Michelle D.

“Hi my name is Michelle DePalma I am a 50 year old female height five foot seven original wait before surgery was 305 pounds. I started my journey in June of 2018 305 lb I felt that I was at my Wit’s End and at my last resort. I hired a trainer 298.7 lb I couldn’t take it anymore. I knew I had to do something but I knew surgery wasn’t going to be enough. I knew it had to be a lifestyle change for the rest of my life. I hired a trainer and from June 1st until September 30th I was able to drop 50 pounds with diet and training 4 to 5 days a week

. In March of 2019 I decided to go down to Tijuana Mexico to go and get a gastric sleeve. I knew that I had a eating disorder and surgery would have been the only way to fix it. I went down March 13th of 2019 to bariatric pal  and received a gastric sleeve. Over the course of the next 8 to 9 months I had periodically changed my life to eat anywhere from 2 to 4 oz of food exercise three to five times a week and was determined to lose the weight. From March of 2019 to September of 2019 I was able to drop 80 lbs with the help of the gastric sleeve. It was at that point I noticed I was having issues in problems. For whatever reason my body had just decided to stop losing weight no matter what I did no matter how much I ate or how little I ate my body was consistently starting to gain weight. Didn’t know sleeve pts only lose 65 percent of there excess weight ..i was misinformed..

I knew at that point I had to take my life into my own hands and find another surgeon who would help me help myself keep my future positive. I decided nine and a half months after my gastric sleeve to go to Francisco Zavala at go light bariatric for a mini gastric bypass. Friends family co-workers and many others told me that it was silly I shouldn’t do it they told me that it would be a waste of time and money but I knew different. I knew I had to go down for my own peace of mind knowing that I had not reach my goal weight and knowing that I wasn’t going to. I contacted Irene from go light bariatric in December of 2019. I talked to Francisco Zavala and explain to him how I knew I had an eating disorder and how I had to change things. Dr. Zavala was very caring and very upfront and very to the point. He told me there is no way that you could have possibly started gaining weight unless you didn’t change your eating habits. I told him there may have been times where I might have cheated but three-quarters of the time when I had my gastric sleeve I was an ideal patient to say the least. On December 23rd of 2019 I took a great leap of faith and decided to go down to go light Bariatrics so I could achieve my goal. When I got to go light Bariatrics my weight was 185 lb .

Its been 4.5 months since my surgery an I am now 149 pounds …well 139 I have 10 pounds of excess skin that needs to be removed. 

Since the surgery I’ve learned food can’t be my go to for problems anymore ..I must fight that urge to eat even when I’m full AKA head hunger ..dr Zavala helped me realize I needed to achieve my goal weight to feel whole again .I know that sounds strange but the prior experience  was very disheartening to say the least ..dr Zavala told me the black an white truth no lies no addictional bullcrap ..hes a straight shooter an its because of him an his awesome staff i have been able to finally say I have a eating disorder but I can will no longer allow it to rule me life .“