Opinions please

thank you

hi lisa

i had the surgery because i was a fat child. i guess these days they call it childhood obesity. and in all my years up to the point i had surgery i, like many, lost and gained weight time and time again. the most i ever lost was when i weighed close to 300 pounds at 20 and got down to 200. i gained it all back, and more. from there i went on to lose 40-50lbs pounds and gain it back and more many times. until finally i was 460lbs at my surgery date. in all reality however i decided to have wls because i wanted to lose weight, keep it off, and stop fighting a losing battle. i also looked at the hard, cold facts. the real stats. and the odds of someone like myself losing ALL their excess weight and keeping it off are slim and none. people say "you cannot say that, anything is possible." maybe? but stats showed me with this, impossible and improbable but for a very, very few exceptions. i was not to be one of those exceptions, ever. i was to be like the 98 out of 100 give or take that just stayed super obese, obese....wherever that is for the individual. and i did not want to be. i knew even if i woke up "normal weight" by some miracle i'd gain weight again. how did i know this? it was reality. my reality at 460lbs proved it. so i had surgery to lose weight, and most importantly...keep it off!

felt fine after surgery, to answer another question. everything normal, including my sensation of being "full." i just couldn't eat nearly as much as i used to 

no regrets or complications, at all. to answer a couple other questions.

what do i wish i knew before surgery that i didn't before? that hoping, wishing, and praying never took a pound off my body. that "feeling good" is no substitute for losing weight, and the rewards it brings. it doesn't hurt, of course, feeling good. but truly living well, and being well, trumps it by a good margin

i had RNY, you may have different. but no matter. you will find weight loss is weight loss whatever the surgery YOU have  

thank you

First of all, BRAVO on losing that much on your own!  I never saw that success despite my best and craziest efforts. 

Know that statistically you stand a 97% chance of regaining what you've lost, so don't beat yourself up over it if you experience regain after all of your hard work.

WLS should always be considered a last resort, so if you don't feel you've reached that yet, then keep on truckin.  You may very well be part of that 3% of long-term success.

Thank you 

Super awesome weight loss so far!  Congrats!  

You're welcome to read my blog which is linked in my signature - I've been keeping an almost daily diary since I started this process over a year ago.  

I decided to go for surgery since I knew that I was fighting a losing battle without it.  I didn't even feel compelled to diet (as so many people here did before WLS) because I knew the failure statistics, so why even bother?  But I needed to change.  I was tired of being uncomfortable in so many situations.  My parents are getting older and having more health issues of their own due to health and I want to be around to take care of them.  So surgery it was.  

Right after surgery I felt tired and sore for about 2 weeks.  Things started getting better quickly and I had a very easy recovery.  

I had a complication at 3 months out.  For some unknown reason my restriction kicked into high gear and I could barely eat an ounce without throwing up.  My surgeon put me on an antispasmodic for 10 days and reverted me back to liquids and everything was great a week later.  Total fluke that is now almost forgotten at 10 months post-op.  

There's nothing I wish I had known.  I did a TON of research pre-op and felt very prepared before and after.  

I have zero regrets.  I've lost almost 130 pounds since I started my lifestyle change in Jan 2014 and I feel like I can conquer the world. :D  

Thank You