“Anytime a patient trusts their health to me it means a lot, but to have someone I work with every day come to me and ask for help was really incredible,” Dr. Velazquez said. “And Lexi was a perfect candidate for surgical weight loss, so I was happy for what it would mean for her health and life.”
Lexi’s choose the RNY gastric bypass for many reasons.
A long utilized bariatric procedure – the first gastric bypass was performed in 1959 – it has been shaped and perfected so that it produces success in the short and long term. In fact, Longstreet’s Center for Weight Management RNY patients average 80 percent of excess body weight loss at 24 months post-surgery.
“During surgery, we attach a branch of the small bowel to the new, small stomach. The other branch of the bowel remains attached to the original stomach and continues to aid in digestion. This new structure delays the mixing of food with digestive juices, resulting in poorer absorption of calories and nutrients – so the result is that the body takes in far fewer calories. All of this leads to rapid weight loss,” Dr. Velazquez said. “But the patient must also make major changes to their post-surgical diet – drastic at first but normalizing over time – including drinking lots of water and taking vitamin supplements for life.”
Lexi knew that surgery was no quick fix or cure-all – no matter how skilled the surgeon. And that long-term success would depend upon her commitment to change. Surgery was simply the opportunity to make that change and give her the best chance at improved, lifelong health. Her then fiancé (now husband), Zach, was also supportive and ready to help.
Thus, Lexi underwent gastric bypass on April 25, 2022.
Like all modern bariatric procedures, the minimally invasive surgery allowed Lexi to be up and moving within hours of its completion. And, despite an adjustment period, she is already thrilled with the results.
“I’m down well past the goal Dr. Velazquez set for me already. I’ve lost 118 pounds since the procedure and my goal was 140 – so I’m only 19 pounds away,” Lexi said. “Before surgery I thought I had to hide my body. I was not confident, but now I love myself so much more.”
Lexi’s happiness goes well beyond what she sees in the mirror, as she can easily keep up with an active an adventurous husband – as well as with her 3-year-old son, Harrison.
“We’re always outside and on the go, hiking and camping, and it’s great,” Lexi said.
She is also ensuring that the losses she’s attained – and improvements gained – are part of a healthy lifestyle.
“I try to eat 80 grams of protein a day, and I make sure I do that through either food alone or with supplements,” Lexi said. “I wake up and go to the gym every day and then I have a planned-out meal regimen – but it doesn’t change what I fix for Zach and Harrison; I just modify what I cook for them with my dinner. For example, I’ll make them spaghetti with meat sauce, and I’ll just eat it without the noodles.”
It is a new reality that Lexi has embraced – and one that she’s so glad she contemplated and experienced through her work at Longstreet Clinic.
“I would recommend this to anyone in the situation I was in and definitely recommend Dr. Velazquez to anyone,” Lexi said. “He was so experienced and eased my mind about the whole thing, and now I’m living the life I had always wanted.”
Lexi also understood what the future could mean by not making a major change in her condition. And remission of obesity – which is labeled as a disease and not a lifestyle choice by medical science – is proven to relieve those comorbidities, including remission rates of 70-85% for type II diabetes, 65% for hypertension, 85-95% for sleep apnea, and a 50% reduction in cancer risk.