The next step in my weight loss surgery journey was a psychiatric evaluation. I have known for a fairly long time that I was overweight. I even have a fairly good idea how it happened. I think it had something to do with eating more food that was less nutritionally sound combined with decreasing activity levels. There was no mystery to me as to how I got this way. And I wasn’t sure what a psych eval could tell me to help with this.
Some people are emotional eaters. Some people are binge eaters. I am sure there is a number of other medical and psychological reasons people abuse food. As hard as I have racked my brain over the years, I have only come up with one real reason I eat the way I do. It is because I like food, and usually not the “healthy” type either. Pretty simple really. So simple, it sometimes drives me crazy. I wish I could find a mental or physical reason for my habits. It would make me feel better, I think, if I could put my finger on something specific.
The psych interview was not really what I expected. I thought I would be drilled about why I thought I was overweight, you know, the real reason. And in reality I just didn’t have a great reason. I didn’t think, “Well doc, I like Solly’s” would cut it. We did talk a little about my eating habits, but this was not the overwhelming theme of the visit.
We spent much more time talking about family history. Addressing the risk factors of not only myself, but my family as well. We talked about why I thought I needed this surgery. We talked about the impact this would have on my wife and children. The changes that would be made by default to them as well. We talked about what kind of support I had for after surgery. Most importantly, we talked about what my hopes were for this surgery. Did I have a good understanding of the surgery and did I have realistic expectations for what the surgery would do?
Before I knew it, the hour was up. I felt a new found confidence in my understanding and expectations of weight loss surgery. As I walked out, I realized that there was no profound realization of why I eat the way I do. It’s OK that the reason I eat this way is simply by habit and comfort of what I like. It is not acceptable and it needs to change, but there didn’t need to be an epiphany. I was reminded though of something I read from another person who has had this surgery. “There is no food that tastes as good as healthy feels”. That is something I am looking forward to finding out myself.
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The following is feedback received for this blog:
Good Luck Scott. I had RNY by Dr. Wallace 2 years ago this month. It continues to be a challenge to keep the weight off but I am grateful everyday that I had the opportunity to have the surgery and get the weight off.
It is life changing and life saving.
- Mary |