The Long Weigh Home...: Reality check....

Imagine you are sitting in a doctor's office. The doctor tells you that you have cancer. But not just any kind of cancer. Imagine you have a type of cancer that could activate any time between this day and your 50th birthday, but that's GUARANTEED to go off sometime between now and then.

But there's one thing you can do. You can have a surgery, amputate an arm, and cut out the cancer cells and stop the cancer from activating. You can essentially save your life. As with any surgery there's risks of things going wrong. You'll miss the arm, you'll mourn life as you know it - but you'll be alive. You'll grow old. You'll have kids, and grandkids. You won't be dead.

Would you think twice? It's a no brainer right? You'd gladly give up the arm for life. Like Angelina Jolie you'd give up a breast or two to live longer wouldn't you. You'd risk the possible complications and go for it because let's face it, we all want to live and be healthy.

Well, today was a watershed moment, and I've had that exact scenario posed to me. Today I had a bariatric surgeon tell me that at my current weight I will not live to 50. I've told myself such things for years, but the effect of having a health professional say it so bluntly is profound. I fell apart. All of a sudden I realised that this journey is SOOOOOOOO much bigger than wearing cute clothes, or walking up stairs without puffing, or vanity, or even having children - this really is life and death for me.

The surgeon also gave me the hard line on my commitments - a change in psychology, a change in eating patterns, a change in lifestyle and later, a change in exercise routine. Minimum 5 hours a week, low carb, high protein portion control diet, complete compliance with all required medications/vitamins/etc and most importantly no cheating. It was a hard conversation - but amid the shock and being a little blindsided by the whole "dead before 50" line, I was actually ready to hear it. And upon further reflection it's driven home for me how incredibly serious this is. I don't want to forget that going forward because really, juxtaposed against the alternative, it's a no brainer.

This has to happen. And it has to work.