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I feel so alone in this journey rn. I'm struggling so much. Did I do the right thing?

Hello everyone! I'm new to the forum and didn't really know where to begin, so I figured why not start a thread about my journey? So, I've always been kind of obese (there were a few years that I lost a lot of weight sticking to a low carb diet) I hovered around 300lbs give or take for many years. In 2012 during a divorce, I ballooned all the way up to 365lbs and I swore I'd never get to that point again. I started doing low carb and got all the way down to 235lbs before getting re-married and gaining back about 50lbs. During COVID in 2020, I just completely fell apart and ended up getting to my all-time highest weight of 385lbs. I drive trucks for a living and in August of 2022, I had to go for a sleep apnea test and I failed miserably. Failing the sleep apnea test put my career in jeopardy. I decided immediately afterwards to contact my local hospital about bariatric surgery and immediately started a 6 month program in October, 2022. Since I had already had the sleep apnea test and failed, I'd already knocked that part out at least. I literally just got back from my final doctors appointment and they told me that it's up to my insurance provider to approve or deny me for surgery. I'm really excited but also really nervous. The only time I've ever stayed in a hospital overnight was to take my sleep apnea tests. I started this journey at 385lbs, today I weighed in at 365lbs. I had my ups and downs, but I'm really looking forward to this journey and really looking forward to getting to know everyone and to share my journey.

I didn’t exercise & still don’t. I do some stretches, use a resistance band & do some sit ups now but more to help with my back & to keep me a bit limber than for anything else. I wouldn’t burn 30 calories. (Ironically I would burn more calories if I weighed more LOL!) I really don’t enjoy structured exercise at all. It’s boring, I don’t like being forced to ‘perform’ & I hate being sweaty. I do my stretches, etc. in 5-10 minute blocks through out the day (it’s called exercise snacking & is just as beneficial as doing a single long block of exercise). I’m more willing to do it like this. Exercise only accounts for about 10% of any weight you have to lose. Want to lose 60lbs? Exercise will only contribute to you losing about 6lbs. Of course there are many other benefits to exercising but don’t rely on it for boosting your weight loss. I have never been this successful with sustained weight loss ever before & I’m almost 58 so have quite a few years of dieting experiences. 😉 I’ve changed so much about my relationship with food. I still enjoy food but know & accept I can’t just eat what I like, when I like & how much I like. I don’t consider I’m making sacrifices or missing out. It really is about changing your thinking about food & eating. It doesn’t happen over night but you’ll get there too. Day by day, week by week.

My problem is age. I am 71 and usual cutoff age is 70. I was approved for WLS RNY due to complications from band surgery. I am not looking forward to sagging skin & boobs. Yea they sag a bit now and I hate it. So I have WLS on 5/15, figure 8-12 months to look into plastics. Instead of a mommy makeover it will be a granny makeover. Hahaha

Just checking in a week post-op VSG. I’m doing really well, meeting protein and water goals. I can take about 3 swallows of water at a time, which works out to about 3 oz. Then I gotta allow 10 min or so before I put anything else down the chute. At first I couldn’t even get 3 oz of my protein shakes down at a time, but now I’m getting half shakes down 4 times a day. I also had some Greek yogurt tonight. I absolutely hated Greek yogurt before surgery, but was so good and felt good in my stomach too. I also now like unsweetened tea and I used to be 100% sweet tea girl. It’s absolutely crazy how your body changes. Good luck to everyone with surgeries coming up this week. Thoughts and prayers are with you all. The pain doesn’t last forever, and things will get better quickly. Soon, we’ll all be looking back and celebrating our success and seeing these moments of struggle as just stumbling blocks on our journey! Oh, and 22 pounds down from start of pre-op as of this morning!! 🎉🎉 Much love to all! 💕

@Jason Jacobson thank you so much for your prayers....I truly appreciate it. You will be fine on Wednesday & I'll be praying for you also.

I’m scheduled for 5/17, so excited!

Well some things happened and mine is postponed but congrats to everyone that are having theirs soon.

Here are just a couple of the silly things that have made me smile the last couple weeks: 1. I can buy cute underwear that are not made out of white flour sack material. 2. I can put on my socks in the morning with out making strange sounds and grunting. 3. When getting dressed to go somewhere the first thing out of my mouth is NOT "does this make me look fat!"

I have to agree, once a week is not frequent, funny thing is that I have not smoked for the last month because is something that I can stop at free will. To me an addiction is something you can't willingly stop on your own, such as tobacco users who can smoke up to a pack a day. I have recently stopped just because I don't need it, just like I don't need wine - While several months ago, I was having wine every week, I now have wine maybe once every three months, but with Marijuana being so widely used and now being legalized in several states, I was just curious. I am sure everyone has their own perception, and I have agreed for myself that smoking marijuana would not be best for me after surgery, but I would welcome open minded perspectives to this subject on those that have used it and what was the experience.