Somenelsons

I honestly thought that I could do it on my own without surgery. After all I was already starting to lose and years ago I worked my butt off and got down to where I wanted to be. Of course had I stayed there I wouldn't be in the position where I needed to be losing weight again. I'm also much older now and while I was still considered healthy (aside from my weight) some things were starting to head in the wrong direction. My wife really wanted me to look into it for myself, for her, and for our children so I started doing some research. Based on everything I read and heard, plus knowing my previous history of struggle and loss and regain I decided that it was worth giving it a shot. So far it has absolutely been worth it for me and everyone close to me.

Exciting! I can't wait to hear how you do. I hope you get some time this weekend to just relax and take care of yourself. Several years ago I had gall bladder surgery and a friend sent me a link to some meditation apps that Kaiser Permanente has available to the public on their website. I listened to the one for people having surgery and I honestly believe it helped me better prepare and heal after. I'm not a meditator, mind you, but just listening to them was relaxing and soothing. Here's the link if you're interested. https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/health-wellness/podcasts/conditions-diseases/surgery. Wishing you all the best and looking forward to hearing about your successes.

I lost both my mom and my sister to breast cancer. I had a preventative mastectomy and hysterectomy when I was 38 and was thrown into menopause. I gained 40 lbs within months. Then I went to work on my PhD and over the course of graduate school, I gained another 40 lbs. I tried every diet imaginable for 5 years—I would lose 20 lbs, only to gain 30 back. I used every excuse imaginable—hormones, stress, etc.
Last fall, I had a blood clot scare, and my BP was 200/110–I was close to having a stoke. My doctor told me that it was all weight related. Enough was enough!
I have 3 grown and amazing adult children that May (hopefully) have future grandchildren. I want to watch them grow and be their active and fun Grandmother. I want to be active and fit for as long as I can. My grandmother lived to be 98—Still living on her own and walking to the grocery store. I want to be like her—-healthy and active—still kicking at 98! 😉

I’m tired of having painful knees and feet. I’m “pre-diabetic” and do NOT want to become a full diabetic. I’m a nurse and I’ve seen the damage diabetes does to every body system! I have hypertension and would love to decrease my medications...been on BP meds since I was 19 so doubt I will get off completely but maybe. However, the event that really pushed me to start seriously pursuing WLS happened at work. One of the things I have to do at work is go to the morgue and sign the paperwork and release bodies to the funeral home. When I had called the funeral home to request the pickup, they asked me the persons weight and when I told them, they said they would dispatch their van along with an extra person due to the weight. As I assisted with moving the person from the morgue tray to their stretcher I realized the person was only slightly heavier that myself. I suddenly felt so sorry for this patient and then felt embarrassed for myself and determined at that moment to do something to get the excess weight off once and for all. I have no idea why this time it affected me so much but I’m glad it did. I’m ready to get the WLS done and get my life and energy back!

Mine was I wanted to clean my house in its entirety in one day not 5! I missed playing softball and running with my kids I too developed borderline diabetic and my entire life my BP was always low - welp not the past 2 years. I lost my husband to a heart attack at 34 years old and his only vise was food. I couldn’t leave my daughter without both parents. So I fulfilled my why on 4/5/21 - I’m post op 7 days and so far it’s been great!

Severe hip pain that limited my ability to work and exercise, and a hypertrophied left ventricular wall (enlarged heart). I have grandkids now. I have a wife i'd like to grow old with, and we still have a lot of adventures on our list. I want to be able to hike up into the North Carolina mountains and fly fish remote streams.

Same as a lot of other people, I feel like I'm missing out in life. I'm only 34 but avoid most physical things because they're too hard. We live near the Black Hills, and I want to go hiking and camping but I can't keep up. I struggle just walk a mile, and I usually have bad swelling in my legs and feet when I do. Then covid hits, and I keep hearing how severe obesity is a high risk factor and I just kept thinking it would be so stupid to catch it and die in my 30s because I couldn't eat just a little bit less.
Also sex is really uncomfortable for me because of my weight. Even missionary. And goddamnit I want to have more sex with my husband without being in pain 😂

I did it for me.

To save my own life! I couldn’t let my kids lose me anymore then they already have due to my weight issues!

