Winning the Lottery

Weight loss surgery gave Christopher Libby a new outlook on food and health

These days, Christopher Libby, 40, enjoys working out and eating healthy foods like vegetables, but it wasn’t always that way.

In November 2006, Libby weighed 611 pounds. He was hospitalized with congestive heart failure and doctors removed 110 lbs of fluid from his body.

After that experience, Libby tried losing weight on his own by walking around his house, which was a struggle, and then walking in his neighborhood. He lost 140 pounds, but still experienced serious health issues, including breathing and heart rate problems, pre-diabetes and chronic sleep apnea. Doctors also suspected Libby had a pulmonary embolism, but he couldn’t fit into a CT scan machine for a test to confirm it.

Winning Outlook

Less than two years later, Libby finally had bariatric surgery at UVA in June 2008, and he now weighs a healthy 167 pounds.

Patients must meet certain medical guidelines to qualify for gastric bypass surgery, according to UVA surgeon Bruce Schirmer, MD. If patients have a body mass index of over 35 with a medical problem worsened by obesity, or a body mass index over 40 without a medical problem they qualify for bariatric surgery.

“I feel like I’ve hit the lottery. I just don’t have the bank account to prove it,” Libby says.

What he does have is dramatically improved health and a different outlook on life. Libby works out 3-5 days a week, switching between swimming, weights and cardio.

“It blows my mind the things I can do. I’m in a lot better shape than other people my age,” he says.

Big Changes

One of the little changes Libby enjoys most is going to the gym and being able to use one of the bath towels. “I wrap it around my body like normal people do,” he says. He also run and walks with ease. Before his surgery, it was hard for him even to use a keyboard if he had to reach a little bit.

But Libby points out that bariatric surgery isn’t a quick fix.

Maintenance of weight loss depends on developing and maintaining good eating habits and getting regular exercise. His diet has changed significantly since having surgery: He doesn’t eat out much, he shies away from fast food and fried foods and he’s always conscious of calories and fat.

“I realize where I was before and where I never, ever want to go back to,” he says. Plus, he now enjoys eating healthy foods like vegetables. “It’s better for you and it tastes better, too.”

The direction and follow-up care from UVA staff is what has mattered most to Libby during his weight-loss journey.

“This surgery gave me the tools I needed to succeed. Without [Dr. Schirmer], I wouldn’t be where I am today,” he says.