Slow but Steady Wins the Weight Loss Battle for Andee Granados

LOS ANGELES, May 20, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- It was long-term frustration that drove Andee Granados, Dr. Michael Feiz's May Patient Ambassador, to get lap band surgery in 2009, but things have been on a slow and steady upswing ever since and she has lost more than 120 pounds to date. Originally weighing in at 265 pounds on a petite 5'3" inch frame, she had made some short term improvement, but it seemed that her attempts to eat less and exercise more were failing to, as she puts it, "get on the road together." She found herself straying at the dinner table. "I'd go to a Weight Watchers meeting and then do something bad, just because I knew I had a week to try and make up for it before the next weigh-in."

Ms. Granados, who lives in Simi Valley, works at a medical office specializing in Worker's Comp cases and she could see the problems that obese patients would have. "A lot of obese people who are injured can't have surgery because of high blood pressure or other problems." Still, it was more the emotional side of the equation that impacted her.  "I just got tired of being unhappy."

After a series of events led her to the offices of renowned bariatric surgeon Michael Feiz, M.D., F.A.C.S., she opted for the least invasive approach. Lap bands have been getting renewed attention thanks to outspoken New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's widely publicized procedure, and growing numbers of obese people are contacting their health insurers about lap band insurance coverage. While some patients have transitioned to the gastric sleeve and other surgeries, Ms. Granados has been successfully playing a long game with her procedure.

Not that it's always been a breeze. "The liquid diet really began to get to me during the recovery. But, once I was back to regular food for a while, the surgery helped me change my whole mind set about eating. It wasn't my first reaction to go to food anymore," she says. 

"It took me two years to lose the big weight, but the improvements were steady and the emotional changes were huge. I broke up with my boyfriend of seven years maybe a month before the surgery. A while after, when I was starting to lose some weight, I started looking into online dating where I met my current boyfriend. There's no way I would have had the confidence to do that before."

And Ms. Granados is definitely looking better than ever in some dramatic before and after pictures. Living happily with her boyfriend, his children, and her German Shepherd, Lucy, Ms. Granados is also more active than ever and recently obtained her certification as an instructor of Zumba, by far her favorite form of exercise. Though she still doesn't feel quite ready to teach classes, she tells us her self-confidence is vastly improved. 

"I feel like I'm not as shy as I used to be. I think now that I'm more of normal weight. I'm much less afraid to be out in front."

For more information on bariatric surgery, please visit www.drfeiz.com or call 800-868-5946 for your free initial consultation.

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SOURCE Dr. Feiz and Associates