Weight Loss Surgery Helps Laura Preston in Her Battle with Food Addiction

Weight loss surgery provided Laura Preston a 180-pound loss, but as she admits, the procedure has only been one part of an ongoing battle with food addiction.

I was overweight my entire life. I’m blessed that I was surrounded by a loving and supporting family that always encouraged me to try anything, and to go after my dreams. I was always the loud and funny girl in the class. I was always very outgoing, and the first to step up to a leadership role.  Also, when I was young, I was always the bossy one in class – the one always in trouble for talking. I had a boyfriend; went to all the proms. And I always kid that I don’t have the “sad fat girl” story from my school days.

Actually, it’s just that I didn’t have the visually sad story. Inside I was hurting, but that girl was hidden. I wore my mask and I wore it well.

I’ll never forget the day, or even the moment, I realized I needed weight loss surgery. I was living in Manhattan and working in the cosmetic industry. My job consisted of traveling across the country working with all the retail accounts. I recall that I was in Los Angeles and had just worked a trend show, speaking in front of 200 women on a Saturday morning. I weighed my heaviest weight, 365 pounds, but I’d spent all day on my feet doing skin care consultations.  I was laughing and talking with women about how they deserved to treat themselves – talking about how they have to take care of their body.

Hello? Calling the kettle black! I remember going to bed that Saturday night beyond exhausted. When the alarm went off at 3:30 a.m. for my “red eye” flight, I remember rolling over and looking at the clock and just starting to cry. My whole body hurt. I was exhausted. I just wanted to be back home in my bed, in my apartment back in New York City. I hit that snooze button and just cried. Cried for the fact that I wanted to rush home – but also realizing, what was I rushing home for, or to? Not a husband. Not children. No: I wanted to be back to the comfort of my apartment and my job. The job that was my identity … and I had never felt so alone.  If I didn’t get on that plane, who would know? Who would care?

I remember canceling my flight and taking a couple personal days. I went back to sleep, and then spent two days in that hotel room, making lists – pros and cons. I knew I had to fly back to New York and make changes. I knew at that point, my obesity was controlling my life and I needed to seek help. Now, I had lost and gained back the same 100 pounds multiple times in my life. I knew how to count the calories and take it off. The problem was, I could not keep it off. The problem was bigger than the physical food. I had to find why I was doing what I was doing to my body. I also knew I couldn’t live in that body any longer.

I researched bariatric surgery for almost two years prior to my surgery. I went on countless consults with surgeons in the New York market. I bought every bariatric book that was in print and spent endless hours in chat rooms and on websites. I don’t think you can be too prepared or overeducated on your surgery. When you leave that hospital and walk through your front door, you are walking into a new life. I tell people, “When you walk out that door to go to the hospital, take a moment and know that you are going to come back as a different person. You have a new journey ahead of you, and you are in charge of the map.”

My surgeon kidded around with me about being the healthiest fat girl he ever had in his office. I was fortunate that at the time of looking into weight loss surgery, I was not suffering from any co-morbidity. Still, carrying extra weight for all those years definitely took its toll on my knees and back. I had more pains and aches after I began to lose the weight.

My weight loss was very quick and consistent.  I immediately joined a gym and begged my surgeon to release me to exercise. I followed all the rules, and completely focused on losing the weight. I was terrified of failing and terrified of having post-op complications.

I started my journey at 365 pounds, and my lowest weight was 185 pounds.

After having gastric bypass surgery, I moved back to Michigan where I grew up. I walked away from New York City and went home to get healthy. I had made the commitment to my body that I would see this journey through. I took a job that paid the bills, not one that defined me. I made my diet and exercise the priority in my life. I spent a little over four years in Michigan finding health and finding myself. I immediately became very involved in the bariatric community. I wanted to hold myself accountable – as well as give back to a community that helped me gain my “self” back. I began speaking at support groups, traveling to conferences across the country and working with bariatric product lines. I have met the most amazing people across the country on this journey, and I have passion for the bariatric industry.

On the other hand, I am a food addict. I always will be.  I believe that obesity is a disease that has no permanent cure. I have always used food for emotions: comfort, happiness, anger, etc. I will wake up every day for the rest of my life with the need to make the right choice. I thought that my obesity was the reason for some many wrongs in my life. I thought if I could get the weight off, everything else would fall immediately into place. Not true. My obesity was a physical result of many other issues in my life. And the truth is, I think my journey has gotten harder from a mental standpoint because I no longer have the excuse of the weight. Now, it comes down to me.

These surgeries truly are tools to battle against food addiction. But unfortunately, they’re no cure. It takes focus, desire and determination to find long-term success.

You’ll have to commit to a complete change in lifestyle, and you have to be willing to give it 100 percent to succeed in the long term. For me, it’s a battle I fight every day.

But I will fight until the very end.

Laura Preston