Allison - Lost 200 lbs

I can’t recall how I got to be 336 pounds at the young age of 25. Looking back on my life, I am not sure how I actually got to that point.

Being young and married, I wanted to do all of the things that my friends were able to do like go bike riding or go to the mall without feeling like everyone was staring at me. I tried just about every diet out there, finding success only to eventually gain back any weight that I had lost and then some.  I said to myself that I don’t need those diet groups, and then wham the weight comes back.

After watching a friend crawl around on the floor with her young son, I realized that “if” I was to ever have a child that I would never be able to do those types of things with my own child. It was at that moment I decided my life had to change.

I knew it would take the help of a professional to lose the weight. That is when I sought the expertise of Dr. Muhammad Jawad, a bariatric surgeon on the medical staff at Ocala Regional Medical Center. Dr. Jawad offers two types of procedures that he performs at the Bariatric Center at Ocala Regional Medical Center: Laparoscopic gastric by-pass surgery and the laparoscopic banding procedure.

Allison’s New Life

After consulting with Dr. Jawad, I underwent gastric bypass surgery in December 2002. I then monitored my eating habits and exercised when I could. As a result, I have lost 200 pounds. I’m now able to shop in any store, sit anywhere in a restaurant and ride my bike. For the first time in my life I am the truly “happy” person that I forced myself to be when I was severely overweight.

Almost three years after my surgery, I gave birth to my son. I am now able to do the things that I once thought I would never be able to do with him. I am able to get on the floor and play with him and I know that I am the mother he deserves all because of this surgery.