Long journey to the beginning of this adventure!

[~winecountrygirl~ 3]

Hi everyone, I'm Tanya. I live in Northern California with my husband and my two daughters. I'm 35 years old and I have been overweight all of my life. I weighed 320lbs on 5/13 when I had my weight check with my local Kaiser doctor and this morning it was 304lbs. I have been wanting weight loss surgery for years but I didn't realized it was a covered benefit of my insurance until April of this year. I have lost weight in the past, a couple times I lost 80lbs but it always comes back. If I lose 80lbs, I still weigh 240lbs and still have 100lbs to lose! It's so overwhelming and I seem to hit a wall at 240 and can't get under it, so I give up. I attended orientation at Kaiser Richmond's Bariatric Surgery Program on 6/14 and have been on the pre-op plan since 6/15. So far the hardest for me has been no gum, no drinking with meals and no snacking! I have been really good and haven't cheated yet and the weight is falling off. I'm also walking 60 minutes a day and today I'm also going to try a bike ride, I hope I don't pop the tires! Our local program does either the sleeve or gastric bypass, they say the lap band is becoming obsolete and don't even do it anymore. I chose the sleeve because I liked the idea of the order of digestion staying the same and liked that it is a restrictive surgery and not a malabsorbsion surgery. So far I have gotten tons of encouragement just by reading all of the posts on the forums. I'm looking forward to getting to know more of you better and sharing my journey with you every step of the way! I have an appointment with my surgeon, Albert Im, on July 14. I hope to be down to the weight he recommends at my appointment so I can get a surgery date!