spokanegirl

Hello everyone: I am so excited to have found this amazing resource and to join all of you in our journey to be healthier, live longer and take control of our weight once and for all. My journey has been a 30 year battle with weight issues that began at the age of 23 after the birth of my second child. Having had a c-section delivery meant that I was down for 6 weeks which allowed weight to build up, then with 2 children, work and a busy life too many fast food meals or missing meals altogether and then snacking before bed added to the weight issues.

Like many of you on this forum, I too have tried every diet from Atkins to Weight Watchers and everything in between with little or no success. I can lose 20 pounds pretty easy but then my body just stops losing and gains everything back and more no matter how active I am.

I have thought about weight loss surgery for many years and never had insurance that would allow for it without huge co-pays, co-insurances or tons of hoops to jump through. 3 years ago I was blessed to work for a health organization whose focus is on employee health. My employer believes that healthy employees are productive employees and is committed to helping employees be the healthiest they can be. This partnered with a new primary care physician who was very open and receptive to weight loss surgery led me here to this forum.

I have now completed all of my pre-surgery requirements, start my pre-operative diet next week and 3 weeks from today am scheduled for a vertical sleeve procedure. I know that the hardest work in my journey lies ahead of me but I am not afraid of the challenge. A few people in my circle of friends know that I am having surgery, they often ask me if I am scared to have surgery, I tell them I am scared to not have surgery.

I started my pre-surgical consultation and journey just about 1 month ago and since that time I have lost 17 pounds. I still have much more to go but this is a great start to what will be a great journey. I wish you all well on your journey to be healthy and will draw strength from you when I am weak.

Congratulations to all of us who have made this decision to change our lives.