ABSTRACT
I have been quite overweight all of my life. I was teased about my weight in grade school and in high school. Besides eating too much most of the time I also went on eating binges several times a week, when I would consume very large amounts of food, such as one or two pizzas or a quart of ice cream. During these times I felt “driven”, like I couldn’t stop myself until the food was gone. I was very embarrassed by this and because of that I would isolate myself at home when no one else was around to do much of my eating. My parents worried about my weight and started encouraging me to diet during adolescence but nothing really seemed to work. I tried low-calorie diets, low-carbohydrate diets, low-fat diets, and just about everything else. I had a book shelf devoted just to self-help diet books. In my 20s my weight continued to increase and by the time I turned 30 I weighed about 300 pounds at 5’5” tall. My doctor was always telling me how I would develop health problems if I didn’t lose weight and this eventually happened. That year I went in for a sinus infection and was told that I had high blood pressure and was started on medication. However, I continued to gain weight and a few years later when I turned 34 I was told that I had “early diabetes” and that I would have to follow a special diet and be on medication for that as well. My problems with binge eating continued and if anything seemed to get worse. I finally had had enough. I started reading about bariatric surgery for obesity on the web and eventually asked my physician for a referral to a surgeon who could do this procedure. After waiting for months, undergoing various steps in the evaluation and approval process, I underwent a Roux-en-Y gastric bypass procedure. Not only did I start to lose weight right away but also my blood sugars rapidly came under control without medication. Over the next six months I lost about 80 pounds and was able to go off my blood pressure medication. I felt great being thinner and in particular I felt wonderful being able to go out and socialize more and not be so embarrassed about my weight. I also found I wasn’t hungry like before and didn’t seem to crave the same foods. The weight loss continued, but during the second year after surgery I started having problems again with feeling “out of control” at times when I was eating and would eat more than I intended to. Because I had a stomach pouch I could no longer eat really huge amounts of food; however, I still ate more than I wanted to, and felt a desperate sense that I couldn’t stop. I saw my bariatric surgeon and she said my problem was what she called “loss of control eating” that sometimes develops after bariatric surgery and suggested I see a counselor for the problem.
