HOW I’M ENSURING A HEALTHY, HAPPY YEAR

359.6 pounds.

That’s what the scale said to me on Sept. 1, 2020, as I was visiting the doctor’s office for a routine checkup.

My blood pressure was high. My joints hurt all the time and climbing stairs was a Herculean task for me. I live in a condo complex where there are stairs everywhere, so I tried to avoid them as much as possible by staying in. The couch, fast food and Netflix were daily companions.

A few days later, to mask my depression over hitting my highest weight, I went to a Wendy’s on El Cajon Boulevard. As I began to make my order, the woman on the other end of the drive-through microphone told me that she knew what I wanted and proceeded to tell me my order complete with special requests (I hate onions and pickles). I was shocked, but mostly embarrassed. That’s when I knew I had to make a change. It’s bad when the fast-food people can tell who you are by the sound of your voice.

Fast-forward to the time of this writing and I’m now in my low 250s. Feeling great and full of energy.

But this journey wasn’t easy … not by a long shot.

On June 28, I had gastric bypass surgery. It creates a new smaller stomach about the size of an egg. That stomach then connects to the small intestine and bypasses most of the stomach and most of the first section of the small intestine. As a result, the calorie intake is severely reduced, allowing weight loss. This has changed my life for the better.

I tried every diet under the sun (Keto, Weight Watchers, Atkins and even cabbage soup) and nothing was working. In 2014, I ran a full marathon and three half-marathons. I was parking at Laurel Street in Bankers Hill and would walk to and from work every day. But a life change derailed my active lifestyle.

I was offered a new job in Oregon with much more pay as an executive producer at a television station. The catch was that I would have to work overnights. That meant getting up at 10 p.m. and working until noon. For almost two years, I lived like a vampire, and the weight kept piling on. And when I did work out, it wasn’t that great. Thankfully, I saw the light and left that place and moved back to sunny San Diego.

Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that San Diego is an expensive place to live and took several jobs to make ends meet. Working all the time didn’t make losing weight any easier.

Finally, I had enough and decided I needed to be the hero in my own life and save myself. Over the past decade, I had lost my mother to heart failure, my father and brother to strokes, and my other brother to cancer. Death also claimed a niece who died during a seizure and a nephew who was my age who died from cancer.

I knew that if I didn’t take care of myself now, then the future wouldn’t happen. I started reading about gastric bypasses and visited a doctor who gave me the necessary tools I would need to succeed, such as really looking at what I was eating, learning about proper exercise and valuing my mental health. Unfortunately, we didn’t work out, and I found another doctor who was a better fit for me and my needs.

Was I scared? Yes. I knew that this was a decision I couldn’t undo and that I would need to fully commit to a new lifestyle. I also met some wonderful new friends who had traveled down this path in a support group, and they were extremely helpful as I adjusted to what I called Jerry 2.0.

I also knew that I would need to hold myself accountable. And so I created a hashtag #seejerrylose on Twitter and Facebook so that my friends could follow me and, when needed, encourage me. (Although, I had some “friends” who turned out to be haters about my journey along the way. Those people are gone from my life now.)

I post photos of myself often during walks at my favorite place in San Diego, Crown Point, and also bought an exercise bike, which I ride often. Because of the surgery, my eating has changed. No more double cheeseburgers, no more soda, no more extra-large anything.

In addition, I did the mental work involved. I discovered that I’m stronger than I know and that I was eating to fill voids I thought I had in my life. I now know better.

As an educator, I go above and beyond for my students, but I’ve learned that in order to help people, I have to help me first.

This journey has not been easy. And for those who think weight loss surgery is the easy way out, think again, there are multiple physical and mental tests, and then you have to get doctors’ and insurance approvals. It is anything but easy.

I can’t wait to see what the future holds for me, but one thing is for sure, whatever it is, it’s going to be healthy and happy.