BODY: A pretty size-five freshman, Tanya Stivers gradually ballooned up to whopping 300 pounds by the time she turned 25. She thought she needed a miracle. Radical new surgery was the answer to her prayers.
* I hadn't always been fat. Because both of my parents were overweight, I knew that the genetic cards were stacked against me, and I started dieting and exercising in my early teens. If I wasn't vigilant about what I ate, I could put on five pounds in no time. But when my high-school boyfriend of four years broke up with me, my vigilance broke down. By age 20, I was 175 pounds.
I hit a low point at 22 when I dropped a textbook in my community-college French class. As I leaned over to get it, my chair went with me--because I was stuck in it. There was nothing but shocked silence. I was so humiliated, I walked out of that class and that school and never went back. I weighed over 260 pounds.
Two health spas later, I was down to 214, and I seemed well on my way to further weight loss. Then I got married. The only good that came out of my 8-month marriage was my son Tyler, now 4 years old.
Eating Myself Miserable
We had a nasty divorce and custody battle, which I won, but at the expense of my body. During that time, I'd eat whatever I could get my hands on. Over the next six months, I ate my way up to nearly 300 pounds, and I was a mess.
I already had asthma, but the extra weight on my chest caused more frequent and violent attacks. I couldn't chase my son without getting winded, and walking up just one flight of stairs left me wheezing.
But my self-esteem was suffering more. Although I went out a lot with friends, it hurt to never be asked out. And the few times I did date, I was never certain whether it was just a dare or a joke.
Then, in 1994, a friend told me about the laparoscopic gastric-bypass surgery that is available at the Alvarado Center for Surgical Weight Control in San Diego. I attended a meeting there, where I learned all about the procedure. During the operation, which requires general anesthesia (being completely "put under"), the surgeon makes tiny incisions in the abdominal area and, working with a miniature scope, divides the stomach into two sections with two rows of stitchlike staples. Between the rows of staples, the surgeon makes incisions so scar tissue will grow over the staples to secure them in place. The top section, called the pouch, holds the food (about a tablespoonful, compared to the normal stomach, which holds about a quart) and will eventually expand enough to hold no more than a cup of chewed-up food, so you feel full quickly. Then, the intestines must be detached from the bottom of your stomach, brought up, and attached to the pouch. Since the intestines are brought up and not shortened, the food can be fully absorbed, eliminating the chance of vitamin and mineral deficiencies, a problem in previous surgeries of this type. The unused part of the stomach still produces gastric juices, which help the body absorb nutrients. Luckily, the operation was covered by my insurance (it costs between $ 15,000 and $ 20,000), because it's been proved to improve or cure such fat-related health problems as diabetes and high blood pressure.
Going for It
Despite the risks (bleeding, infections, and respiratory problems), I was ecstatic. I thought, This could finally be my answer. Six weeks later, I showed up for the surgery.
I was so excited, my heart was practically popping out of my skin. But I was also scared--this was a major operation. And I still worried that I was so beyond help that even surgery wouldn't be enough.
The doctors chose not to do the bypass laparoscopically, however, because they weren't yet proficient at it and felt it was too risky for me since I had previously had a C-section. (Today, people who've had lower-abdominal surgery can have the laparoscopic procedure done too.) Instead, during the one-and-a-half-hour operation, I was cut open from below my breast bone to the top of my belly button.
When I woke up, I felt sick from the anesthesia and sore all over. But the nurses had me up and walking around the next day. Four days later, I was sent home.
The first week, I could barely eat two bites of toast without feeling uncomfortably full. By the second week, my stomach was still very tender. A typical meal was half an egg on half a piece of toast, and that would fill me up. With every week that passed, I could eat a little more. If I tried to eat too much or something harder to digest--like chicken--I would vomit. After six months, my stomach had fully healed.
Lean and Loving Life
I lost about 10 pounds a month. Whenever I hit a plateau and stopped losing weight (about every three months), I'd go to the center's postsurgery counseling services, where a counselor and I would go over every single thing I put in my mouth until we found the problem. For example, I could still drink a lot, because liquids pass into the intestines faster than solids. At one point, we realized I was consuming a lot of high-calorie drinks, like Coke and mocha coffee.
It took me 18 months to lose my excess weight. Every time I dropped a dress size, I would think, I'm never going to have to wear this size again. And since I had done so much yo-yo dieting, I had a closetful of clothes from size three to 24, so I didn't have to spend a fortune on things to wear.
Once I started losing weight, it was extremely exhilarating to feel like a "normal" person again. Men who wouldn't look at me before wanted to go out with me, and my parents wanted to show me off--they were very proud, and so was I.
Today at 29, I weight 130 pounds and can wear a size four. I'm finishing a business degree and am dating a great guy. I am so enthusiastic about the bypass procedure that I work at the center.
I don't suffer from any side effects. Like everyone else, I get hungry at mealtimes, but after I eat, I feel completely satisfied. I consume about 1,500 calories a day of vegetables and high-fiber, high-protein foods, which keeps my weight stable.
I have to admit that, occasionally, when I catch a guy checking me out, I nearly turn around to see if he's looking at someone else. It's still a surprising delight when I realize. Hey, he's looking at me!
RELATED ARTICLE: The Reality of Radical Anti-Fat Surgery
* Don't think for one minute that laparoscopic bypass surgery is a miracle cure for quick weight loss. It's a major one-and-a-half to two-hour surgery.
* It's only available to those who are at least 100 pounds over their recommended weight and have unsuccessfully tried other diet and exercise programs.
