Back again

Hi everybody,

I joined the site about a year ago when I was hoping to get surgery.  I wasn't able to, but now I am on track to getting surgery.  I am 5'6" and I weigh about 525 lbs.  I've had a really rough year.  My income dropped over 50%, but I think the struggle has been serendipitous.  With my current income, I was able to get Medicaid, which lets me get surgery!

I've had one nutritionist appointment (two more to go!) and my psych eval is coming up on 4/20.  I am hoping to get the sleeve procedure.  

This may seem like an odd question, but has anyone ever wanted to lose the weight just for health and mobility?  I feel like what I encounter is primarily people who are excited about changing their appearance.  At the risk of sounding arrogant, after my 20's or so (I'm 34), I am pretty happy with  my appearance.  I just want to get healthy and active.  Right now I don't get around well at all, and I have to depend so much on others for daily living.

I really love reading this site.  It is truly an incredible resource!  I am going through the typical anxiety, and I feel like I should start posting regularly to get the support I need.  I look forward to chatting with you all.  

Health and mobility were 1-2 for me.  Appearance is just gravy.   Not that I eat that any more.

It is amazing what the procedure has allowed me to do.  Yesterday, we went on a short 7 mile bike ride.  I had on my polar F****ch and heart rate strap.  Afterwards, we stopped at a restaurant for an early dinner and I still had the strap and watch on.   I noticed my heart rate was 60-61 after sitting in the booth for a few minutes.   Just a year ago, it would have been 85-90.

Good luck on your journey.

That does sound awesome!  I think mine is close to 100 these days.  That you would call a 7 mile ride "short" is really amazing!  I can't even imagine that right now.

Congratulations on hopefully getting surgery!  I love that I look better, but honestly, I wanted to lose weight so I would be healthier and be able to do more with my kids.  I'm 36.  We went to Disneyland last year, about 3 months before I had surgery, and I was miserable!  There were some rides I couldn't ride, my feet hurt like crazy, I was super uncomfortable in other rides.  Now that I'm about half the size I was, I'm ready to go back and do it again!

Oh I can't imagine going to an amusement park right now! ugh.  I have trouble getting around my apartment at a decent place.  That is the kind of activity I am really looking forward to.  and flying!  My family lives across the country and I haven't seen them in 6 years.  

Appearance wasn't high on my priority list before surgery, but it's pretty important to me now that I find I have a rocking body :)

haha I can see where that would be nice!  Right now I'm obsessed with having all the saggy skin, so I guess that's why I try not to think about appearance.  At my size, I imagine it will be awful.

I've lost almost 140 and I definitely have loose skin, but it really doesn't bother me.  I know that I'll look into plastics after I reach goal, but when I look at myself in the mirror now all I see is how successful I've been - not "ugh, so much excess skin."  For me, that's pretty amazing.  I did not want to go through this process only to hate my body more than I did in the first place!  

(And I'm a bit older than you.)

I'm so glad to hear that's what you see when you look in the mirror.  That is so encouraging!  I worry that I'll be so disappointed, but I've had great self esteem for a long time now, so I bet I'll get over it.  Yeah, who knows with the skin.  I hear there are a lot of variables involved in whether it bounces back or not.

If I had to choose the loose skin or the fat, the loose skin wins every time. Try not to worry about that... once you lose the weight to cause the loose skin you will be feeling so darn good you will realize that it is not a big deal and there are ways to manage it.