Shannon Z's Story

Shannon Z. was feeling resigned to the fact that she would always be obese, until a friend shared her own experience with bariatric surgery.

Hear Shannon Z. tell her powerful story in the video below.

Shannon Z. In Her Own Words

“My journey with healthy weight management began in 2017 with one simple word: surrender. But not in the way you might think of surrender. I was making an active choice to accept my obesity because it was all I had ever known in my life. But then I met a friend who said something powerful: ‘Surrender doesn’t always come in the form you think it should.’

This friend had bariatric surgery a few months prior and her comment shifted my perspective. Did I really have to surrender to a body in which I was wholly uncomfortable and unhappy? I attended my first support group meeting the very next month, scheduled appointments with Dr. McPhee and Kathy, and opted to have the gastric sleeve in June 2017.

Since then, I am proud to have lost more than 90 pounds of excess weight. But more importantly, I have found my light. I discovered a love for moving my body. Within the first year of surgery, I ran my first 5K. Then I completed a 25K trail run. I rode my bike 100 miles from Cherry Hill to Ocean City, NJ for Bike MS, and I completed two indoor triathlons and four sprint triathlons. I have even gone dog sledding.

This Shannon was here all along. But surrendering to the idea of helping myself through bariatric surgery was the vehicle by which I discovered her. It’s not easy. In fact, making healthy choices can be very difficult and this journey continues to take a commitment to digging into my health, wellness, fitness, and food issues but every day I know the surrender is worth it.”