just my opinion but...

        I am new this board, been for a few weeks now . I have a comment and I dont want to offend anyone.. so please accept my apology if I do ... This site is wonderful, I was reading post about the WLS.. and some people are VERY VERY addicted to looking THIN.. I mean I understand loosing weight and getting your health in good condition but some people here are just taking it extremes.. I just dont understand this whole WLS>. maybe I am just NOT getting it but I think if you are NOT morbidly obese why have the WLS? I mean ... if you are NOT 75-100 lbs over weight? why not try diet and exercise first? WLS is serious and seems to me very very dangerous thing to go threw? I am not making sense.. BUT some woman on here are under 200 when they have WLS and now they are down to their goal weight and STILL think they are BIG, HUGE .. COME one sisters.. I have have lost 50lbs I would be so satisfied .. and happy.. I am sorry if I offended anyone.. FORGIVE ME.. Just dont understand ? rhonda

It's a mystery to me too, Rhonda. Keep in mind, I plan to have WLS, and started at 368 pounds. At 5'5", that's super morbidly obese- and more importantly, that's where I started to feel like hell every day. I am ONLY having it now because I have been convinced by a series of medical professionals that on my own, even if I can lose down to a weight that will lessen my co-morbidities (and the statistics aren't with me on that!) it will take a much longer time--- and that's time that I may not have, for medical reasons. I've never been thin. I do not give a rat's ass about thinness. I don't have old wedding photos of me as a slender lass, or any old designer jeans I want to fit back into. I was a good lookin' gal at 360 pounds ****il I became ill) and I expect I won't be too hard on the eyes at 200 pounds, either-- if you can get past the skin piles. But the fact is, even if it made me hideously ugly, I'd have to do this. My body simply just can't take anymore.  "Diet" and "exercise" are daunting to people because they sound like "deprivation". People don't do well when they think they are missing out on pleasurable things. I'm lucky that I have found a way to keep the pleasurable things and still lose mass over time-- I didn't know it was possible, myself. WLS is major invasive surgery that permanently alters your body's way of processing and absorbing food. It's VERY serious business. I wish people would think of it that way, too.-- but it's not being *marketed* that way. The LapBand commercials make it sound like a dental visit-- you come in, the slip a ring around your stomach, and you get a new life! It's unfortunate, because by doing this, they will be attracting a host of people to have these surgery who are not prepared to be compliant post-operatively...but hey...then they can get you to have revi$ion$!

Hi Rhonda!!! A person can't get wls (anywhere i am aware of) unless they are 40 bmi or 35 bmi with co-morbidities. I tried! I was at 37 bmi, with borderline blood pressure and asthma. My take-away point is that once in a while, a person who has a 35 bmi with diabetes should look into wls. That condition does make it 5x harder to get to normal. Depending on whose weight charts you like, I was a good 75-90 pounds overweight and only 12# from qualifying (getting to 40 bmi)...I *could have* gained that weight toot suite, but elected not to do that.  You bring up one of the "real problems" - a bad body image. Not hard to develop in this society. Plus sized models have to be over a size 10???? WTF? And NEWSFLASH: there are not a lot of jobs for models over size 14.  Not many of us are EVER....EVER going to be under a size 14-16. Not if we stand on our heads and starve ourselves silly. There are growing bodies of evidence that any given body will fight tooth and nail to stay within genetically-driven ranges.

http://www.obesityhelp.com/photos/uzone,photos/action,galler y/albumId,13291/curPhoto,52586/ This is me-- before I got sick-- at 345 pounds. I don't give a crap what Vogue tells me--- this is not an ugly girl. We have to get past the notion that fat is ugly! Some people want to demonize their fat and hate it so they can get rid of it....I prefer to love myself at any weight, so that I will be motivated to do what's best for me. Works better!

