a journey of pCOS, Insulin Resistance and beginning IVF...
Kelly’s success story is definitely one to remember due to her battle with PCOS and insulin resistance in order to lose weight for her and her wife to begin their IVF journey.
Kelly suffers with PCOS (Polysistic Ovarian Syndrome) which is quite common amoungst women and can often come with a side effect of insulin resistance which is what Kelly also has. Insulin resistance allows you to gain weight easily as the food that you intake, especially sugar or carbs, just stores on your body rather than burning at a normal rate.
“Everyone would always say to me they don’t understand why I’m the size I am as I’m the healthiest person they know”
eKelly was always very active and was even eating from a side plate long before surgery but didn’t understand why she was consistently overweight. Once diagnosed, she started a variety of diets but found they just didn’t work due to her insulin resistance which provided a much greater challenge to shift the weight. The diets were also too restrictive which meant consistency was an issue so therefore, Kelly ended up trying to adapt the diets meaning she wasn’t actually doing the diet correctly.
However, despite these challenges, the turning point was when Kelly and her wife decided they wanted to start a family via IVF.
"I now know how important it is for me to have had this surgery so I can actually have a family"
breaking the news at the fertility clinic...
Upon the initial consultation at the fertility clinic, Kelly was told she was too overweight for them to do anything about them getting IVF. This was just devastating to hear when she knew she was overweight but after years had tried everything and yet nothing had worked. Kelly’s wife even tried to support her by losing weight with her but long term, it became a bigger issue.
“As you know when you get older, your fertility decreases and at the time I was already 36 so I was like I don’t have the time to sit around and keep trying to do this by myself.”
At this point Kelly turned to Healthier Weight to get weight loss surgery.
“The fertility clinic didn’t believe me when I said I would have weight loss surgery and come back as so many people had said the same. But I lost my weight and I went back and now we have started IVF!”
The gastric Sleeve and losing weight
Kelly stated the reason she chose Healthier Weight and was so certain to have surgery was because upon her initial call following her IVF consultation, Healthier Weight already had her details from 3 years ago when she had previously called worrying about her weight.
“It struck me that I had been dealing with my weight for so long and I was heavier than I was back then. I needed to do something as I didn’t want to go through another 3 years and be even bigger and making that same phone call. So, the fact they had my details on file was a moment of realisation and I booked in for a consultation that same day.”
After her first consultation Kelly opted for the sleeve due to the better nutrient intake compared to the bypass which would give her a safer pregnancy and make her baby healthier. In her first year, Kelly lost about 3 stone which to some may not seem like a huge amount but everyone’s bodies are different!
“At first I did feel like that one person who wasn’t going to lose weight form WLS but I’m a slow loser and even before my surgery with the small bits of weight I had lost, I was a slow loser.”
It can be so easy to compare your journey to others on social media as it can be made out to look so easy but Kelly shared the importance of focusing on your own journey and persevering even if it does take a longer time. Today Kelly has lost 5 stone and is beginning her first round of IVF all thanks to her gastric sleeve.
Life after the gastric sleeve
Weight Loss Surgery has worked well for Kelly as it has allowed her to have small portions where her body can recognise it needs to burn it alongside her insulin resistance. The gastric sleeve has also allowed her to stay more consistent with her weight as before she explained she would start the year at a size 16 for example and finish on a size 12 and just continue to go back and forth. The surgery has helped to stop this and even if she puts on a few pounds, the dress size remains the same.
Mental Health is also another area where the surgery has helped Kelly as the consistency and positive effects on her PCOS and IVF journey has helped to impact her life immeasurably.
“It’s not the easy way out and even if it was SO WHAT. The simple fact is you need to lsoe weight and you’ve done something about it to improve your health.”
Like Kelly some people have medical issues or perhaps a really large amount to lose and the idea that people can just ‘eat less and move more’ doesn’t work for everyone! It’s not so easy for people in these categories to just go on diets that don’t work when weight loss surgery does!
The Weight Loss Community And Representing People Of Colour
Unfortunately, your weight loss journey isn’t going to always be a smooth ride but the best thing about surgery is the community around you and people having your back.
“Everyone in the community are your little cheerleaders and it’s so nice as they can relate to you when other people can’t”
Kelly wanted to be able to give this back to the community and document her journey to help others and also to represent people of colour by having her own instagram page dedicated to weight loss surgery.
“The culture for people of colour is totally different for example the way you have to behave around food or cook.”
Every culture has a different standard to how they enjoy and eat food and also accepting weight loss surgery as part of their community. A lot of people from BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) communities often do not tell anyone about their surgical experience. Having Kelly as a Woman of Colour to help represent people of colour is amazing and we hope she continues to inspire people through her social platforms.
Some Advice For Those Thinking Of Having Surgery...
Some advice I would give is that you have to put the work in and be ready! You need to work on everything, your mindset, being happy to go out and be active. It’s the whole package. There are so many things to consider as yes you will lose weight, but you want to lose weight and keep it off. A lot of the time people are overweight because of a mental issue and that is something you need to address. But it’s so worth it and it’s something I needed to do.