Doubting myself

 It took me 11 months to get approved and have my surgery. It was frustrating at times and I would wonder, "am I making the right choice?" I'd hear about the new Weigh****chers and think, maybe I should try one more time. Then I remembered why I started on the journey. I had developed type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and arthritis. 

 It is not an easy process, but I know WLS is my only chance at losing and keeping it off.

Be kind to yourself as you make your decision. I "only" want to lose 84 pounds, but I know I have already reached my major goal, no more diabetes. No one can make your choice, but you are on the right track by getting as much information as you can.

Mommalou, you are doing what is right for you. At 5'2" and 220, your BMI is 38.9 altho you don't need me telling you that. Mine was 35.2, I barely squeaked in.

Now I JUST had surgery 18 days ago. In that 18 days, I've lost 15 lbs/20% of my excess body weight (something I could not do otherwise), I was able to come off my insulin pump 10 days ago and to cut my previous metformin dose by 1/4 (I'm a type II diabetic and was on an insulin pump and 2000 mgs of metformin, now just on 500 mgs of metformin. The insulin pump sits ignored in my bathroom.

My husband also had surgery 5 weeks before I did (he's a LW as well), has lost 40 lbs, is off one of his blood pressure meds and is already looking at coming off the other one. His sleep apnea is MUCH improved.

We've both dieted, lost, and gained, and lost and regained...we are good at losing, we are lousy at keeping it off.

WLS helps us KEEP it off.

And helps us regain our health.

Liz

I would politely IGNORE these people!  220 pounds is a LOT of weight on a small frame....I know because I was 219 on a 5'0 frame (YIKES)!!!

You will be AMAZED at how incredible you feel just with losing the first 20-30 pounds!  Your body will THANK you!

People told me all the time that "I wasn't FAT enough for surgery"...I'm sure they were just being "nice" and I'm SO GLAD I didn't let them influence my decision!  Surgery was absolutely the best thing I ever did for my health!!

Good luck with your pre-op process!!!

I heard the same thing from my family...the thing is you have to do what is right for you and what you know what will work for you..now that my family sees me thinner they realize how overweight I really was, so just because everyone is not on board now doesn't mean they never will be..

Trust yourself and trust your surgeon.  You'll be fine.  Nobody lives in your body or knows how you feel so this is your decision and yours alone.  I bet we've all lost weight at one point in our lives, but it's keeping it off that matters.

Good luck!