Kriz and I had a conversation along the way about what sexy is.  The guys I am very attracted to are NOT the Vogue concept.  I like 'em tall, skinny.  I like 'em broad as a wall, too.  What "gets me" is *that* look in his face, the one that says "i am FUN, I live in this moment, I am into you." Trust me...I have (ahem) been around and real men just love women, any size, who want to have fun, who are not self-centered.  Having said that, i personally would lose respect for a person who did not *try* to be healthy. I look for people as my friends and lovers to love themselves enough to develop good habits:  eating healthier, discovering/discussing latest research about health, MOVING around.  I can't get next to or stay next to anyone who will not do the minimum.

FYI - i emailed with a surgeon in OH who does lapband on people with BMI 30. i have in some of my more desparate moments, thought about gaining some weight to qualify for him...i feel like lapband, not to be taken lightly of course, could be a good preventative tool for people who have been successful at losing weight, but that's just my opinion.

I didn't even know you could get WLS if you were not extremely overweight?

 ALL I CAN SAY TO ALL THAT RESPONDED TO ME.. AMEN!!!! JUST CAUSE YOU ARE FAT.. OR OVER WEIGHT DOESNT MEAN YOU ARE UGLY AND ... IF YOU ARE OVER AT SIZE 10 YOU ARE CONSIDERED A PLUS SIZE GIRL.. WTF IS THAT? GEESH .. 10 IS SKINNY TO ME LOL . WHEN I GOT MARRIED BACK IN 1991 I WAS IN A SIZE 12.. I ONLY HAD ONE CHILD AND IM IN A SIZE 22 NOW.. I AM TOLD BY DOCTORS THAT I AM MORBIDLY OBESE. I WEAR 266... I HAVE LOST 21 LBS SO FAR.. IN THAT PROCESS I LOST THE POTASSIUM IN MY BODY AND MY  FACE WENT KNUMB, MY B/P DROPPED TO 60/80... I WOULDNT DO ANYTHING .. MY DO CTOR HAD ME ON BUMEX WATER PILLS AND TOLD ME TO DRINK WATER TONS OF IT.. I DRANK IT SO MUCH ALMOST KILLED MYSELF WITH THE WATER PILLS.. I AM NOW FACING A TOTAL HYSTERECTOMY ON JUNE 21.07. I WAS TOLD TO STOP DIETING AND GET MY BODY AND BLOOD BACK IN SHAPE.. SO I HAVE BEEN .. SO AFTER THE SURGERY .. THE DIET AND EXERCISE IS BACK ON...            MY COUSIN HAD WLS AND SHE LOST OVER 150LBS.. SHE FIRST HAD A BREAST REDUCTION ,, THEN WLS.. SHE LOST ALL OF THE WEIGHT.. GOT A ATTITUDE AND LEFT HER HUSBAND AND COMPLETELY GOT TO BE A MISS ATTITUDE..           I READ ALL OF THE POST ON HERE AND I THINK SOME WOMAN R EALLY REALLY NEED THIS SURGERY AND IT GR EAT THAT THEY ARE GETTING IT FOR A BETTER SELF.. AND OTHER THAT HAVE HAD IT, AND STILL FEEL LIKE THEY ARE BIG.. AT 150LBS.. JUST REMEMBER THE PEOPLE OUT HERE FIGHTING FOR WLS AND BE HAPPY YOU GOT YOURS..  I DONT MEAN TO OFFEND ANYONE  AND I AM SORRY IF I DID.. RHONDA

oops disregard the last post. didnt realize it was answered

Unfortunately it is not up to us to understand the struggles of another, though we can empathize. When I started I had 170 lbs to lose and I would sit in my weigh****chers meetings and see people reach goal after only having 20 lbs to lose and I would think -whatever- try being in my shoes. But to them, those 20 lbs were just as hard to lose as my 170 lbs. People deal with weight issues in different ways, but if you have weight issues, whether they are mental or truly physical, you know how difficult it is to live in your own skin never being happy with the way you look. Regardless of whether or not you think it is appropriate, keep in mind that they are struggling with their body image and they are looking for help. Everyone's outcome will be different, but their struggle is the same.