GrammyDiane

I began my WLS journey in December 2010 when I went to the informational seminar. I really struggled with the decision whether to proceed or not and waited until April 2011 to go to another seminar. By then, I was sure that this was the right decision for me and I turned in my application at the May support group meeting. In June, the doctor's office contacted me to tell me my application had been misplaced so I resubmitted it by fax on June 13th. I met with Dr. Carroll for the first time on July 6th but still had not decided whether to have the Lap Band or gastric bypass surgery. He told me to make up my mind and let his office know when I had decided. I prayed about which way was best for me and called the next day with my decision. My PCP had strongly encouraged me to not select the gastric bypass as he felt the risks were too great considering that I have no major health issues, other than sleep apnea, at this time. When I had my physical with him on 7/19, he did agree that the Lap Band would make sense for me. 
I met with the psychiatrist, had my blood work, chest x-ray, and EKG all on 7/25 and met with the nutritionist for the first time on 8/12. Since that meeting, I have been using My Fitness Pal very faithfully to track my food and have lost 32 pounds so far. I now have my surgery date, 12/5/11, and am very excited that it is almost here.
I come from a family of obese people and have struggled with my weight my entire life. In fact, I became a lifetime member of Weight Watchers when I was just 16. I've yo-yoed ever since then, but have never made it back, or even close, to goal weight. I've gone to TOPS in fact, I led the group for quite a long time. For three years, I led a First Place 4 Health group at my church. I rejoined Weight Watchers numerous times over the years. I had success with each program and every effort but have never been able to maintain the losses. Two of my older brothers have also had WLS (one gastric bypass and the other sleeve gastrectomy) and a niece that had gastric bypass this past summer.
I know in my heart that this is the tool that I have been missing and as long as I do what I need to do for me, that I WILL be successful this time!