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

I would tell my younger self ( in high school I'd already dieted ridiculously then binged and purged addictively and still .. despite daily rigorous multiple hour workouts and throwing up " everything " I ate .. daily hated my apple-shaped slightly overweight tall and strong body . )

that OBVIOUSLY I was slightly different than other pretty regularly developing grrlz... that there might be a very real and serious physical problem causing the insatiable constant irresistible hunger.

I would tell myself I DESERVED to see doctors to solve it not just be told by ignoramuses and my unsympathetic athletic family that overeating was a moral defect caused by my inability to control my appetites.

Wow. Powerful. Thanks.

Don't date that jackass!!!

That is what I would say to 16 year old me. The bad relationship with food started there. It was a time I was wearing a size 4, danced and was in awesome shape. Dated a jackass who for whatever reason was obsessed about my weight. His words to me when he went to college, "Don't get fat while I'm gone". So the nature of becoming a woman is to gain curves, right. This ass in ass clothing for Christmas purchased clothing so he could measure and make sure I didn't gain weight.

It took yearsssss to get over that crap storm but I did. Still wouldn't pee on him if he was on fire though. And with all the water I drink now I can muster up a good amount to put him out, but I won't.

My 16yo self?

I'd tell her that she will make the right decisions about things, no matter how hard they are at the moment...that one day you will have 2 beautiful kids, so your decision in the next year is OK....

I'd also tell her that she needs to start paying attention to the 10 pounds... 20 pounds... 30 pounds she's gaining in her 20's... that living in denial isn't going to make it go away... and that when she's 35, and she judges her sister in law for having WLS, she might want to rethink that ****

But mostly, I wouldn't change anything... I can't, because every bit of it brought me to where I am now.

I would say do it now, don't wait until your body starts to fail...but that being said I had to go through what I did physically and mentally to be successful. So as Gwen said trust it will work out

Mental health comes first.

I went on antidepressants in high school and gained 50lb, which is one of the reasons I stopped taking them when I went off to college. That was a Bad Move in too many ways to count, most of which I didn't see until years later.

Sanity first, weight later.

I would tell my younger self to STOP TRYING TO FIT IN!!!! Be independent, speak up, think for yourself, march to the beat of your own drum, wear what you want, listen to that music that no one else likes, keep playing the clarinet...it's not nerdy. Trying constantly to fit in will not work for you, be yourself...that is what I would say to my 13 year old self.

I think I would go back and tell my 16 year old self that I was NOT fat at 140 pounds and to stop beating myself up about my weight. I firmly believe that if I had had a good self-image then that I would not have let my weight spiral out of control when I was older. That being said, I also do not believe in regrets. Life is good and I have made peace with my old self.

AMEN SISTA!!!

I would tell her that she's not defective and that she's not unlovable. That she has an injury to her soul that needs to heal. That the cloak of invisibility (fat) is not only keeping people out but keeping the injury from healing. I would tell her she doesn't need to hide her intelligence. And that being in introvert is not a bad thing. I would tell her that when people pick at her that they are not trying to fix something broken in her but to hide something broken in them.