What are your experiences with...

"You got(are getting) wls? but you're so young! why?"

I'm 22 and I tell people that I know myself and my body very well by now. I've tried so many diets and every one of them failed. When I saw my mom get the surgery I was on weigh****chers and i thought I would lose all my weight in a year or so through diet and exercise. A year later now and a mere 20 lbs less, I'm regretful that I didn't really consider surgery sooner. I'm just like my mom when it comes to food and I'm never going to change. I'm always going to struggle. I want to live as much of my life as possible at a healthy weight. I don't want to be one of the older ladies with the sagging skin *****grets they didn't do it years ago. Or one that loses it all and gets a taste of freedom before gaining it all back... multiple times. I wanna live my life NOW.

Oh yes, and i'm going all for it too, gonna get RNY :-)  People get even more pissy when I tell them it'll be pretty much irreversible. My mom whose had the surgery is excited though.

Goodness gracious darling I think you are handling things just fine. As long as your good with it and you have some sort of a support system in place you don’t have to answer to anyone. It’s not about being young…Its being smart enough to know you have a problem, you tried other diet options, and your over it! Now your making a decision for your life. Rock it out girly.

depends on the person. If I thought they were just gonna be opposed to everything, no matter what, I kinda shrugged it off, or rolled my eyes at them, or whatever. People *****ally were concerned (I had lap-band at 21, then had complications and now I have a sleeve at 22) I told them, "Which one of the risk factors associated with obesity has to get out of control before it's okay for me to treat my condition? Do I need to be diabetic? Have really high blood pressure for years?" etc... kinda slowly. A lot of people see this as surgery (RISK!) vs. nothing (no risk) and I tried to refocus it to surgery (risk) vs. consequences of obesity (much more likely to happen, serious risk!)

I have a friend who had surgery that's in her 30s and I had my sleeve shortly after her... she keeps telling me I have no idea how lucky I am that I did it this early. And I am glad I did too

 I tell them that I'm nipping health problems in the bud before they start.  My mom is diabetic and she struggles every day with it...I DO NOT want that for myself.   If you were to ask any older person who's had wls later in life, most often they will say something about wishing they would have done it years sooner.  Well, we are lucky and get to do it years sooner so we are able to enjoy the majority of our life not being prisoners to our weight.  It's exciting if you think about it!  

Good luck!

~Emily~

I Had my surgery when i was 22 also and i was the best thing i could do 4 my self. life is much better and enjoable now. u have the right 2 enjoyr you youth. and lets be hones if we were overweight most of ourlifes there is a high chanc eof stay that way in the future. and all the older people that i asked about  wls. they told me that it was this was the best age for doing it. eaven my surgeron was excited about me being so young. so your body will react better to the surgery and the changes your body is gonna suffer.
and u have ur mom who already has had the experience that`s great i wish i had that kindda support..
btw... saggy skin is a good thing!!! it means you lost all the weight. so you can fix that latter. and don´t matter how young you are u are gonna have some saggy skin it won´t be super bad but prob u won´t like it but it worth it lik 200%.
keep us posted.
hugs

I feel the same way really. There's not a person on my dad's side of the family that doesn't have diabetes. My mom had it a bit too but she didn't have to take shots. My dad's the worst, because he has so many complications. TBH i'm not sure if i'll be approved for the surgery since i have a bmi of just 35 and my obesity related complications aren't major ones (yet). I'm gonna argue asthma, joint pain, and gallbladder disease make it necessary for surgery to change my life. I have to get laproscopic gallbladder removal anyway and it's a shame to get scars for that and not RNY at the same time. If I don't get approved I think I may try paying for it out of pocket. I may get away with having the insurance pay for the gallbladder surgery and me having it at the same time as the RNY and paying the bills the insurance won't pay. I'm glad I'm doing it young. I'll probably have a bit of saggy skin but at least at my age it'll be nothing near my mom's problems. I WILL wear tank tops! I do now actually... but I will wear them thin too!

hahahah sounds great!! I can´t wait to wear tank tops. that`s so not going to happen till my brachioplasty. lol

hugs girlie and keep that positive actitude.

hugs

My surgeon told me, the only difference between those women in the waiting room and you, is your 20 years younger, and I wish they all would have done this at your age.
Im 25 and keep thanking myself for doing this for myself, and my daughter who is now going to have a mommy that can get on the floor to play with her.
I realized that I had no personal style before, because I had to wear what fit, not what I wanted. I hear from my family, "are you goth now?" Im like, well maybe I am! I dont know! I have been wearing 2x tshirts and 22 jeans for the past 7 years and now I can actually shop at a store not called "plus" or Lame bryant. haha. I am going to redo my 20s because I was sitting in the kitchen eating  or sitting on the couch hating myself for too long.
Not only is my fashion changing, but my knees dont hurt like they used to, my feet dont hurt after walking for 10 minutes.... and I am going to learn how to eat right, and also teach my daughter since i was never taught.  my husband even lost weight because we really dont eat junk now. I dieted for 2 years and lost no weight and now 4 months post op Im 70 lbs lighter and ready to live again. its not "easy" and some will tell you its "risky" but isnt being overweight risky? Yes some people need to do something "drastic" to lose weight and Im one of them!

Hey im 20 and going to try to get RNY! Do what you have to do to be happy and healthy we are all to young to drag around most of the problems that come with obesity, Don't listen to anyone, just to yourself and im glad you have you mothers support. go for it and live you life. Good luck

My family doctor first presented WLS as an option to me when I turned 18...He said he had known me my whole life, had tried to help me to get my weight to a healthy number and knew that I struggled pretty badly with it.

I waited until I was absolutely certain that this was what I wanted and I had exhausted all my options. I was 22 when I started the whole program/process and I'm almost 24 now. I didn't try to rush anything, I didn't try to go into this thinking I might have regrets late on down the road. I wanted to be certain and I wanted to do this right.

When people make a huge deal about it - the fact that I AM so young and I have so many other less drastic options I just tell them that I weighed them, I tried them and figured out it just wasn't for me or it didn't work for me. And I AM so young which is a great opportunity for me. I can lose the weight early and as I continue to find myself, I can grow into this new, healthier lifestyle! It's a total change and I think it would be harder to do that at an older age, honestly.

I honestly did this for my future children. Someday (years down the road) I want to be able to fully enjoy their younger years...running around, doing any and all things they want to experience, helping them practice soccer - WHATEVER it might be!! I didn't have that with my mother who is also obese. I don't want to have to sit out because I'm winded or physically not able to join them.