xpost: Why did you do it? (for post-op people)

I mean, why did you turn to surgery?  The *real* reason that you choose surgery?  The lines are getting blurred to me.  Surgery is a *drastic* decision.  Yet many people make that decision every day.  It is starting to seem ubrupt to me...even shallow.  Oh, the girls notice.  But what does that matter?  We, I, have put so much emphasis on weight...as though weight defines us.  Am I so simple-minded as to believe that my personal worth has been enhanced?  Do I define comfort and justification, and even satisfaction, simply based on my weight?

I turned to surgery because I was morbidly obese and had been unable to lose more than a few pounds (which I quickly gained back) with diet and exercise.  I did not have a lot of health problems related to my weight, though I expected those would develop if I didn't lose weight.  I did have pretty serious arthritis in my knees, which was relieved greatly by losing weight.

It was more about comfort for me than anything else.  I do like my appearance better now that I've lost weight, but I was physically uncomfortable at 270 lbs.   My knees hurt, I got out of breath easily, it was hard to bend over to tie my shoes, clothing didn't fit right and I don't just mean that it didn't look right but didn't fit comfortably (bras dug into my skin painfully and rubbed my skin raw, stuff like that).

I don't think wanting to feel physically comfortable is shallow. 

I don't believe my personal worth has been enhanced and I don't think my weight defines me.  But I feel physically better and my life works better now that I am a lower weight.

I chose to have weight loss surgery because at 35 I had some pretty hideous health issues that were making my life pretty miserable... severe gastroesophageal reflux disease (stomach acids that would come up to my throat and nose at night and choke me), severe obstructive sleep apnea (my Dad died at 67 of sleep apnea related heart failure, being diagnosed myself was one of a couple come to Jesus moments), my blood pressure through the roof were a few of the main issues... the 8 medications Dr's had me on to treat those issues also caused a handful of issues. I wasn't living I was existing (life in general sucked) and when I heard and saw (I had family member guinea pig post-ops) that I could potentially eliminate those health issues and ditch medications I dove in head first.

Happily it worked out for me

All co-morbidities resolved
Off all medications
the cherry on top was the single digit pants... size 28 (tight) to 4 (with plastics)

~Michelle "Shelly"

I felt I  DESERVED  a far higher quality of life .

SNOWLOFT-excellent question! Each of our reasons HAS to be our own, and it deeply personal, for each of us-as YOUR reasons will be to. Surgery ABSOLUTELY should not be enetered into lightly-it is a LIFELONG decision!!!

Ok..to answer your question...

I was 44 when I had RNY. Next month will be my 10 year surgiversary. I had been overweight since 4th grade, and obese since 8th grade. I had both my babies at 300+ pounds. Despite my weight I was "healthy"...until I hit 40, and my Diabetes ran amuck...insulin shots 4 times a day...lost 2 grandparents AFTER watching them go thru painful amputations, directly caused by THEIR Diabetes...I am nurse-went to school straight out of high school..I had the "book smarts"-for everyone ELSE...my boys were 10 and 12 then...

I wanted to live..

That's pretty much it. I am now 200% happier and HEALTHIER..Am 54 yrs old..Have completed 2 half-marathons..have lost 170 lbs...take no meds for Diabetes..the list goes on and on..

It's NOT NOT NOT all fairy farts and rainbows, but I'd WLS again. in a heartbeat..annually, if need be...

You will come to your OWN decision, when the timing is right..

Godspeed!

I had surgery because of my health. 

I'm so lucky to have many wonderful things in my life, friends, family, work, etc.  What I didn't have was good health.  I tried dieting unsuccessfully for years.  Contrary to popular belief, it wasn't about my will power or desire to be thin.  I struggled with the yo-you for a myriad of reasons to include metabolic ones.  According to my bariatric surgeon, combine years of yo-yo dieting with a large BMI and only 3% of us can lose weight and keep it off with diet and exercise.  We've basically driven our metabolisms off a cliff.  I came to terms with the fact that I wasn't in that 3%.  I'm in the 97% that needs weight loss surgery as the tool to get me there and help keep it off. I still deal with my eating issues every day. 

WLS is drastic, but worth it to me.  It is only a tool.  It still takes personal effort.

I'm thoroughly enjoying my smaller body and new clothes, but more than anything I'm enjoying having my health back.  Everything else is a bonus!

Kay

The *real* reason I chose to have WLS is because I thought it was a better choice than dying.

I really didn't want to have surgery. I just didn't think I could be happy living with the requirements of the RNY, and that was the only form of WLS I knew anything about. (That lack of info kept me from having WLS for about ten years---years than I now feel like I wasted.)

I will be forever thankful that I learned about the DS, and was able to go into WLS feeling good about the decision. And I do feel that my personal worth HAS been enhanced---not because I'm better looking, but because I am so much more able to live a worthwhile life.

For me, it's not about weight. Tt's about what losing---and keeping off---the weight has allowed me to do with my life.

 I chose wls because nothing else worked that I did myself.  
I finally admitted defeat and that my weight was not in my control.

So I wouldn't die the seven year death my husband did from diabetes.

 Being diabetic and not able to lose weight less then two years after my mom died at age 61 as a very brittle diabetic.