New and Interested
Hello, I have been interested in WLS for a few years but have just recently started researching it more and more. I am 20 years old, going to turn 21 soon and I have been battling with my weight for as long as I can remember.
I am 5'9" and weigh 293lbs, that's even hard for me to type. I don't have any co-morbidities as of yet and would love to lose the weight before I develop any. I've read about women who grow tired of hearing "you have such a pretty face, if only you lost the weight", well I've heard that line my entire life. I have tried to lose weight, I've worked out, done the diets, everything, but anything I lose I soon gain back plus some. I feel the WLS will be a tool to help me stay on the right track.
I discussed this surgery with my mom and she supports it as long as I do my research and discover which method is the right one for me. She just wants me to be happy, and I want to be happy.
If anyone would like to share their story or give advice please do so. I am here to learn. Thank you.
Mary
Hey Mary 
I'm Laura. I'm also 20 years old...and the minute I read your post and saw the line about the "you have such a pretty face" I knew I had to respond because well, yeah like a lot of people here, I got sick of hearing it. I remember my pediatrician always saying it to me, my grandmother, my mom, even the guy I used for my pysch consult for surgery...ugh.
I've been overweight since about 13 years old...damn puberty. I remember sitting at dinner with my family (who are all thin) and just feeling my mother's eyes on me as she watched everything I put into my mouth. If I reached for another helping, she would cough loudly, or nudge me, or say something...even in front of people. It was the most humiliating thing ever. When i was 15 I tried my first serious diet--my mom took me to weigh****chers. It was hard for me...me a 15 year old sitting in a room of 40 year olds. Needless to say, I lost about 15 pounds and then it stopped working because I was able to cheat on it. A year later, my mom signed me up for a personal trainer...I hated it and quit. A year after that I tried atkins...lost 20 pounds but then started college and missed pizza and bread and pasta. At the end of my freshman year, having started at 190 pounds, I put on the freshman like 30 for me. Then I was taken to a nutritionist. I again lost 15 pounds but couldnt keep it up...it was too easy to cheat. So as my first semester of my sophomore year of this year ended, I was depressed about my weight, and because of that ended up weighing in at 245 pounds. I was depressed, never wanted to go out with my skinny friends, never wanted to go out anywhere, even to class. I was a mess.
So in December of this past year, I went to my first weight loss seminar to learn about getting the Lap Band. By January I had my psych appointment, my physical done. February I met with the surgeon, she Okay'd me, and I had my blood work done, and then BAM...March 4th was surgery.
Let me first tell you about why I decided to have the lap band. First off, it's seemed SO much safer to me than getting a bypass. Theres no cutting or re-routing of organs. So when I eat food, I absorb all of the nutrients and won't suffer malnutrition or have to take special vitamins the rest of my life like some bypass patients. Once you get the band, you go in for fills which basically tightens the band around your stomach giving you more restriction. So that means if there's ever a time when I feel I can eat too much or I'm not losing weight...I go in for a fill and I can start losing again. Also, because I'm 20 years old, I definitely want to have kids some day. So with the band, I'm able to go in for an unfill which will allow me to eat more food for a healthier pregnancy (which bypass patients cant do). The downside is, yes with the band we lose slower. However, this is a good thing I think. If we don't want to tell people we had surgery, then with the gradual weightloss you can just tell them you're eating less..which is totally true. We're young so extra skin isnt that big of a problem as it is for older people, but because we lose slow we have a much higher chance the skin will just bounce back.
I'm almost 4 months out from surgery. I was 240 the day I went to my surgeon's office. I was 230 the day of surgery after the 2 week liquid diet. Today I am around 184. I think that's pretty decent, heh.
Anyway Mary, sorry I rambled...just wanted to share some info with you. Please, if you have any questions I'm definitely okay with answering them. Good luck!
Laura
I'm Laura. I'm also 20 years old...and the minute I read your post and saw the line about the "you have such a pretty face" I knew I had to respond because well, yeah like a lot of people here, I got sick of hearing it. I remember my pediatrician always saying it to me, my grandmother, my mom, even the guy I used for my pysch consult for surgery...ugh.
I've been overweight since about 13 years old...damn puberty. I remember sitting at dinner with my family (who are all thin) and just feeling my mother's eyes on me as she watched everything I put into my mouth. If I reached for another helping, she would cough loudly, or nudge me, or say something...even in front of people. It was the most humiliating thing ever. When i was 15 I tried my first serious diet--my mom took me to weigh****chers. It was hard for me...me a 15 year old sitting in a room of 40 year olds. Needless to say, I lost about 15 pounds and then it stopped working because I was able to cheat on it. A year later, my mom signed me up for a personal trainer...I hated it and quit. A year after that I tried atkins...lost 20 pounds but then started college and missed pizza and bread and pasta. At the end of my freshman year, having started at 190 pounds, I put on the freshman like 30 for me. Then I was taken to a nutritionist. I again lost 15 pounds but couldnt keep it up...it was too easy to cheat. So as my first semester of my sophomore year of this year ended, I was depressed about my weight, and because of that ended up weighing in at 245 pounds. I was depressed, never wanted to go out with my skinny friends, never wanted to go out anywhere, even to class. I was a mess.
So in December of this past year, I went to my first weight loss seminar to learn about getting the Lap Band. By January I had my psych appointment, my physical done. February I met with the surgeon, she Okay'd me, and I had my blood work done, and then BAM...March 4th was surgery.
