As a professional in the bariatric community I am blessed with the opportunity to meet weight loss patients on a daily basis. Many share their personal stories from living life as an obese person to having conversations as a fellow weight loss patient. I am very passionate about the education and treatment of obesity along with advocacy in my local community and on a national level. When I am surrounded by colleagues and fellow weight loss patients who share that same passion, it truly makes my heart smile.
I believe that weight loss surgery is a very personal choice which requires hard work and a lifelong lifestyle change. October 18, 2007 is my re-birth date when I made that commitment to myself by having Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass.
My personal journey has consisted of many road bumps but I still consider myself to be one of the biggest advocates for this lifestyle change. I truly believe that everything happens for a reason (even if we don’t know the reason when it happens) and I am using my experience to help others by giving back to the bariatric community.
I have shared portions of my story on different levels with patients and professionals because of my passion to give back and touch lives. After sharing bits and pieces I decided to elaborate and share more information about my journey.
Today I was elated/honored to see that my story had been published in the May/June 2011 Obesity Help magazine!
We all need support during our journey and Obesity Help is a huge additional resource for the weight loss community on different levels. One avenue of support through this organization is the OH Magazine which is full of personal stories, information on obesity and the treatment options, recipes, contests etc.
Support is a vital component for success in my personal weight loss journey. I always want different levels of support therefore I am a member/support group leader with Obesity Help. I encourage anyone looking for additional resources to take some time and look at what OH has to offer. Click on the OH magazine on the side of my blog and type in my code baker11 to receive a discounted rate for a 1 year subscription.
I wish you the best of luck in your personal journey!
Friday, May 13, 2011
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Sharing my personal journey..
As a professional in the bariatric community I am blessed with the opportunity to meet weight loss patients on a daily basis. Many share their personal stories from living life as an obese person to having conversations as a fellow weight loss patient. I am very passionate about the education and treatment of obesity along with advocacy in my local community and on a national level. When I am surrounded by colleagues and fellow weight loss patients who share that same passion, it truly makes my heart smile.I believe that weight loss surgery is a very personal choice which requires hard work and a lifelong lifestyle change. October 18, 2007 is my re-birth date when I made that commitment to myself by having Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass.
My personal journey has consisted of many road bumps but I still consider myself to be one of the biggest advocates for this lifestyle change. I truly believe that everything happens for a reason (even if we don’t know the reason when it happens) and I am using my experience to help others by giving back to the bariatric community.
I have shared portions of my story on different levels with patients and professionals because of my passion to give back and touch lives. After sharing bits and pieces I decided to elaborate and share more information about my journey.
Today I was elated/honored to see that my story had been published in the May/June 2011 Obesity Help magazine!
We all need support during our journey and Obesity Help is a huge additional resource for the weight loss community on different levels. One avenue of support through this organization is the OH Magazine which is full of personal stories, information on obesity and the treatment options, recipes, contests etc.
Support is a vital component for success in my personal weight loss journey. I always want different levels of support therefore I am a member/support group leader with Obesity Help. I encourage anyone looking for additional resources to take some time and look at what OH has to offer.
I wish you the best of luck in your personal journey!
Obesity Online Influencers Event in New York Part #1
Last month I was invited to attend an Obesity Online Event in New York hosted by Ethicon Endo-Surgery http://www.ethiconendosurgery.com/
and Obesity Action Coalition http://www.obesityaction.org/home/index.php.
My invite included travel and hotel accommodations paid for by Ethicon Endo-Surgery along with a welcome reception Thursday night and the event on Friday.
When I first read the invite I told myself it wasn't real. First off how did these people find me and secondly what was the catch? You don't get a FREE trip to New York without the underling fine print right? It was like those times when someone calls you from the radio station and says "You've won an all expense paid trip for a weekend in Vegas" then you get there and you have to spend 4 hours listening to a spiel about time shares or 2 months after your trip the bills start rolling in because you didn't read the fine print on what you were responsible for!
After many conversations it became clear to me that this was the real deal! Ok so it's real now why are they knocking on my door? It was explained to me like this: research shows that patients who are seeking weight loss surgery or who have had surgery are spending many hours researching online. Many are turning to social media and seeking out people who have had surgery and who blog/talk/face book about it. Because of this a group of bloggers were invited to attend this event in New York.
After the initial shock was over I was ecstatic to hear that a large corporation is recognizing the impact social media has in the community. I was still intrigued on how they choose specific bloggers to invite to this event. I was told that Ethicon had worked with their marketing firm Porter Novelli who researched bloggers in the bariatric community and that we were among the top 25 online influencers.
WOW once again I was flabbergasted! My goal with this blog has always been to touch someone in the bariatric community and give support on all levels. There are times when I wondered if I was really reaching anyone or just writing to myself. This was good confirmation for me personally knowing that I am making a difference!
So my WLS friends that is all I'm sharing in this post... There is more to come!!!
To be continued.........................
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Join me today by becoming a member of the Obesity Action Coalition !