I struggled with my drinking after surgery. I thought I could drink the way I used to (a six pack and some shots) and I began to experience blackouts and found that I was substituting the food for alcohol. Bad idea. I was passing out and blacking out and doing som every stupid stuff. I joined AA and am now 7 months sober.

They said it happens in 3% of cases. Of course he was the exception of rarity. He developed an abscess post surgery that become infected. He had to have that drained and was out on heavy antibiotics. After a while he development what we thought was an upper respiratory infection and it turned out to be deadly and was actually blood clots in his lungs which in turn affected his heart. He ended up getting congestive heart failure and had a heart attack from the blood clots and died. So many things went wrong at once.

Thank you to all who have posted in this thread. I'm about 6 weeks out from surgery and doubts are starting to set in. Reading this thread reminds me of why I want this.
I've spent the last decade overweight, with that high point creeping up and up. I have high blood pressure, it's getting harder to move around, stairs at work kill my knees and things like cutting my toenails are an exercise in itself. I want to be healthy, I want to go on an airplane or to a theme park without obsessing about seat belt length and if I'll fit on a ride.
Most of all I want to be a better example to my son. I see him already having all the issues that I have and I know that I have not shown him how to live a healthy life. I want to change that and hope that he too will find a way to put his health first so that he will be around for a long time to come.

I wanted to stop having daily concerns about things like how I would fit into a chair at work, not being able to play with my kids, feeling exhausted and like every move was like running a marathon. I didn’t feel like how I looked matched how I felt- I didn’t even feel like myself anymore.

I wanted to be able to exercise again. To have some control over my endless cravings. To fit into clothes that I actually liked. To not feel like I never wanted anyone to see me because the first thing they would think is about how fat I was. To know that I can’t fit on an airline seat, when traveling was one of my greatest passions in life.

Four months in and I have no regrets. I’m 110 down, and getting closer to just being “overweight”. To go from a 48 BMI to 33 feels amazing in every way.

What an amazing story I'm so happy for you. My fiance suffer with cellulitis and gout and it can be very painful. He would get the edema with that as well. He was also diabetic. he passed away in November of 2019 from complications of his weight loss surgery unfortunately. But when he died his diabetes and his CPAP prescription numbers were down to a healthy amount. ironically enough when he died he was the healthiest he'd ever been and he had lost 140 lb in 4 months.

I did NOT want diabetes and my A1C was creeping up with my fasting glucose. Three years prediabetic and the numbers just kept getting worse.
My A1C is 5.0% now. Well into normal. I am so glad I dodged diabetes. Two brothers have it.
My legs were starting to swell with pitted edema...bad. Tops of my feet started to swell up, too. My physical endurance was awful.
My back hurt so bad just doing a regular shopping trip that I had to find a place to sit down halfway through.
I felt old and disabled.
I'm riding horses huntseat and jumping again. I can walk several miles with no issues. I'm riding my bike with my dog again.
At almost 49...I feel younger than I have since I was 30:)

To prevent future disease and illness. I was obese and generally healthy but knew I was on the path (like many of my family members) to diabetes and high blood pressure. Watching my mom suffer with her health now is a big motivator for me to do something to prevent being in the place she is in another 15-20 years. Realizing that my weight put me at high risk for Covid was another wake-up call for me.
I was also tired of feeling physically uncomfortable in my body (achy back, feet, hips, etc) and having no energy. I missed doing the things I used to do like hiking, rollerblading, and bike riding. I'd stopped doing them when I got heavy enough that it was painful and physically uncomfortable to be active. I'm only two weeks and a couple days out from surgery and already I can walk without discomfort around my neighborhood. My energy may still be low, but my back and feet don't hurt! It feels amazing!!! I'm remembering how much I used to enjoy being physically active.

To give my boys the gift of being a potential "Grandpa" to their future children, should they decide to have them. It's something they didn't have much have in their lives. I also want to enjoy "golden" years in a healthy way with the wife.
I also want to break free from the prison cell of nearly 350lbs. We're flying to Savannah in a couple months and for the first time in a long time, I am not too concerned about fitting in the airplane seat.

Thank you he actually passed away four months after his gastric sleeve from complications of the surgery. But he was in rough shape pre op.

Mine was for my wedding. I wanted to be my best self. Unfortunately my fiance passed away give months before our wedding day.

