A New Beginning: Battle With Obesity

Delia Ruiz, a woman who took her obesity into her own hands and with the help of surgery, changed her life for the healthier. Wife and mother Delia Ruiz struggled with obesity since childhood, at her heaviest weighing three-hundred and twenty-four pounds. "I stopped loving myself I stopped thinking that it was okay that I could gain the weight and it was no problem. I was just so comfortable," says Delia Ruiz, post bariatric plastic surgery patient. In December 2010, Delia made the decision to have a bariatric surgery known as the gastric sleeve to help lose the weight, something her mother, who passed away three years ago, always wanted for her. " She said Delia, I don't want you to get sick, look at me the diabetes and I believe that you should not eat as much she would always tell me, I'm going to die, many times, I'm going to die and I'll never see you thin. And I would get so angry, because it's like I didn't want to hear that," explains Ruiz Delia lost 80 pounds with the gastric sleeve procedure, but knew she had to do more. "I just needed to do my part which was that I needed to understand that it was a tool that was given to me by me," adds Ruiz. With the help of doctors, she stuck to a diet plan, exercised regularly and eight months later, Delia lost another 69 pounds. Losing nearly 180 pounds in four years left her with a healthier body and excess skin. "Sometimes loose skin is something that bothers people a lot and so even if they achieve their goal in weight, it really takes on their self esteem, they feel really uncomfortable," explains Dr. Guadalupe Sharpe, psychiatrist at Renaissance, BMI. It was a roadblock that left Delia feeling uncomfortable in her own body. "I needed to see that come off. To see that it was worth it, all my hard work, my sacrifice and now that I went through with it I see that it paid off that it was worth it," says Ruiz. Stomach, arm, breast and thigh tissue are the most common post bariatric plastic surgery procedures to eliminate unwanted skin. "It really is not high risk. It's high risk because they're overweight, they're going to have more skin stretched than normal, more infection, more blood loss because you remove a lot of tissue and in that tissue is blood. So you'll actually have a couple units you can lose," explains Dr. David Lee, plastic surgeon. The surgeries and weight loss journey has given Delia the confidence and health her mother always wanted for her. "I see myself in the mirror and now I think all my mom was wanting the best for me, my mom that's all she wanted. She wanted me to be healthy, to be more happy," adds Ruiz. Delia's new beginning has rubbed off on her family and they continue to work together toward a lifelong commitment to staying fit. Be sure to tune in next week for our final new beginning health series story.