Thursday, June 26, 2008

Trying to Help Someone Who Was Hurting

I presented at a conference today. One of the coaches at a school I used to work at saw me, and congratulated me on my weight loss. She had lap-band three years prior. She asked what size I wore, and I told her 10. After lunch, she came up and asked to talk with me.

I could see the tears forming in her eyes, and it broke my heart. She started talking about how successful I had been with my surgery, and how at three years out, she still is twenty pounds from goal. I whipped out my calculator on my cell phone, and pointed out to her that she had lost 87.7% of her excess weight. Then I also mentioned how many lap-band patients gain a significant portion of their weight back, and here at three years out she had not. She said she had all these skin issues, so I pulled her in the bathroom before my session started and I showed her mine.

I think in the end, she walked away comforted, and feeling better about her accomplishments. This losing weight and maintaining weight is a tough, tough battle....lets be gentle towards one another guys.

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