My Journey

I needed a tool to change my life, and this is everything that happened after. Recipes, challenges, general life stuff!

Ever since I can remember I've struggled with 2 things: My gastroparesis (GP) and my weight. My gastroparesis is idiopathic and, I learned, paired with Cyclical Vomiting Syndrome (super cute, I know). My weight is heavily influenced by genetics and the GP.

The GP would make me sick at least once a month with vomiting and the works and knock me out for 1-5 days at a time. I kind of grew out of it in high school, but it came back in my early 20's. I think from stress. Anyway, these episodes could last days or a week or two. I constantly was nauseous or worried a food I ate would trigger my GP. Tacos? 50/50. Salad? Most likely going to cause a flare up. The flares continued into my early 30's before I decided this is no way to live, but GP doesn't have a cure.

As for my weight, one side of my family is a bunch of thin mints. The other side, is a bit thicker. I got the genes from the thicker side. Due to my GP, I was really only eating one meal a day, a small snack, and an iced coffee for breakfast. I later learned (post-op) that I had probably been a little malnourished even at my heaviest. It was always a challenge for me to lose weight unless I cut down to 600-800 calories a day and exercised for 2+ hours.

Finally, at 33, I made the decision to get Gastric Bypass so that I could improve both of these conditions. My research and discussions with the surgeons indicated this could dramatically improve my GP and even get me off of the meds I was on for it, which had a black box label.

On May 16, 2024, I took the plunge and got the surgery. Some of my videos touch on my recovery process and how it had a rocky start, but after 6 weeks, everything was straightened out and it's been smooth sailing.

Join me as I re-learn eating, get more active, share recipes and things I like and dive back into the dating pool, and other general life stuff post-op.