ROME, Ga., April 5, 2024 – Josie Davis knew she had to do something about her weight. After diet plans and other weight-loss programs proved unsuccessful, she turned to Atrium Health Floyd Bariatric Surgery.
Just before her gastric bypass surgery on Dec. 15, 2022, she weighed 315 pounds. Her heaviest weight was 330. Today the 38-year-old weighs 190 pounds. She was considered pre-diabetic but is no longer, a result of her weight loss and sound nutrition.
She said it is also easier now to keep up with her daughters, ages 3 and 10.
The Temple resident said it was her OB-GYN in Villa Rica who recommended she have the treatment at Atrium Health Floyd after she gave birth to her second daughter.
“I told her 'I need help. I can't keep going on like this. I can't do this on my own,'" Davis said. “Although I was overall fairly healthy, I knew it was just a matter of time before my body was going to go downhill."
She tried special diets that required her to order food online. She said she would spend lots of money, sometimes as much as $600, for boxes of food, and then later she couldn't afford the food anymore.
“I ran out of money and then I gained back all the weight I had lost," she said.
Davis said she understands the importance of body positivity but had a mental block she could not escape.
“I was in Target, and I saw my best friend from elementary, middle and high school," she said. “I hid from her. I didn't go up and say anything to her. I was so ashamed.
“This has helped me to see value in myself again, to have confidence at work, being able to speak up and go for awards. I didn't want anyone to look at me, because I didn't want to look at myself," Davis added.
Like many people, she had concerns about the surgery itself, but that wasn't what worried her the most.
“The main thing was just failure," she said. “You almost feel like this is your last chance, and if you mess it up there are no more options."
Davis said the support she received through the Atrium Health Floyd's bariatrics program, both before and after the surgery, played a huge role in her success.
She attended a one-on-one and a group nutrition class, both offered through Floyd's program. Her insurance also required she meet periodically with her primary care physician.
“It was a yearlong process and I kind of enjoyed that because you really had to invest the time and the effort into the classes and meeting with your general practitioner," Davis said. “It kind of gets your head in that right spot to go through a major change like this.
“I can say 100 % there was no way I could lose this weight on my own, because I tried. I wanted with every part of me to lose weight, but I couldn't get into a routine," she added. “I felt like I was more prepared, had more of a support system," said Davis, who occasionally goes to Floyd's bariatric Facebook group with questions or just to lend her support to others.
“And we have a dietitian we can talk to. And my mom didn't get that," she added. “She relies on me to help her. I feel like I have a whole community," she added.
Atrium Health Floyd Bariatric Surgery has been accredited as a Comprehensive Center under the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program, a joint program of the American College of Surgeons and the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.