How did you know?

[BarrySue 602]

Once I topped nearly 350 lbs and started getting scared about loss of mobility (I'm a pediatric nurse, so I'm up and down chasing after kids all day), I started to consider it. But what really sealed the deal was winning a prestigious scholarship and not being sure I needed to take time off and try to save money. But when my mother offered to loan me the money up front so I could get it done before starting the next leg of my education, it got very real very fast. After all, what was the point of going to grad school if I'd be dead or disabled in 10 years?

[Soon2beslimSamantha 53]

So did u do it?

[BarrySue 602]

So did u do it?

Yep. On July 13th, in a hospital not far from you (Orlando ).

Down almost 40 lbs as of today.

[Soon2beslimSamantha 53]

That's awsome did you have the sleeve?

[BarrySue 602]

Yeah, I had the sleeve, and did three weeks of pre-op dieting.

[Kari H. 22]

I was 32 had recently become an aunt again, it was hard to breath to bend over long enough to change my niece or to bathe her. Then I decided that I was not feeling my best and went to my pcp. She ran some tests and the news she gave me scared the crap out of me.

high blood pressure

high cholesterol

pre-diabetic

joint pain

depression just to name a few.

yeah, it was time for me to do something!

[Veronica Page 488]

@@Soon2beslimSamantha it does feel like night and day and I'm happy so far just wish that I could kick some of the bad eating habits. I do fairly well for most parts. Like I was really addicted to sugar and since it doesn't taste as good its not much of a problem for me anymore but I still love salty things and most things with salt have carbs. I was not planning on giving up everything to achieve a new life. I wanted to know what it was like to eat in moderation and workout and learn to be healthy and happy all at once.

[LAG4ahealthierme 76]

Thank you all for sharing - What a great thread. Reading your stories gives so much hope and reaffirms to me that I am on the right track. You are amazing!

[enjoythetime 1,457]

I wanted to feel better, look better, be a better person, one who wasn't miserable and negative all the time, to be the person I once was. I knew it was time for me when one day my kids wanted to me play soccer with them and I couldn't run then followed by a dr. appointment when my blood pressure was at stroke range at the age of 34, when I didn't even recognize the person staring back at me in the mirror. I'm only 5'1 so I was wider than I was tall. It was embarrassing that I had let my self get so far gone so when I no longer found joy in anything that's when I knew I had to turn things around and I checked into WLS. I had a lot of support from my family and friends so that was a life saver. I did a ton of research and literally went into my consultation with 2 pages of questions. I didn't leave until they were all answered and even when I left I was on the fence about what I was going to do right up until I got the call saying I was approved. From there the rest was history. I did the surgery and am now 2-years post op and would do it all over again in a heart beat. I have lost 159lbs, went from a size 22 in pants and 3x in shirts to a size 2 in pants and a small shirt but what's more important is what I gained! I gained my life back. I'm able to run and jump and play with my kids and actually keep up, I'm healthy, and I don't look too bad in a pair of 5" heels and skinny jeans either:-) I found the joy I was missing for so many years hiding underneath all of that excess packaging.

[Seabreeze06 7]

Was bypass awful? I don't know why by its so scary to me. I started with wanting the lap and then knew it wasn't for me. My dr seems to think bypass. I was thinking sleeve. I don't know why bypass terrifies me. I want wls. I really do. I guess I don't know tons about it. Idk.

I'm 50 now and I am currently thinking of a revision of my bypass that I got 11 years ago. Mine was done laparoscopically, It truly was not that bad at all, only a few issues cause I was not chewing slowly enough and or long enough and it was too much going into my pouch when I got to a point where I was able to eat solid food. You are doing the right thing by seeking information from others on sights such as this knowledge is power and keep asking questions of your surgeon and even some of his/her patients so they can tell you their experiences as well.

Good Health to you!

[OKCPirate 5,323]

I came back from the Sugar Bowl (the irony kills me) at 305, and had lights flashing in the side of my eye. I was scared it was a stroke. My doc upped my blood pressure meds, my eye doc was an old friend and she just had a great conversation...it was like a warning light on the dashboard. The weight needed to go. After six months of Weight Watchers I heard a pod cast on obesity by accident and they mentioned WW has only 8% success, but WLS 80% - and I called BS. Then I looked it up, found the research by the Cleveland Clinic and realized - dang they are right. So then I found a good place to have it done. With my goofy schedule, I only had one point in time to get it done, last November, so I set up the date and have not looked back. Did my first 5K, and climbed a mountain (http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/346873-once-a-wish-now-done-what-makes-you-proud/). What an amazing transformation.

[geronimo 52]

Christmas 2013 I went home and took care of my dad while he had quadruple bypass and valve replacement surgery. After the surgery, with all the tubes running in and out of him, only a machine keeping his heart pumping, he looked so frail, so deathly, and it scared the heck out of me.

When I was younger, I was always very active and very fit - high school wrestler, soccer, martial arts, etc., etc. Activity level remained high until age 30 when I moved out to Seattle in 1998 to take a computer job. I decided to use the move and change of locale to quit smoking (had been trying for the previous two years, but the move allowed me to break all old habits and I was successful at it). Unfortunately, I swapped addictions, and began binge eating.

I blew out to over 300 pounds, and I've spent the past 15 years as morbidly obese. I have paid $10k+ for multiple weight loss programs, and have spent $1k/month for years on personal trainers, and multiple times I was successful, going from ~300lbs to ~200lbs. I just kept thinking to myself, just as everyone else kept telling me, Keep eating healthy and exercising and it'll eventually come off. But whether it came off or not, it never stayed off.

The funny thing is I still keep thinking of myself as fit, as I was back in high school. A bit of denial, and it was always a huge shock when I saw myself in a photograph (which I rarely allowed) because I was so bloated, with slits for eyes and puffy face, extended stomach beyond my chest, etc. So, I'd do more dieting, and it'd work for awhile.

But with the scare of my dad's surgery, I decided to finally go in for a health check-up (which I had been avoiding), and my blood pressure and cholesterol were through the roof. My doctor was alarmed because he thought I was very high risk for stroke or heart attack. He immediately put me on two blood pressure meds and a cholesterol med. He also sent me for a sleep study because I complained of insomnia, and there it turns out again that my numbers were very off, I had extreme sleep apnia, an additional risk for stroke (so am now on a CPAP machine). There are other issues I face, other meds I take, and based upon my family history of blood pressure, cholesterol, heart, stroke, etc., problems, it finally scared me into researching WLS and starting the process.

I haven't had the procedure yet, am 4-6 weeks out (waiting for insurance company final approval), but I'll be getting the Bypass (through pre-op investigative tests it was discovered I have terrible acid reflux and Barrett's, on the cusp of dysplasia - so, yet another reason to get WLS).

Edited August 3, 2015 by geronimo