My relationship with obesity as a chronic disease started when I left competitive swimming and did not modify my caloric intake. Even though I was not spending any time in the pool, I still ate as if I still were a competitive swimmer. The numbers on the scale were going up so fast.
In 2008, after several years of fighting cancer, I lost my mom, during that time, I developed anxiety. Food became my refuge as it never judges you and is always available to make you feel better. Can you imagine, every night, I could eat 18 donuts and 2 liters of Coca-Cola? That became my routine without even thinking. I found refuge in food from all the pain I was suffering. Eating was how I was able to fall asleep, and it was how I found a way to calm my anxiety and not think about the pain of loss.
After several months of the repeated behavior, I woke up at 6 am to get ready for work, and I could not put on my shoes; I had to ask my dad for help. At work, I also had problems due to my condition, because of sleep apnea and not resting at night. Every so often, I had to nap while hiding in the bathroom. Also, my disease, my BMI was 54, which prevented me from performing some tasks, such as climbing a ladder, entering through some workplace doors.
After five years without medical support, I heard an alarm on my head. At that very moment, I decided to put myself in the hands of a specialist, after several years and more than a thousand diets and without reducing my weight. In 2014 I was submitted to a tubular gastroscopy with which I managed to lose weight (100Kg in 365 days). After several years of suffering from gastric reflux, I had to undergo surgery again in 2019 to undergo a Gastric Bypass.
Today everything is perfect, but with care, because a person who has controlled obesity is a patient of obesity for all his life. Bariatric surgery is a great tool, but it is much more effective if supported by lifestyle.