I hadn't crossed my legs in years and found myself doing it without thinking!
I can wrap my towel around me and tuck it in too!
My shoes too big for my feet and my rings are falling off my fingers.
Tying my shoes without help.
No more rashes, cysts and chafing from the skin being rubbed together or too moist.
Less sweating!
I get cold now all the time when I sweat like a pig before!

I somehow missed this thread when it was first started. I just found it and enjoyed reading everyone's NSVs! I have a lot of similar ones, but here are a few of mine:
I used to have to keep the steering wheel in my car raised to make room for my belly, and it blocked my view of the clock and temperature. Now I can put it low enough to see the whole dashboard. The other day, I climbed 12 flights of stairs like it was nothing. Didn't even have to stop for a break. Amazing how easy it is without carrying a whole extra person! I used to leave a lot of extra time when going to work, meetings, etc. because walking to another building or up stairs would leave me sweaty. I used to carry around a fan and small towel so I could cool off/dry off after getting sweaty. I also liked to be super early to meetings to make sure I wouldn't have to squeeze behind someone to get to a chair. Now I can just get there on time like a normal person and not worry about any of that. I was taking a walk recently (which is crazy in itself -- I never used to just go outside and take a walk!) and I had to move off the road while a car passed, and I tripped and fell in the grass. When I was 300+ pounds, a fall like that would have hurt and it would have been hard to get up. This time, I just jumped right back up like it was nothing. I no longer dread meeting people in person for the first time as I used to when I knew they would think less of me once they found out how fat I was.

Oh man I just realized the other day I don’t have to rock to the side to get my seatbelt fastened anymore. There’s just room! And I don’t have to be concerned anymore that when I pull it out to buckle that I’ll hit the extension limit and have it lock up, and have to try again.

I can fit in a bathtub. With my spouse.
I can roll over in bed without having to do it in stages.
I can fit into a theater seat, airline seat, any seat.
Horseback riding on vacation with my spouse.
Kayaking on vacation.
Riding bike to work.
Five marathons. Running across the Golden Gate Bridge.

I love these lists! I’m still 52 lbs from goal, but so far I have a whole list:
1. Not feeling like I have to rush home to get into pajamas because it’s the only thing that doesn’t feel like it’s strangling me. Bras just fit better when you arent as fat, who knew.
2. Chairs! Chairs with arms! Flimsy looking chairs! Patio chairs!
3. So much variety in clothes, and I can wear styles I like instead of huge frumpy cardigans over everything. I can thrift now, and shop in pretty much any store.
4. I feel like I have energy and interest in doing things again. I don’t just want to hide out at home and eat all weekend long.
5. Not being terrified of running into someone I knew 10+ years ago in public because of how fat I’d gotten.
6. I can go up the stairs and not die. I can exercise and not feel like I might die. Amazing.
7. I wore a pair of shorts yesterday and they weren’t Bermuda length! And my thighs didn’t start a small fire.
8. I like my facial features so much better now. My eyes look bigger, my jawline actually exists, and I look more like myself.
9. At my heaviest my arms stuck out weird because of the fat, and my legs were always at a weird angle because of fat as well. I can rest my arms by my sides and stand with my feet together.

It's been a while since I did an inventory of my NSV's.
I'm 2.5 years post op, but I can still appreciate all the little things:
Not only fitting into regular-width tall boots, but wearing jeans with knee-high woollen socks over them while wearing said boots AND still have room to spare. I used to hate it whenever Mr. tried to pick me up - as in lift up off the ground, not hit on at the bar! - (dude, I'm 235 lbs, you will embarrass both you AND me in your attempts)...now I find any excuse for him to do it...including jumping onto him at random moments. Sharing (and fitting into) the often fought-over arm chair in the house with the Kid at the same time quite comfortably. Feeling 110% confident in walking around buck naked (in front of Mr. lol). No more quick dashes to my closet after showers (i do a slow catwalk now...lol), no more towels or sheets or strategically placed hands to cover myself. The lights are ON alot during sexy-times hahahahahhaha. Seemingly endless amounts of energy, a perpetually good mood, and an overall attitude of "Sure, let's do it" (whatever it may be)....vs. being tired all the time, cranky and annoyed alot, and saying NO to most things. oh, and ...CLOTHES.