What one piece of advice about weight or bariatric surgery would you give to your younger self?

If you could sit on a bench with your younger self and give one piece of advice about weight or bariatric surgery, what would it be?

If I could sit with my 16 year old self, I would tell her that there was going to come a time when her anorexic eating would no longer work. Her hunger would come back full force and she would not be able to control it. I would tell her that eventually she will resort to bulimia and her life would become out of control in ways that she could not even now imagine. I would describe to her the hell on earth that it would become, so that she understood the gravity of her situation. Then I would tell her that it is critical she tell her parents to get her really good professional help for her eating disorder right away.

If I could sit with a high school me I would tell her one simple thing.. a cold hard truth... if you continue to eat obsessively you will be 37 yrs old, weight 340 pounds and have a Dr have tell you that you are super morbidly obese and will not be alive to watch your two most precious gifts graduate high school. I would like to think that would make me see things different. Reality is I will never know and at this point THIS is my journey and I have accepted it and embraced it. Old me .... well I don't even recognize her.

I would probably just tell my younger self to trust in herself because it will all work out okay in the end. Whenever I catch myself thinking, "I wish I would have done [some thing] differently" the thought of "but then [some other thing] might not have happened and that would be horrible."

So, yeah. I definitely did things that were suboptimal, but even those suboptimal choices have brought me to where I am today and I wouldn't give that up for anything.

You are very wise, Gwen. Thank you for sharing and giving us all something to think about. I don't believe in having regrets... that doesn't mean that I do not feel the very painful effects of my decisions... oh, I have hurt myself and others deeply and for that I am truly sorry... but accepting myself and my mistakes and using them as opportunities to learn and grow, making amends where I am able, and striving to never repeat those mistakes is something that Adult Cheryl has come to understand.

I live my life by this mantra.

I try to really really not ever regret anything I've done in the past, because it brought me to where I am now, and more importantly, WHO I am now...

Exactly! And, when you get right down to it, it's not like you can change anything, so why live your life mired down in regret? I'd rather be productive.

I would say go get therapy/seek help with support groups, you're eating out of emotion & you need to stop b4 it starts to slowly kill you physically & mentally.

I write letters to the future and now have five years worth that I can look back on. I use a site called futureme.

You write a letter to a future date and on that date you get an email telling you to read your letter. I write the first of every year, on my birthday and if something special comes up. Then a year or so later I read what I wrote and see how things worked out.

It is fun to see what I worried about, what I hoped for, what was good and what was disappointing. Can't recommend the site highly enough.

That is awesome. Thanks for sharing. I will check it out! Good info!

I'd sit down with young me on the day of high school graduation and say this: "Remember how you used to weigh 50 lbs heavier? If you're not extremely careful, it's going to come back with lots of friends. Don't give in to fast food and late night eating."

To 32 year old me: "Don't chicken out of bariatric surgery. You need this, and waiting 7 more years isn't going to make a difference, except to give you 7 more years of a lower quality of life. Get it done and get healthy!"