat fruit smoothies and salads. I even cut out all meats. At this time I also started walking more, utilising my 30 minute lunch break at work to walk around the lake nearby the office. After 3 months I had lost 5kg (11 pounds), then the pandemic hit and we were locked in our houses for months on end.
To be honest, I did live a pretty sedentary life. I work in a corporate office where we sit on the computer all day, I rarely worked out and ate badly. To most people those three factors of course would lead to weight gain, but for me I was so baffled at how others didn’t experience the same thing when we sit in the same room on computers all day.
Of course, some people naturally have better health, a faster metabolism, a better diet. But so many don’t and I felt like one of the unlucky ones who was destined to be big forever. And to me, big meant unattractive and unloveable in the eyes of the opposite sex.
My menstrual cycle was a mess ever since my late teenage years when I realised I had PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome). I rarely got a period and when I did it wasn’t normal. I highly doubt I was ovulating more than 1-2 times a year at a maximum. But realising I had this condition was scary.
One of my biggest dreams in life has always been to have children someday, and as I began to enter my mid–30s as a single woman, my fear that it wouldn’t be possible because of my PCOS and my weight was growing drastically. The combination of these two factors can make it very hard to get pregnant and many women need intervention to help them when they have this condition.
The months leading up to my surgery date of 11 March 2025 were filled with lots of research and mental preparation for the life change I had chosen for myself. The clinic I chose to have my surgery through provides a psychologist and dietician, as well as follow up check-ins with a nurse. I chose to return to my introvert roots, focusing on myself and my mental wellbeing as I went through this process, as I had learned if you don’t get your mental health in check, you can fail. After paying $15,000, *I could not fail*.
I chose to have surgery for so many reasons. I had been thinking about it for several years, I had looked into other options like injectables such as Mounjaro and Ozempic, but I didn’t like the idea of an ongoing and expensive medication costing up to $400 per month. I had also heard with injectables that once you get off them, you gain the weight back. A permanent solution was what I was seeking, so I knew injectables were not the right option for me.
During my appointment with the surgeon, I mentioned that I had a gallbladder attack (also known as *acute cholecystitis*) due to gallstones in late 2021, and he suggested we remove the gallbladder at the same time. Immediately I was in tears. It was such an unexpected suggestion that I wasn’t emotionally prepared for during the consultation, but ultimately I decided to have it removed also. I knew following weight loss surgery that a lot of people do need their gallbladder out as it can be triggered following quick and substantial weight loss. Ultimately, I am glad that I chose to do this – it did make my recovery worse than a normal bariatric patient, but it was the most cost-effective option and better for my health so I could avoid the need for a second surgery at a later date.
It’s now been over three months since my surgery and I have lost over 30kg from my highest ever weight that I saw earlier this year. The change is incredible. I have more energy, more confidence, and more audacity to live life to the fullest.
If anyone out there is considering this surgery and comes across this post, I hope it encourages you. I don’t regret this surgery; my only regret is not doing it ten years earlier.
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