Looking for real advice and support

I'm 30 yrs old, been battling my weight my whole life and I'm tired!  I never thought WLS was an option for me but the effects of a lifetime of obesity are rearing their ugly heads.  No I'm not diabetic nor do I have hypertension, but I hurt all over, things are popping and cracking like never before and I stay TIRED.  I just don't feel good and I want to be healthy!  Plus my job is physically demanding and I feel like I start everyday behind.  I'm terrified of altering my anatomy, worried about the potential side effects and shamefully want to always be able to enjoy a good holiday meal with my family!  How do I decide if this is the right thing for me? 

You take the time to understand why you are obese to begin with.  Physical, emotional, spiritual.  How did you get here?  WLS will fix the physical.  The rest is on you and may determine your long term success or failure. 

You research and examine what you want to get from weight loss surgery beyond weight loss.  You can loose weight with any procedure but what else do you need?  Is learning moderation and portion control important to you?  Do you want to continue to eat larger amounts through higher malabsorpton.   Are you willing to accept delayed gratification through  restrictive only procedure?  Do you have issue with irriversable changes to your intestinal tract?  Can you handle the nutritional supplements needed forever?

Research every possible procedure available.  Don't get caught  up in the popularity contests of those that cheer lead for their own preferred procedure while disparaging other procedures.  Know the pros, cons, history of each procedure available.  Understand how each will fit your lifestyle. 

Research every non surgical option available to you.  Know that you have exhausted all non surgical options.  WLS is no joke.  Its hard and its permanant.  This is not something you walk into during a moment of frustration.  

Good luck to you.   

Umm - I'm going to attack this part of your post:

shamefully want to always be able to enjoy a good holiday meal with my family


BIG red flag right there.  You're identifying with food in a way that is unheathly, but it's what we've all done to some extent.  You think the surgery will take away your ability to enjoy being with your family?

Because you won't be able to shovel in plates and plates of food?  Think about that.  Lemme ask you - if you lost your legs - would you be able to enjoy time with them?  If you lost your arms, would you be able to still enjoy being with them?

The holiday meal is not about volume - it's about the atmosphere, the company, the conversation - not whether or not you can suck down enough food to make you comatose.  Living to eat and eating to live are two very different principles - right now, you're in the living to eat mode - food is very important to you, a currency of sorts.  If it's gone, you're asking 'then what?'  The answer is 'then you LIVE'.  It's scary and can be a difficult adjustment - but it's also freedom.

Good luck in your research and consideration of WLS!

In my opinion, if you're still trying to decide if WLS is right for you, then you're not tired enough.  As stated previously, decided what type of weight loss you're looking for and research the various procedures.  Come to terms with the way and reasons you utilize food.  No matter which procedure you choose, you'll need to change your mindset about food.  Are you truly ready to make that commitment?  If there's any hesitation in your answer, you may want to look into non surgical weight loss methods.

Wow don't know what to say It's a very tuff decision to make AND is it right for you I to have been strugglin wit h my wt forever and now after surgery isn't any easier keeping it off is even harder wouldnt trade the wt lost for nothing in the world BUT I am battling right now just to maintain so what ever decsion you make has to be your own pray on it and go for it what ever you decide 

WLS is a huge decision; study & research what has brought you to this point, your options, and how you might change/improve your life by having WLS. Remember that surgery is only one part of the story, you will still have to deal with all the emotional, and other 'stuff'.

Be deliberate in your choice, good luck on your journey.

Enid

If you need help losing weight & keeping it off, surgery is the only thing i've seen that has a great track record of being sucessful.

You've seen people do the yo-yo thing...hell, you probably did it yourself. Dieting & exercise just aint enough once you find yourself 100lbs overweight.

Money and access aint the answer because if that were the case you wouldnt see rich fat people. Hell, Oprah has more money than most and she's been doing the yo-yo thing for decades.

For every 1 person who has been able to drop all the weight and keep it off through diet & exercise alone, there are hundreds of thousands who put it all back on...and then some.

So make your decision based on this: without the surgery, I'd put betting money on you gaining and losing weight in that vicious cycle for the rest of your life. And its not like i'm wishing bad; just the opposite, I pray that things work out for you. Its just that when I bet I play the odds...and the odds are against anyone dropping alotta weight and keeping it off without surgery.