Fad Diets Fail & Health Challenges Arise
Attempting to manage her weight throughout her 40s, Ellen tried many different fad diets and weight loss programs, including phentermine, the keto diet, the Paleo diet, the Atkins® diet, low-carb dieting, and eating vegetarian, but nothing would work. Later, Ellen’s weight gain was exacerbated even more by the pandemic.
“Like everyone, I was at home all the time and working from home alongside my husband, who is also in real estate,” Ellen says. “We were extremely busy with work, and we weren’t eating healthy. There were a lot of quick, processed foods, and I was eating and drinking way too much.”
By early 2022, when Ellen’s weight had reached its highest point (260 pounds), she could only wear sandals on her feet, along with compression socks. She felt incredibly uncomfortable in her own skin. Not only was she unhappy with her physical appearance, but Ellen knew that her inner health was suffering as well. She was dealing with sleep apnea, muscle and joint pain, and her cholesterol and blood pressure had gotten very high. As a result of her high cholesterol, Ellen was prescribed a statin, which made her even more uncomfortable and caused a lot of cramping. Ellen desperately wanted to get off the statin, and she knew the only answer was to find a more drastic weight loss strategy.
Ellen Discovers True You
Ellen began researching weight loss surgeries, and she even briefly took the weight-loss medication Wegovy®. However, it was too expensive to maintain and hard to get. Since she had undergone previous surgery for a hiatal hernia, Ellen was also searching for a bariatric treatment that would be safe for her. Many doctors warned Ellen that any type of endoscopic sleeve surgery would not be possible due to potential complications.
“Before I found True You, I had planned to travel to Mexico for a Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB) to reroute my digestive system, which I really did not want to do. The doctors had told me I wasn’t eligible for a gastric sleeve surgery because of my hernia,” Ellen says. “I am so glad I kept digging because that’s when I discovered True You – I stumbled upon Dr. McGowan’s Instagram account. He puts a lot of excellent information on social media, and when I read it, I realized that this could be an option for me.”
During the summer of 2022, Ellen consulted with Dr. Christopher McGowan, world-renowned leader in endobariatrics and founder of True You, along with his team. She was thrilled that they were open to finding the best procedure that would work for her, accounting for her health history, and they agreed to review the X-rays of her hernia to make a final decision. The True You team answered all of her questions, and took the time to really understand her unique situation to make a safe and informed decision together.
“I knew I was on the right track with a doctor and facility that really understood my journey and what it looked like,” Ellen says. “I was reassured and comforted by Dr. McGowan’s compassion for what I was going through – it felt so much different than the treatment I was getting from the other physicians I’d met. When True You called to inform me I was a good candidate for an endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG), my mind was blown.”
Ellen spoke with her family, and together they decided that this was the right choice for her, especially since ESG is a non-invasive procedure that reduces stomach size with very little recovery/downtime after the procedure. It was exactly what Ellen had hoped for, so she scheduled her procedure for November 14, 2022, and looked forward to using the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday as a time to rest and recover.
“From that point, there was no turning back,” Ellen says. “I was very excited but also nervous. Some extended family members expressed concern, but I chose to tune all of that out and listen to myself. It was a very important moment of mindfulness for me and my future.”