The Obesity Action Coalition is an advocacy organization that helps individuals affected by obesity. This is a great place for you to become involved and give back to the cause of obesity. I am a proud member of this organization and I encourage all of you who have been affected by obesity to join me by becoming a member and bringing a stronger voice to your community. The OAC is a non-profit organization and is striving to reach a membership level of 50,000 to show how strong our community is.
Click on the link below and join today!! There is POWER in NUMBERS… Every voice will help make a difference!
http://www.obesityaction.org/membership/overview.php
Click on the link below and join today!! There is POWER in NUMBERS… Every voice will help make a difference!
http://www.obesityaction.org/membership/overview.php
Want more information? Below is a link for you to view about the OAC and how they educate and advocate for obesity awareness.
http://www.obesityaction.org/multimedia/takingaction.php
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Self-Loathing no more....
I watched the movie Eat Pray Love the other day and one of the lines Julia Roberts says hit home. She and a girlfriend are chatting at a restaurant before getting ready to dive into a scrumptious real Italian pizza in Italy. Her girlfriend makes a comment about having a "Muffin Top" and feeling a bit guilty about eating and gaining weight. Julia’s response is "I'm tired of saying NO then waking up the next morning, recalling every single thing I ate the day before and counting every calorie I consumed so I know-how much self-loathing to take into the shower. I'm not interested in being obese I'm just through with the guilt."
How familiar does that sound? How many times have we beaten ourselves up because of what we consumed? I can replay all of those negative/hurtful words I said to myself and remember exactly how bad it made me feel. I already felt alienated by society and my environment because of not being in the "normal" category but rather in the lazy "obese" category. Here I am completely degrading myself with negative words and helping demolish any small amount of self-worth/image that I truly needed to be building up.
So the question is - Why are we so hard on ourselves? Why does our natural first reaction immediately focus on the negative? Think about that question for a minute and how would you respond?
For me in the past that was all I really knew and I didn’t know any different. I felt that I lived in a society where physical appearance focused on me fitting into the specific standards/norms and if I didn’t meet that criteria I wasn’t “normal” and being obese automatically kicked me out of “normal standards”. People looked at me as the obese lazy person who just needed to push myself away from the table and go run 5 miles every day. After many years of hearing that I finally gave up and gave in. If this was the way society saw me as a person then maybe that was truly who I was and I needed to accept that.
Looking back now it saddens me to remember how many times I participated in self-loathing and to realize now that there are times my brain still goes there. When I start to veer off my safe path my mind tends to go back to what it knows from the past which is beating me up and the cycle of self-loathing starts again. No one is perfect and we all veer off of our personal path that we consider to be acceptable in our journey.
When those times happen, take a few steps and remind yourself of how far you have come. Reach out to your support system if needed. Do whatever you need to do for YOU. Pick yourself back up and know that one step off your personal path does not have to turn into five more steps and self-loathing.
If the veering started at Breakfast then make the promise to yourself to get back on at lunch, if it started at lunch then make the promise to yourself at dinner to get back on. If the entire day was spent veering off the path then tell yourself tomorrow is a new day!
Be kind to yourself! Give yourself the credit you deserve! Be your own best advocate!
I leave you with this quote: Like a Butterfly, I have been Reborn with Bold Colors and Strong Wings!
How familiar does that sound? How many times have we beaten ourselves up because of what we consumed? I can replay all of those negative/hurtful words I said to myself and remember exactly how bad it made me feel. I already felt alienated by society and my environment because of not being in the "normal" category but rather in the lazy "obese" category. Here I am completely degrading myself with negative words and helping demolish any small amount of self-worth/image that I truly needed to be building up.
So the question is - Why are we so hard on ourselves? Why does our natural first reaction immediately focus on the negative? Think about that question for a minute and how would you respond?
For me in the past that was all I really knew and I didn’t know any different. I felt that I lived in a society where physical appearance focused on me fitting into the specific standards/norms and if I didn’t meet that criteria I wasn’t “normal” and being obese automatically kicked me out of “normal standards”. People looked at me as the obese lazy person who just needed to push myself away from the table and go run 5 miles every day. After many years of hearing that I finally gave up and gave in. If this was the way society saw me as a person then maybe that was truly who I was and I needed to accept that.
Looking back now it saddens me to remember how many times I participated in self-loathing and to realize now that there are times my brain still goes there. When I start to veer off my safe path my mind tends to go back to what it knows from the past which is beating me up and the cycle of self-loathing starts again. No one is perfect and we all veer off of our personal path that we consider to be acceptable in our journey.
When those times happen, take a few steps and remind yourself of how far you have come. Reach out to your support system if needed. Do whatever you need to do for YOU. Pick yourself back up and know that one step off your personal path does not have to turn into five more steps and self-loathing.
If the veering started at Breakfast then make the promise to yourself to get back on at lunch, if it started at lunch then make the promise to yourself at dinner to get back on. If the entire day was spent veering off the path then tell yourself tomorrow is a new day!
Be kind to yourself! Give yourself the credit you deserve! Be your own best advocate!
I leave you with this quote: Like a Butterfly, I have been Reborn with Bold Colors and Strong Wings!
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