George Saarinen sat in an armchair last week.
It wasn’t until about ten minutes into the meeting he was attending that Saarinen realized what he’d done. “Usually I had to stuff myself into the chair,” he said. “I was pretty well stuck in it.”
But nearly three months after his sleeve gastrectomy, a surgical procedure that removed nearly 80 per cent of his stomach, and at 70 pounds lighter the chair is just one of many changes Saarinen has noticed in his life. Getting in and out of the chair is a small symbol of the big changes he’s making. ”It was an exciting feeling,” he said.
He’s also sitting closer to the steering wheel of his car and reaching into the back of his closet for clothes he hasn’t worn in ten years. “It’s a high,” he said with a smile on his face.
But as Saarinen has always cautioned, the procedure he waited nearly two years to undergo is just one tool along with diet exercise and a healthy frame of mind that will help him reach his goal of meeting his grandchildren one day.
Food for Saarinen was an addiction and like any addiction the road to recovery is a life-long journey. The surgery’s success varies from person to person. After an initial dramatic drop, some people gain weight back or lose it very slowly. But for Saarinen, he’s going to take it one day at a time. “I have a long way to go, he said. “It’s a start.”
Where once he would rush to eat as much as he could, now Saarinen spends up to 30 minutes just eating a third of a cup of porridge. “I take my time. Before I was in such a hurry to eat,” he said. “Those days are gone.” “You have to have patience. You learn appreciation.”
He’s also hitting the gym, taking walks and enjoying what life has to offer. “My ankles aren’t hurting my knees aren’t hurting,” he said. “I have things to look forward to. I’m looking forward to the summer.”
For those looking to go down the same path as Saarinen, he cautions that the change has to start from within. “You’ve got to realize that you’ve got the problem,” he said. “You’ve got to own up to your addiction, as I’ll call it, and you’ve got to do something about it.”
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