Couple Turns To Gastric Bypass To Lose Weight

It seems everyone wants to lose some weight, but for one couple, the weight they each needed to lose was more than 100 pounds and it was significantly impacting their health.

Beth Culpepper's weight problems didn't kick in until junior high.

"I was always a little healthier looking, robust, full-bodied, but not fat, per se, until I hit puberty," Beth said.

After sixth grade, Beth's life changed. As puberty hit, she started gaining weight. In seventh grade, she weighed 168 pounds. High school was busy with basketball, choir and friends, but Beth kept gaining weight.

"I was one of the top fund-raisers for the junior prom, then didn't get to go because no one would ask me because I was too big," she said.

The weight gain continued in college. Beth weighed over 200 pounds when she met Mark.

"He wasn't turned off by the fact that I was big. We laughed a lot," she said.

"We met Dec. 14, proposed Dec. 24, married her on Valentine's Day," said Mark Culpepper.

After marriage, there was more weight gain and a diabetes diagnosis. Beth weighed more than 300 pounds when she found she couldn't get pregnant because she was just too heavy.

"We did Atkins, the liquid diet, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, NutriSystems -- paid a lot of money," she said.

Nothing worked, and Mark was soon over 400 pounds. He weighed too much to walk around a store and he could no longer hunt and fish. His doctor suggested gastric bypass surgery, and Mark wanted Beth to have it, too.

"I was afraid I was going to lose her, so I told her she had to do it, too," he said.

Gastric bypass is a radical change. Doctors move the stomach, then create a small pouch that holds just 1 to 2 ounces, giving little room for food. It's a procedure that's not for everyone.

"(It's for) people who have a (body mass index) of 40 or more, which is about 100 pounds overweight," said Dr. Michael Snyder, a bariatic surgeon with Denver Bariatrics.

Now, two years after surgery, Beth and Mark have each lost more than 170 pounds. Jeans that Beth couldn't fit into before surgery now fit both her and her sister, with each woman in a pant leg. Even better, Beth finally got pregnant -- not once, but twice.

"I never knew my whole life could be the girls, how much they mean to me, what a miracle they are," she said.

Gastric bypass can also be dangerous. One in 200 patients die in surgery, so it's important to do research.