gaining weight and desperate

I don't know if I'm a candidate for wls or not. I'm not considered "morbidly obese". I was a few years ago, went through a divorce, was given amphetamines and lost weight. I've been a compulsive overeater all my life and it was only a matter of time before I put the weight back on. Now, I'm staring 200 lbs in the face again and don't want to have to hit my alltime high before doing something. Does anybody know of a surgeon who will help me? Most of them tell me I'm not "obese enough", yet I can't believe I have to risk my health and my life by gaining all the weight back first! I'm desperate and thank you for any help you can provide.

What is your current BMI? Do you have any co-morbidities: Diabetes, high BP, sleep apnea, etc? If you are looking for insurance to pay, then usually it is BMI 35 and a co-morbidity or two. If you are looking to pay yourself, you can try looking around or I have heard Mexico does the lapband pretty cheaply.

I know you're not going to like what I have to say but it's the truth and I hope you can take it in the spirit in which it's intended. I have no desire to flame you or dampen your spirits. That said, you need to understand something right now. WLS is your last resort -- and SHOULD be. You are not in "last resort" phase. You have already identified you're problem. You've been an overeater your whole life.. you see yourself heading down a path towards self-destruction.. but you'd rather have surgery than deal with your issues. Here's the first of the bad news. WLS does not cure your specific problem. Overeating is only put on hold temporarily by WLS. You CAN overcome the benefits and effects of your surgery... by eating poorly. If you're aware of the problem, you need to deal with it *exactly the same way as each and every one of us who DID get to "last resort" phase have to every day of our lives as a post-op.* WLS is not a magic balm. It doesn't deal with your food issues.. you still feel lonely and want to eat. You still want to eat something JUST because it tastes good. You still battle the very same demons every single day. You can still reach 500# after bariatric surgery. The second of the bad news -- and well, it's really NOT bad news at all if you choose to think about it this way -- is that you don't qualify for surgery. You should be CELEBRATING that fact. You have a chance to save yourself from this. Don't get me wrong. I don't regret my surgery one iota -- this was my last chance at a normal life and I would have done it sooner had I been brave enough... but I learned on the other side of surgery that the ONLY way to maintain a healthy body is by eating right and exercising. Bariatric surgery is a tool and ONLY a tool. Used properly, it will serve you for the rest of your life.. but that means you still have to go through the fire. You STILL have to battle your demons and be victorious.. and you'll battle them over and over again -- they never completely go away. If you go through the fire now, you won't need surgery EVER. Learn from us. Take the lessons we're learning every day because we have no other choice and apply them to yourself NOW when it will make the biggest difference in YOUR life. The third of the bad news -- and again, it's really not bad news -- is THANK GOD you haven't found a doctor who will operate on you!!! That tells us all there are still ethics in this world. That tells us ALL that most doctors who perform this surgery DO take our lives and well-being into consideration before they take US under the knife. It's not about vanity -- this isn't something you pop into an outpatient plastics clinic for. This is SERIOUS. This is life threatening and life altering major thoracic surgery. This is about saving your life, not about preventing you from getting fatter. That part is up to you.. and guess what.. post-operatively it's STILL up to you.. I struggle with it every day. Thank your lucky stars. Stef

Stef ... I could not have said that better myself. People CAN and DO gain after surgery. This will be a battle all our lives. The surgery is a tool that will give us probably about a year to develop new, good lifestyle habits (eating/exercising), this is not "cosmetic". Plus, nowadays, most insurance requires a 6-12 month medically supervised diet and some with at least 5 years of documented morbid obesity. Perhaps starting with a nutritionist and therapist before even contemplating surgery would be an option to start with. It took me 5 years to DECIDE to have surgery. I have no regrets, but then again, my BMI was 53.1, and I weighed almost 350. At age 41, this WAS my last resort. Thanks for the eloquent words Stef.