What factors ultimately influence someone to pursue living a healthier life?
Is it a trending diet, encouragement of a loved one or gaining new knowledge and understanding? For Chaston Pruitt, it was his doctor’s advice.
“Chaston, if you keep living the way you’ve been living, you may not make it to age 40 or even 35,” said his primary care physician when Pruitt was in his early 30s.
At the time, Pruitt topped the scales at 430 pounds and battled high blood pressure, diabetes, a fatty liver and kidneys that did not work well. His knees and back always ached.
“When I started high school,” recalled Pruitt, “my weight started to fall because I played football, basketball, track and started working out with weights. But once I got to college, I stopped working out, started drinking beer and began packing on the pounds.”
Pruitt attributes his excessive weight to his food choices.
“I was a sweets guy, and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen with my grandmother,” he said. “She used to make honeybun cakes and would let me lick the bowl afterward. On Sundays, she would make a soul food feast with fried chicken, mac and cheese with four types of cheeses, candied yams, collard greens and cornbread. It was so good, but not good for you. That’s partly why she passed away from a heart attack at age 57 during my freshman year in college.”
Her death caused Pruitt to become depressed which he compensated for by overeating, especially pizza, breads and other carbohydrates. “Before I knew it, I weighed more than 400 pounds.”
Weight loss options
Eventually, Pruitt decided to lose weight and tried fad diets, but none of them worked. “I usually lost weight initially with those diets but would gain it all back.”
That led him to meet with Hugh Babineau, MD, who specializes in bariatric surgery at the UT Health Tyler Bariatric Center. After meeting with Dr. Babineau, Pruitt decided that he wanted the surgery, but he still had some reservations.
“When I got married, I told Shayla [his wife] I wanted to do the surgery,” said Pruitt. “She asked me, ‘So what’s stopping you?’ I told her, ‘I’m just scared.’ That’s when she grabbed my hand and said, ‘We’re going to do this together.’”
But despite Pruitt’s desire to lose weight and live a healthier life, the football, basketball and track coach still needed a push to “get the ball over the goal line.”
“It was the night before the surgery,” he said. “I was already in my room and connected to an IV for fluids when I started to panic. I told Shayla, ‘I don’t want to do this’ and tried to get up and leave. Fortunately, she said, ‘We are going to do this,’ so I stuck with the plan. I’m so glad I did.”
Gastric Bypass Surgery
After discussing the different types of bariatric surgery, Pruitt and Dr. Babineau decided that his best option was gastric bypass surgery.
While there are different versions of gastric bypass surgery, the basics are the same. The surgeon divides the stomach into two parts: a much smaller pouch and the larger remaining portion of the stomach. The pouch is then connected directly to the small intestine, which bypasses the rest of the stomach.
This results in a smaller stomach that gets filled quicker, thus keeping the patient from eating as much as before.
Healthier Future
Now 35 years old and a teacher and coach at Crocket High School in Palestine, Texas, Pruitt has dropped his weight to 228 pounds. To lose weight, Pruitt had to cut many of his favorite foods out of his diet.
“The hardest was cutting out the sweets,” he said. “I had withdrawal symptoms for weeks. I also cut out fried foods and concentrated on eating a variety of proteins and fruits. If I have a good week, then I will reward myself with a granola bar.”
To continue his weight loss and stay in shape, he runs with his players at practice and takes walks at night with his wife. “I’m a country boy, so I’ve also been known to haul hay once in a while,” he said.
Are you a good candidate for bariatric surgery? Review the guidelines here.
When he was very heavy, Pruitt always shied away from taking trips on airplanes because he didn’t want to be embarrassed by buying a double seat. Taking his shirt off at the pool was another activity he avoided.
But now that he has lost weight, he and his wife thoroughly enjoy flying to tropical beachside resorts.
“This year we went to a resort in the Dominican Republic and had a wonderful time. We plan to do this every year and want to go to Aruba next!”
Pruitt credits Dr. Babineau and team for helping him prepare for the surgery and developing a healthy lifestyle.
“They genuinely care about helping people,” said Pruitt. “He took the time to answer all my questions before the surgery and followed up many times after the surgery. They also helped me schedule appointments with a dietician to stay on track with my diet.”
Always the coach, Pruitt has recommended Dr. Babineau to a few of his friends.
“I tell them, ‘Don’t live your life with regrets...if you don’t take care of your health, you may not live to see your kids grow up or have grandchildren. I was a ticking time bomb, but I decided to change my lifestyle because I want to live a long time.”
“That’s what motivated me to live a healthy life.”
For more information and to determine if you qualify for weight-loss surgery, visit our web page or call 903-593-0230.