crclardy

@Charming Tortoise... Correction: you do not need to convince your friends and family. It's your decision and while support is certainly a nice thing, it's not needed for the WLS. I'm not trying to downplay support systems, but at the end of the day you determine what you put in your mouth. When I lost 10 lbs on the pre-surgery diet, The Hubs said the same thing to me.. "Keep this up and you won't need the surgery." But as he never really understood loss of control and emotional eating, I always remembered 'consider the messenger' in the back of my head. Even though The Hubs saw me do the walk of shame night after night and head to the pantry to get something to munch on when I knew I shouldn't, he doesn't experience nor understand the emotional eating... I have a therapist for that! In short, I heard the same thing from my family and still had WLS on 20 Mar, I'm down 31 lbs and completely at peace with my decision.

Bubles, I hear ya! Finding the right one can be a challenge. A couple suggestions: ask your surgeon or the dietician you continue to see. The other suggestions is to check the online directory via your insurance. I have Aetna and there's a full online directory of counselors and you can specify eating disorders (which I think is a strong word, but it worked.) Then, instead of calling and making an appt, I told her I wanted to ensure a good fit so being able to help with food issues, intimacy issues and anxiety were my top three. We had a 15 minute conversation and THEN I made the appt. Hope that helps. :-)

Ladies, get into counseling! I say that with love and kindness. :-) I have two acquaintances that had bypasses (I had the sleeve) and BOTH of them said the hardest part was changing their mentality. So, before I even had the sleeve, I started counseling and what a difference! Like many of you gals, I never realized my size until I saw pics, so the mirror and I weren't mortlal enemies, far from it. I'm down 24 lbs now and love how I look, feel.. The whole package! I have more to go, clearly... But even as things get a little more squishy, loose or jiggly - I'm fine with it. I think counseling beforehand and continued counseling is the key. I feel confident in saying our "love affairs" with food (which brought us to where we are) was a coping mechanism for ... something. We all have different paths, so it be foolish to speculate but the short of it is, if you aren't talking to a counselor that understands food issues, perfectionism and anxiety you are not serving yourself well. You first, then you can save the world afterward. Again, all my advice is out of experience, love and kindness.. hope you find it helpful.

4'11" 248 40 yrs old Female

Since we have a nice little forum of peeps starting on the same day, wanna share stats here? If there's a better place, please share.. I'd like to draw off our our similar experiences and this place seems as good as any.

Add one more to the list!! March 20th in Concord, NC. Started 2 week pre-op diet. Counting down the days. 13 to go...