mathbabe

I want to explain my reasoning, because it’s probably slightly deeper and more complex than most people imagine, unless they know me pretty well, in which case it might be simply baffling. A run-down:

1. I love my round body. I am dreading losing a lot of weight in terms of what it will do to my body, especially because I will not be left with a perfect skinny person body, but rather a bunch of skin. I have spent months trying to come to terms with that but I haven’t yet.
2. However, the dread I have about losing my round body is more than balanced by my long-term health considerations.
3. I’m pre-diabetic and at extremely high risk for diabetes. My dad is diabetic and I’ve seen what it does to people long-term. People know about problems with feet, which he has, but people sometimes lose sight of the long-term effects it has on the brain. And I like my brain even more than I like my round body.
4. Also, I like staying in shape. Biking is my favorite way to do that.
5. Last summer, I realized that I simply couldn’t go biking in the summer heat. I felt like a prisoner all summer, cooped up inside the house and getting less and less fit. Thank goodness for swimming, but I’d really prefer to bike.
6. Post-bariatric surgery patients complain about being cold, not hot. I’d rather be cold, because then I can wear one of my hand-knit sweaters outside while biking.
7. Even when bariatric surgery patients don’t end up losing very much weight, which is rare, they’re almost always cured of diabetes.
8. I also have arthritis and bad hips and bad knees in my family. Chances are that I’d need more surgeries, sooner, if I stay at my current weight than if I lose 100 pounds. Also, doctors don’t treat overweight people well.
9. Indeed, if I didn’t have bariatric surgery now, I might find myself doing it in 20 years when I’ve had two knee replacements. Why wait?
10. The surgery is laparoscopic, very safe, and I think the lifestyle changes are major but achievable.

Long story short, it’s a quality of life issue for me. I want to be one of those active grandmas that takes their grandchildren (or anyone’s grandchildren who will have me) to the zoo, and then bikes home. I don’t want to be defeated by global warming, nor do I want to be forced to move to Maine.

Now that I’ve explained myself, I’ll quickly mention what I find fascinating about the whole experience. Namely, all the reasons I’ve been given, and all the pushback in general, that this is a bad idea. They come down to three categories, which I plan to tackle in turn:

1. Shaming tactics
2. Financial incentives
3. Bad medical information