Let me first tell you about why I decided to have the lap band. First off, it's seemed SO much safer to me than getting a bypass. Theres no cutting or re-routing of organs. So when I eat food, I absorb all of the nutrients and won't suffer malnutrition or have to take special vitamins the rest of my life like some bypass patients. Once you get the band, you go in for fills which basically tightens the band around your stomach giving you more restriction. So that means if there's ever a time when I feel I can eat too much or I'm not losing weight...I go in for a fill and I can start losing again. Also, because I'm 20 years old, I definitely want to have kids some day. So with the band, I'm able to go in for an unfill which will allow me to eat more food for a healthier pregnancy (which bypass patients cant do). The downside is, yes with the band we lose slower. However, this is a good thing I think. If we don't want to tell people we had surgery, then with the gradual weightloss you can just tell them you're eating less..which is totally true. We're young so extra skin isnt that big of a problem as it is for older people, but because we lose slow we have a much higher chance the skin will just bounce back.
I'm almost 4 months out from surgery. I was 240 the day I went to my surgeon's office. I was 230 the day of surgery after the 2 week liquid diet. Today I am around 184. I think that's pretty decent, heh.
Anyway Mary, sorry I rambled...just wanted to share some info with you. Please, if you have any questions I'm definitely okay with answering them. Good luck!
Laura Laura, thank you for your story. It wasn't rambling at all, I could relate to a lot.
I am currently on summer break from college, about to go into my junior year, and I was also on atkin's the summer before I started college, I lost 23lbs that way, then as soon as I moved into the dorms, hung out with my roommates and had a meal plan--the atkin's diet just didn't fit into the equation. So I gained most of that back.
I also feel like sometimes my weight is an issue as far as my social life is concerned. There have been times when I've been invited to a nightclub and I've turned down the invite because I felt insecure. I haven't joined many organizations partly because of this.
As far as my family is concerned, most of my mom's side has weight problems, though they've been critical of me my entire life because they don't want me to suffer like they have. My dad however is a stick. He tends to criticize me and believes that I must be lazy and that's why I'm overweight, I wi**** were that simple.
Anyway, I am fairly interested in the lapband procedure because of the same reasons you gave, the idea of malnutrition especially is not appealing at all. I have insurance through my mom's work since I'm a full-time student, she knows people at work that have gotten gastric bypass approval but I'm not sure if they offer lapband as well.
As far as comorbidities, I was reading a journal of someones and "exertion after activity", "pain in back", and "depression", are comorbidities? I just thought I had issues. Well anyway, thanks for everything, I'd really like to find out as much as I can and possibly get into the whole psych evaluation/insurance process before school starts.
Mary
Hi Mary! I am so thrilled that you have come to the board! I definately feel ya on the "pretty face/lose the weight" comments from people. I noticed that you are from Dallas! Well so am I! My surgeon is from Dallas as well, his name is Dr. Dirk I. Rodriguez out of Methodist Dallas Hospital, and in my eyes, he is the man to see! I am officially his youngest patient ever and he is so thrilled with my progress! I have lost nearly 80 lbs in 6 months out with the Lap-Band...something many people find not plausable with the band and not having RNY. Anywho, Dr. Rodriguez has an awesome program with a great post op program...ofcourse, one of the best and thorough in the area that I have witnessed. You should really check him out!! www.texasbariatriccenter.com
You have to attend an orientation with him, you get a visit, consult with a nutritionist( who is there on call for you 24/7 even after surgery) same thing for the personal trainer.....its a really informative day, and if you ever do attend this, I would have no problems going with you and seeing you through the experience! If you want to email me you can and my AIM screen name is TexasGem26 so if you'd like to talk sometime, i would be more than happy to! Good luck!
~*Megan*~
Thank you, Megan! Dr. Rodriguez also operated on some of the women my mom knows, and if I were to get the surgery, Methodist would have to be where I'd go due to insurance.
I read everything on his website, he seems really involved in his patients, especially their post-op care, I really like that. I will try and get all my insurance information gathered today so I can call the office by tomorrow with the answers to the questions they said I should ask insurance.
On a side note, everyone here is so nice!! I don't feel awkward at all the way I did when I submitted my first post. Thank you everyone for making me feel welcome and for understanding what I'm going through, I really appreciate it.
Mary
so email me anytime
lots of love ashley Have you guys SEEN the WLS Memorial? I ran across this the other day and it scared me a good bit, I'm not willing to die to be smaller. I really don't understand how ANYONE can have this surgery after seeing this and reading what the family members have written, I may be fat but I'm still worthwhile, it seems like a lot of people write about how they want to shop in the "skinny" stores and look good in bathing suits, is the risk of death really worth it? Not for me.
http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/wlsmemorial.phtml
Thanks everyone for any time you may have incurred talking to me about the surgery, I've lost total interest and intend to pursue a new natural weight loss regimen. God bless.
Mary
Hey Mary,
That's great that your doing all the research possible before making an informed decision. I'm 22 years old and had lap RNY 11 months ago. On the day of surgery I weighed 315 and as of this morning I weigh 183. I'm 5'11 so I would like to weigh 150-160. This has been an amazing experience for me. Anyways, if you would like to ask any questions or see pics feel free to e-mail me @ [email protected]. Good luck on your journy.
Christine
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