Staff writer
A slip and fall on ice resulted in a broken tailbone and constant back pain for Robin Pritz of Lost Springs.
It was not until after she underwent stomach reduction surgery in July that she was able to lose weight and get permanent relief from the pain.
The 46-year-old woman said she never lost the weight she gained during her pregnancy with daughter Kacy, now 9 years old. She continued to gain weight and weighed more than 200 pounds.
Chiropractic treatments and physical therapy helped but didn’t take away her back pain. Her doctor told her that weight loss would help.
She said the decision to have “gastric sleeve” surgery, in which part of her stomach would be removed, was her “last desperate attempt” to lose weight.
She weighed 230 pounds at the time of her surgery and has lost 80 pounds since then.
“People say I took the easy route,” she said, “but on other diets I tried, you could cheat. I lost the weight I wanted to lose, and I feel good.”
She said the surgery took away hunger feelings for two months, and she lost weight steadily. She reached her goal last week.
She can’t eat as much as she used to and fills up sooner, and if she overeats, it makes her nauseous.
“I sometimes miss comfort food, and I had to learn to deal with things in other ways,” she said. “I can’t eat and drink at the same time, or it will stretch my stomach.
“It’s changed my taste for things. I focus on getting enough protein, like eating chicken and beef.”
She said she eats very little bread and eats meat sandwiches without the bread. She usually has a protein shake for breakfast, which seems to agree with her better than scrambled eggs.
“Being able to move around without pain is the biggest benefit,” she said. “I plan to maintain this weight forever.”