Patient Stories
Paul
A small bit about me.
Hi my name is Paul Walsh I am 33 years of age. I am from County Limerick in the Republic of Ireland. All my life I have been overweight. I suppose my first real memory of having issues with being overweight was when I started into secondary school at about 12 years of age. It all hits home pretty fast how fat you are when all the other kids try to drill it in to you every day. That is ‘til I could put up with no more and I started to try and quieten them which resulted in me getting in to a lot of fights to which I am glad I can say I won, but that was the to be only start of my battles with weight and obesity.
As you all know its not easy growing up been different, it makes me sad to think back that sometimes I thought I would I have been better off if I was deaf or something like this but at least I would have been thin. Stupid of me but at least I know now. When I was 17 or 18 I weighed in at around 17 stone and was so unhappy as I thought I was so fat. I had a couple of accidents over the years where I had to have lots of general anaesthetics and put on a lot more weight to the point of when I was 28 I decided to something about it and joined a gym. When I was first weighted in I weighed in at 31stone but was determined I could do it and went to the gym every day for at least 2 hours doing all cardio work and lost 8 stone in about 18 months which meant I was down to 23 stone and I would always tell myself that I would never put on weight again but like every weight loss story I slipped into the false illusion that I could handle my food eating. Now don’t get me wrong it was not so much my food eating but more my drinking I would go out every Saturday and Sunday afternoon for a few, here is what I used call a few may be 12 to 15 pints of larger and may be 6 or 7 double whiskeys and red bull and that was just on a Saturday night. So I honestly think it was the calories in the alcohol that really affected me the most because I would not eat much chocolate, crisps or takeaways even after drinking.
The decision.
In January ‘08 my wife Cathy who was a bit over weight too decided to loose some weight and with the help of a nutritionist and a walking plan she started to shift the pounds so I tried it and found I shifted around a stone and a half which brought me back to 27stone but lost all interest again in it as usual.
So not wanting to be left behind I started doing searches on gastric bypasses on the internet and found my saviours the WLS Group in England .Then before I knew it I was booked in for a consultation with the lovely Wendy in Swords County Dublin. I knew within minutes of talking with Wendy that this was the way to go and these were the people who would give me back a good quality of life. A quality where I would not have to worry about people looking at me where they didn’t even have to move their lips and I would know what they were saying about me inside or seats in restaurants, airplanes, and even cinemas and theatres, holidays that you don’t look like the biggest lobster in the pot.
Surgery booked.
So with my deposit paid my surgery booked for the 9th of January ’09. I had one of the best Christmas’s ever, drank and ate loads to which I am not one bit ashamed to say. I don’t think could say the same when I was weighed when I got over to Belgium as I had probably put on a few pounds before the operation which I definitely think you should not do as it gave him the impression I was not committed to the operation but I knew in my heart of hearts that after all these years I was going to kick this weight problem into touch once and for ever.
The story post op.
And that exactly is what I am doing. To date as I write this on the 18th July 2009 I weighed in this morning at 19stone 10 pounds meaning I have lost 7stone 4 pounds (104pounds) in just over 6 months. It’s quiet ironic to think that my goal weight at the moment is to be at the same 17 stone I was so ashamed of all those years ago. It’s definitely down to the volumes of food I can eat and also plenty of walking, your diet alone will shift weight but if you want to see the results you have to put in 40 to 60 minutes walk 6 or 7 day a week, also don’t get me wrong my social life is a bit quieter but every few weeks I still go out and have a drink with my friends.
A few words of thanks.
Thanks so much to Colleen, Wendy all the staff of WLS for making me a happier and healthier young man and also giving me a reason to make the best of this life I have been given, also a huge thank you to all my family for all the support and never once questioning my decision.
All the best for now Paul.
Hi my name is Paul Walsh I am 33 years of age. I am from County Limerick in the Republic of Ireland. All my life I have been overweight. I suppose my first real memory of having issues with being overweight was when I started into secondary school at about 12 years of age. It all hits home pretty fast how fat you are when all the other kids try to drill it in to you every day. That is ‘til I could put up with no more and I started to try and quieten them which resulted in me getting in to a lot of fights to which I am glad I can say I won, but that was the to be only start of my battles with weight and obesity.
As you all know its not easy growing up been different, it makes me sad to think back that sometimes I thought I would I have been better off if I was deaf or something like this but at least I would have been thin. Stupid of me but at least I know now. When I was 17 or 18 I weighed in at around 17 stone and was so unhappy as I thought I was so fat. I had a couple of accidents over the years where I had to have lots of general anaesthetics and put on a lot more weight to the point of when I was 28 I decided to something about it and joined a gym. When I was first weighted in I weighed in at 31stone but was determined I could do it and went to the gym every day for at least 2 hours doing all cardio work and lost 8 stone in about 18 months which meant I was down to 23 stone and I would always tell myself that I would never put on weight again but like every weight loss story I slipped into the false illusion that I could handle my food eating. Now don’t get me wrong it was not so much my food eating but more my drinking I would go out every Saturday and Sunday afternoon for a few, here is what I used call a few may be 12 to 15 pints of larger and may be 6 or 7 double whiskeys and red bull and that was just on a Saturday night. So I honestly think it was the calories in the alcohol that really affected me the most because I would not eat much chocolate, crisps or takeaways even after drinking.
The decision.
In January ‘08 my wife Cathy who was a bit over weight too decided to loose some weight and with the help of a nutritionist and a walking plan she started to shift the pounds so I tried it and found I shifted around a stone and a half which brought me back to 27stone but lost all interest again in it as usual.
So not wanting to be left behind I started doing searches on gastric bypasses on the internet and found my saviours the WLS Group in England .Then before I knew it I was booked in for a consultation with the lovely Wendy in Swords County Dublin. I knew within minutes of talking with Wendy that this was the way to go and these were the people who would give me back a good quality of life. A quality where I would not have to worry about people looking at me where they didn’t even have to move their lips and I would know what they were saying about me inside or seats in restaurants, airplanes, and even cinemas and theatres, holidays that you don’t look like the biggest lobster in the pot.
Surgery booked.
So with my deposit paid my surgery booked for the 9th of January ’09. I had one of the best Christmas’s ever, drank and ate loads to which I am not one bit ashamed to say. I don’t think could say the same when I was weighed when I got over to Belgium as I had probably put on a few pounds before the operation which I definitely think you should not do as it gave him the impression I was not committed to the operation but I knew in my heart of hearts that after all these years I was going to kick this weight problem into touch once and for ever.
The story post op.
And that exactly is what I am doing. To date as I write this on the 18th July 2009 I weighed in this morning at 19stone 10 pounds meaning I have lost 7stone 4 pounds (104pounds) in just over 6 months. It’s quiet ironic to think that my goal weight at the moment is to be at the same 17 stone I was so ashamed of all those years ago. It’s definitely down to the volumes of food I can eat and also plenty of walking, your diet alone will shift weight but if you want to see the results you have to put in 40 to 60 minutes walk 6 or 7 day a week, also don’t get me wrong my social life is a bit quieter but every few weeks I still go out and have a drink with my friends.
A few words of thanks.
Thanks so much to Colleen, Wendy all the staff of WLS for making me a happier and healthier young man and also giving me a reason to make the best of this life I have been given, also a huge thank you to all my family for all the support and never once questioning my decision.
All the best for now Paul.