20 Years old and Morbidly Obese , any advice ?

Hey hope everyone is having a great day ! I want to come on here and just get some honest help and advice hopefully .

To give you a brief summary about me , I do suffer from obesity and have a major weight problem. I can safely say that a majority of my weight gain has been within a period of 2 years. From the age of 18 - 20 years old I have managed to put on a whopping 80 pounds . May of 2018 I weighed in at 305 pounds and since then have lost around 15 pounds which puts me at 288. I have struggled with gaining a mass amount and loosing for a while. This time I feel like it has been a tougher time for me because I actually hit 300 pounds and that was a weight I told myself I would never reach. I do not suffer from binge eating disorder because I never sit and just eat a mass amount of food . I believe I make poor decisions on what I eat overall. Looking back at how I ate food , I could have easily been consuming 4,000 calories a day . Now I consume 1,700 -2,000 calories a day which keeps me satisfied . I do light exercise and occasionally go to the gym during the week. ( no set plan , just come and go when i have time). I have been following this for about 2 months now ( besides last week i went on vacation and ate whatever i wanted.

I feel like I will become 600 pounds by the time i turn 30 because when i look at my weight history it shows i loose 20 pounds , but gain 40 more within the next 6 months . I spoke with my doctor and got blood work done . I am 100% healthy and my thyroid and hormonal levels are amazing , so it must not be anything medically wrong with me . He also brought up the discussion of considering weight loss surgery because I do technically fall under the requirements having a BMI of 44 being only 20 and suffering from asthma , depression and loosing my period completely because of my obesity .

I just want this to be the last time I go on a weight loss journey and fail at it because deep down inside i think i might not bounce back if im so far gone

Your in the right place and we are here for you! I have been where you are and have done all the same things. In my opinion you should have the surgery! It is a great tool to help you. It is not the answer because after you lose the weight you still have a lot of work to do. Also, therapy would be really helpful. I know no one wants to do it but it really does help. We all have weight issues for different reasons but there is always a reason. If you need anything feel free to ask there are lots of people who have been there with great advice. Use myfitnesspal and track everything that goes in your mouth. I think you should look at your surgery options and research them and do it! Good luck!

I think that considering weight loss surgery at such a young age can be both brave and naive at the same time. It will not be an easy fix, nor will it guarantee that you will not gain it all back in the future plus more if you don't first change your habits completely regardless.

most insurance plans and bariatric centers will require you to complete at least 6 months of physician directed diet/weight loss plan before they will approve you for surgery anyway--and this is mostly to prepare you and teach you how to make better choices after you have the surgery.

I have been MO most of my life, since I was a young child and I wished every day of my life for a solution...I hear all the time from WLS patients that their only regret was not doing it sooner...but even if they could've had the surgery younger- doesn't necessarily mean they would've been as successful.

I am by no means trying to discourage you from surgery...but just advising you to do lots of research!
you are young enough that you have plenty of time to prepare and make the most informed decision you can before you go into something that will change your life forever.

I believe that I could never have been successful after surgery if I had not tried several "diets" on my own, with varying degrees of success, just so I had a frame of reference to what it would be like to give up things or restrict myself mentally even more so than physically...and I know that reading tons of materials, blogs, watching videos and testimonials and coming here to OH has helped to prepare me for what to expect realistically, and that it's not a magic solution like I (and so many other non-WLS people) may have thought previously.

If you are ready to make this decision then I suggest you attend a WLS Seminar in your area to start--get a real introduction to the procedures and your options, and perhaps see a nutritionist to start. The visits will count toward any future appointments you may need to satisfy your insurance requirements anyway.

I know at age 20 I was nowhere near prepared or mature enough to make the changes that I needed to make after WLS but every person is different. would I have liked to lose the weight much earlier? of course...but I know I'd have ended up putting it back on without the things I've learned over the years.

I am only 5 1/2 months post op and I am still far from my goal weight, and I can't say what the future will bring, but I am fully aware of the sacrifices and the hard work I am up against for the rest of my life. I will always battle with food addiction but I am prepared to fight.

