|
Since her surgery, Kendall says she has successfully maintained her weight loss—but hasn't been able to control other aspects of her life. "A lot has happened [since the show]," Kendall says. "I went from the addiction of food, obviously, and transferred over to alcohol."
Kendall says she began drinking in moderation at college. "Progressively, I noticed that I would be drinking more than my friends, blacking out—and that's another thing that with this surgery, alcohol affects you so much more."
Dr. Oz says this happens because, after gastric bypass surgery, alcohol will pass the stomach and go straight down to the small intestine where it is mainlined to the liver. "Even a small amount of alcohol will immediately raise your blood level of alcohol so you get drunk faster, which is why you'll black out and other things will happen," he says.
"For me, rock bottom was losing friends because of the alcoholism. I lost a couple of my best friends, and I'll never be able to get those relationships back," Kendall says. To try and make amends and move on with her life, Kendall attempted to beat her alcoholism. "I was going to [AA] meetings, I was sober for two months, I joined the local church, and life was good," she says. Her success didn't last long—Kendall says she fell back into her old habits and is once again struggling to get back in control.
Looking back, Kendall says she wishes she had gone through a program that included psychological analysis. "I had such a naive mind-set. Sixteen years old, all I was thinking was, 'I want to lose this weight. I want to be happy. I want to date.' And it was going to be the cure, and it turns out there's other things that can come from it."
Keep Reading
