New here! Wanting to start

Hi all,

I found this forum yesterday after researching wls for the past week. I've struggled with my weight my entire life. I literally remember the first time I realized I was overweight, I was 8 years old. Since then I've tried dieting many, many times. Over the past few years I feel like I completely gave up on myself physically. I quit trying to lose weight and naturally I have gained. I'm up to my highest weight ever of 262. I have PCOS, pre diabetes, elevated blood pressure and just feel terrible. I'm only 31 years old. Tuesday I see a PCP for the first time in years to get my health under control. I was not going to ask about wls but now I'm considering it. This isn't the first time I've thought about wls, but i got pregnant and life happened. I just kept thinking one day things would click with me and I would lose weight. I can see that's probably not going to happen without some type of help, wls or not. Besides I worry about my health deteriorating and I can't keep waiting for something to "click". Can anyone relate? How did you get started?

Welcome! I got started on this journey twice. First time was 5 years prior to my actual surgery. I mulled it over in my mind and decided to see a surgeon. I went in inquiring about lap band and he preferred RNY, so I didn't like that we didn't see eye to eye and I dropped it. Thankfully, he knew was he was talking about in regards to lap band.

After seeing my sister and niece get lapbad/VSG, I learned more firsthand about the efforts, challenges, pitfalls etc. A postcard came from the same hospital I consulted with Years ago, only there was a new surgeon. I decided to check it out. I'd just had my thyroid removed and was feeling especially discouraged in my ability to maintain of even lose weight. the rest is history.

I'll say something will have to 'click' for this surgery to work long term. Surgery only does part of the work, you do the rest.

I kept thinking I would lose the weight, too, and there were times when I lost 50 or 60 lbs - only to hit a brick wall and have it all gradually come back - and then some. This went on for decades. I finally decided I could not do this on my own, and surgery was my only answer. I was in my mid-50's when I finally bit the bullet and had it done. All I can say is, I wish I had made this decision years ago. It's sad I wasted so many years sitting on the sidelines.

that said, I do think you have to be in the right frame of mind to do it. The surgery will only take you so far - you need to put in a lot of work to get where you want to go. I'm not sure if I would have been as successful with it if I'd done it 10 or 20 years ago. Sure, I would have lost weight, but not being totally committed to working my butt off to lose all that weight, I would have most likely ended up at a much higher weight than I eventually did (I've lost all of my excess weight).

Good luck with your decision. I think you'll find the vast majority of us are really glad we did it, and would do it again in a heart beat.

I can't tell you how many years I said to myself if I don't get some serious weight off this year I'll do something drastic like surgery. I ended up with an autoimmune disease and my rheumatologist said the surgery might help with it (some, not a cure) and i decided to go for it .My only regret now is that i didn't do it years ago .There's no way to know if I'd have gotten the autoimmune if I'd lost the weight before it started, but it's what i have now and my health is much better.

I also suffered from childhood obesity. I have pics dating back to 4 years old.

I'm also like you in that I was fed up with my health problems (mostly pain and mobility issues). I went to my PCP, and he put in the referral. I had to take 3 classes, go to 2 seminars, 6 months 1:1 nutrition education, pre-op testing such as labs, upper GI, chest X-ray, EKG, and Endo had to clear me due to thyroid issues. After all of that, I met the surgeon. You'll find each insurance works a little different.

It's been an extremely positive experience for me so far. I'm slowly getting my life back. I'm walking everday, doing squats, the plank challenge, and today I did a hip-hop inspired aerobics video with my hubs. It was quite hilarious. I couldn't have done a 1/4 of that 3 months ago.

Wishing you the best in your decision making process and welcome to the boards!

Off topic... my daughter (14) name is Shannon .. I love it and where I live you rarely hear it!!:) congrats on how wonderful you are doing Shannon!!

Thank you so much! The struggle is real!!! I've noticed my name is not as popular as it once was. I've always liked it too!

Hi! I don't have a lot of advice to offer, but I'm brand new on this journey, too! I've also been overweight all my since, at least since puberty, but never really tried dieting. I tried exercise, in moderate amounts, but that's it. I just started following a vaguely Mediterranean diet of 1200 calories per day three weeks ago and am thinking strongly about getting the VSG (vertical sleeve gastrectomy) down the road. I'm Canadian, so it will naturally be a long wait and I'm just trying to get myself used to eating significantly less first and to changing my lifestyle in a permanent and lasting way, getting my head around all of that, etc. So far it's going pretty well! I've discovered that my willpower is a lot stronger than I ever imagined it might be, and I've lost 15 lbs. I feel better - less fatigued, less back and knee pain, I've gone down three belt notches, and I'm actually enjoying cooking more. I think you're really smart to be posting here and making connections. We all need support! This is such a huge thing to be doing. I wish you all the very best on your journey!

One of the first things you'll need to do to get started is call your insurance company to figure out what their coverage for WLS is. Most companies have a list of requirements, including health/weight history, pre-surgery testing, supervised diet, etc. It'll often take several months to take care of all of these before you can schedule a surgery date.

Once you get the name of an in-network doctor, check out a seminar put on by the WLS clinic. Most of them offer these once or twice a month. You can meet the surgeon, ask questions, and set up an initial appointment to start wading through your list of requirements.

Good luck!

I can relate with you in that Ive been big since childhood. It was when I became chronically ill with a rare neurological disorder that causes severe pain and blindness, that I got serious about my health. The dr said getting my weight down would help my symptoms so I got to losing weight. My highest weight was 535lbs and Ive lost down to 420lbs on my own. My pain is gone down a lot and my vision loss has improved greatly! Now Im about to have RNY in 2 weeks and Im so excited! Im hoping this will get my health back. For me getting sick is my biggest motivation for doing this surgery. It might help you to stay super focused on what your motivations are.