Welcome to OH

Congratulations on taking control of your life and your weight loss journey.

I think I just read my life bio.... and I am old enough to be your Nana All of us understand what you are feeling and going through. This will be one of the hardest and rewarding accomplishments of your life. The one factor that will determine if you stay on the merry go round of losing and gaining and get off for life is if you tackle and deal with your head issues. There is a reason we all eat the way we do and get to 200, 300, 400 and more pounds. We say we love food, we say food is our best friend and will never leave us, hurt us or let us down, but our best friend is killing us. I am glad your labs are good "for now" but that is because you are only 20. Once I turned 40 my body said PAY BACK TIME..... I was told if I didn't lose the weight I would be dead in 5 years. You don't want to hear those words when you older.

If it's an option try and go to counseling. Someone that has experience with weight related issues. Start writing down every time you want to eat what you feel, what just happened in your life and you will start to see a pattern. My 2 biggies was stress from work and eating while watching TV.

Once you identify why and what is making you eat then you can start, slowly to make changes. Make sure if you decide to go through with weight loss surgery, your surgeon has a detailed pre-op and post-op program. They will help you with what I just mentioned above.

We suggest you research all your options for WLS and OH is the right place for that.

Once you have reviewed your options surgery wise and decided on one, then your next step is to find a surgeon. We can help you with that. Here are some links that will be helpful in your research.

• ROUX-EN-Y GASTRIC BYPASS INFORMATION
• About Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass
• Risks and Rewards of Bariatric Surgery
• Nutritional Guideline after Gastric Bypass
• Life After Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass
• Choosing a Bariatric Surgery Center
• FAQ
• Feature Article
• Forum Contributors

• VERTICAL SLEEVE GASTRECTOMY INFORMATION
• About Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy
• Advantages and Disadvantages
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Forum Contributors
• DUODENAL SWITCH INFORMATION
• About Duodenal Switch
• Risks and Complications of Duodenal Switch
• Duodenal Switch Diet and Nutrition
• Duodenal Switch Revisions
• Duodenal Switch Insurance Coverage
• Duodenal Switch Forum Contributors

If you have not done so, contact your insurance company and verify if they cover WLS and if so what procedures and if there are any pre-op qualifications you have to meet.

We are here for you

Regards,

Kathy

Member Services

Hello and welcome! I'm so glad you've come here, I know it can be really hard to admit that you might need additional help losing weight and keeping it off at such a young age. I'm 24, and when I thought about surgery I felt like such a failure. I thought surgery was for people who were older, with health issues and a slower metabolism. Either that or who where my heavier than myself. Why should I get surgery? I'm young and "healthy", I've lost weight before, I just need to pull up my booth straps and do it myself!

No lol

I was doing the exact same thing as you, lose a little then gain twice as much. My weight had been steadily rising for the past 4 years and I had tried diet after diet, and I just couldn't do it this time! I found this site and started reading the articles and what kind of scared me was that EVERYONE had the same backstory as you and I. We all could lose some weight but would gain it back plus some, the only difference was that most of these people did it for decades. I got the surgery now because I didn't want to keep living my life that way, as I'm sure I would've, and not have a chance to be young and healthy and sexy (I'm vain)!

I think you should do a lot of research, because not everyone is willing to give up what is necessary after surgery, and choosing which surgery is right for you is also a huge task.

Best of luck! I hope you find the answers you're looking for.

Welcome to OH. You seem at the very least to be at the research phase. I highly suggest you pay attention to the boards, research the VSG thoroughly, and really do some soul searching as to if this is right for you. The VSG will not do it all. You have to be ready and willing, otherwise you could potentially have major surgery for nothing.

I wish VSG had been an option for me in my 20?s, and you will hear from many people that they wish they could have done this sooner.

Awesome, awesome surgery, but it?s half willpower, half surgical tool.

Best of luck to you!