Gastric Bypass Surgery - Mindy's Story
http://www.mmc.org/bariatricsurgery - After years of struggling with her weight, Mindy Lavigne wanted a change. With the help of the MMC Weight and Wellness Program and the support of her family, she was able to lose the weight and discover a healthier life. Mindy shares her story to help inspire others who struggle with weight-related health issues.
To learn more about the MMC Weight and Wellness Program, call 207-761-5612 or visit http://www.mmc.org/bariatricsurgery.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
[MINDY] These are my wedding pictures from four years ago.
[Music]
Yeah, I would definitely like to get remarried and get new pictures done.
For most of my life my weight struggle had been in the forefront of everything that I was doing, from high school through my adult life. I had my son in my early twenties.
Losing the post baby weight was very difficult as well. I tried several different weight loss plans and would lose 20 and gain back 40.
I was always tired, definitely had a little bit of that depression piece because I couldn't keep up with everybody, I couldn't keep up with my children who wanted to go do all these fun activities.
Once I hit mid 30's, it really became evident that I had no time left. My blood pressure was out of control, my cholesterol was out of control and I was taking medications for several other things in addition to that. It really was a wake up call.
We started doing the research to see what other alternatives were out there. Was there a magic pill? Or was there something we could do that would really help kind of make me healthy again.
So after two full years of researching, talking to people, going to support groups, both of us, my husband and I, decided that gastric bypass was the right choice for me.
[ERIC] I think the people at Maine Med made it so easy for me to be there for her and taught me how to help her be successful with the surgery. And it's been the best decision we've ever made.
[MINDY] Women's petite! There's nothing petite about these pants though!
My weight was starting to come off to a point where I was starting to feel better, the activity was increasing.
We'd walk the smaller circle in the development and we'd stick with that for a couple weeks, then we'd walk the medium circle which was closer to a half mile or 3-quarter mile.
Wait, I wanna try hitting.
[Laughter]
The family knows how they can support me.
[Laughter]
Guys out!
But also how they can develop the tools to not ever have to deal with obesity.
Whoa! I got it, I got it!
They still eat like they're kids, but they eat smaller portions. So not only do we have different foods that are in the house, we look at it differently, how is it going to work in our body, do we need to move in order to eat something different, or is my portion too much.
[Motorcycle starts]
I want to try different things.
Just last weekend, my husband and I took a motorcycle ride which has become one of our new loves and something that I would've never dared to do before.
[ERIC] We're all excited for her and her success.
She energizes the rest of the family.
[MINDY] I think over the past year, I gained life.
Just those little pieces continue to remind me how lucky I am in all of those things that I can do that I couldn't do before. I don't think that there's anything now that I can't do.
Here comes the knuckle ball.
And I think that's the most important piece of this, the weight has been secondary to all of the other pieces that I've gained back in my life.
[Music]
