Hi y'all! I joined this forum 5 years ago this November. I originally joined for support after my doctor referred me to have the surgery. A few unfortunate events and I had to set it on the back burner (appointment flub up, surgeon going on medical leave followed by my loss of job and consequent insurance). It's now five years later, I've got a steady job and am looking to start the whole process all over again (October 4 will start the ball rolling again!).

I'm pretty excited! Weight has been a struggle for me since middle school. I'm now 25, Im 5'3" and weigh 298, my highest was 325 which was less than a year ago now. Ive been pretty lucky and haven't had any chronic health problems because of it but it has prevented me from doing so much. I use to be pretty involved in sports and horses before my weight piled on so much that I couldn't keep up, or caused injuries or prevented me from even getting on a horse. And getting it off has been a mountain.

So I'm excited to get this journey going again...I don't expect it to be easy but am hoping the reward at the end to be fantastic

I look forward to sticking around this time, learning, participating and sharing.

~Natasha

Good luck Natasha. My stats are similar to yours. I'm 5'1" and was 267 before the preop diet. Even at my current weight of 176 1/2, I'm still considered obese, but that's just from a medical perspective. I don't worry about whether or not I can fit in a chair, I can fit into a booth at restaurants, flying is no longer the fearful thing it used to be. I can put down the armrest and the tray with no problem any more. I don't worry about getting looks of horror from the person who has to sit next to me. In a nutshell, I feel normal again and that's such a great feeling. You will feel that way too. Keep us posted on your journey and your success.

Hi y'all! I joined this forum 5 years ago this November. I originally joined for support after my doctor referred me to have the surgery. A few unfortunate events and I had to set it on the back burner (appointment flub up' date=' surgeon going on medical leave followed by my loss of job and consequent insurance). It's now five years later, I've got a steady job and am looking to start the whole process all over again (October 4 will start the ball rolling again!).

I'm pretty excited! Weight has been a struggle for me since middle school. I'm now 25, Im 5'3" and weigh 298, my highest was 325 which was less than a year ago now. Ive been pretty lucky and haven't had any chronic health problems because of it but it has prevented me from doing so much. I use to be pretty involved in sports and horses before my weight piled on so much that I couldn't keep up, or caused injuries or prevented me from even getting on a horse. And getting it off has been a mountain.

So I'm excited to get this journey going again...I don't expect it to be easy but am hoping the reward at the end to be fantastic

I look forward to sticking around this time, learning, participating and sharing.

~Natasha[/quote']

Best wishes and I'm confident you will do well. It took me about 5 years to get the ball rolling as well. I had insurance issues and finally after changing insurance companies I was able to have the surgery. I even comptemplated going to Mexico way back then I'm so glad I had it done here in the states. It was worth the wait!

Hi y'all! I joined this forum 5 years ago this November. I originally joined for support after my doctor referred me to have the surgery. A few unfortunate events and I had to set it on the back burner (appointment flub up' date=' surgeon going on medical leave followed by my loss of job and consequent insurance). It's now five years later, I've got a steady job and am looking to start the whole process all over again (October 4 will start the ball rolling again!).

I'm pretty excited! Weight has been a struggle for me since middle school. I'm now 25, Im 5'3" and weigh 298, my highest was 325 which was less than a year ago now. Ive been pretty lucky and haven't had any chronic health problems because of it but it has prevented me from doing so much. I use to be pretty involved in sports and horses before my weight piled on so much that I couldn't keep up, or caused injuries or prevented me from even getting on a horse. And getting it off has been a mountain.

So I'm excited to get this journey going again...I don't expect it to be easy but am hoping the reward at the end to be fantastic

I look forward to sticking around this time, learning, participating and sharing.

~Natasha[/quote']

Good luck. My best advice is dont gain weight while waiting for surgery, it is still hard to get off after surgery. And start trying to practice "the rules".....but i'm sure you will do great, good,luck

I don't expect it to be easy but am hoping the reward at the end to be fantastic

~Natasha

Keep that thought!!!....because the reward IS fantastic! Congrats on moving forward with your journey

Thanks everyone for the encouragement

Good luck Natasha. My stats are similar to yours. I'm 5'1" and was 267 before the preop diet. Even at my current weight of 176 1/2' date=' I'm still considered obese, but that's just from a medical perspective. I don't worry about whether or not I can fit in a chair, I can fit into a booth at restaurants, flying is no longer the fearful thing it used to be. I can put down the armrest and the tray with no problem any more. I don't worry about getting looks of horror from the person who has to sit next to me. In a nutshell, I feel normal again and that's such a great feeling. You will feel that way too. Keep us posted on your journey and your success.[/quote']

Boy are plane rides tough...I just flew to and from Honduras 2 months ago and during one of my flights I was sifted next to a man who, after it appeared everyone had boarded, got up and went to the front and talked to one of the stewardess. He came back and sat down and ten about 5 minutes later she and and asked "Would you still like to be seated in another seat?" Boy was I mortified, it was already embarrassing enough that I felt like I was intruding on his space but to then hear it vocalized was mortifying.

I'm flying again in another 1.5months and am more terrified about sitting next to someone than actually flying.

I'm hoping at some point I'll be able to reach that point you've gotten to, to be at least comfortable in my own skin and feeling healthy.

Hi Natasha,

Good luck with everything on the 4th. So great to get the ball rolling again! Hoping it all goes smoothly.....fall is such a good time for new beginnings.

Good for you long termers. Love to hear stories of our journey. Almost 7 years for me. Mostly good. Not perfect. But GOOD

Just got my referral put in! And so it begins...again!

Signed up for Step 1 today...seminar. I'll be going on the 10th I still can't tell y'all how overwhelmingly excited I am. I have wanted this since I was a freshman in high school but it has always been out of reach. It's been a 10+ year wait.

Signed up for Step 1 today...seminar. I'll be going on the 10th I still can't tell y'all how overwhelmingly excited I am. I have wanted this since I was a freshman in high school but it has always been out of reach. It's been a 10+ year wait.

Seminar day! Which will allow me to get an appointment with the surgeon.

One step down!

I was on a flight to Detroit a few years back and the entire plane loaded. Every seat was filled on the plane except the one next to mine. I'm a big guy so I was ecstatic and happy that no one had to sit next to me. After a few minutes of sitting there a guy boarded the plane. I took one look at this guy, looked at the seat next to me, looked back at the guy, looked back at the seat knowing it was the only empty seat and thought to myself, holy cow. This was a big guy. I mean big. He made me look skinny. He was coming right for me and I was pissed that I had to sit next to this guy. I was already crowding the seat but now I was squished. As soon as the guy sat down he apologized for being fat and that I had to sit next to him. My heart broke right then and there because I understood his sentiment. Turns out, he was one of the best and coolest strangers I ever had the chance of meeting. The guy had an awesome career and one hell of a life story. We laughed until we cried the entire flight. It was one of the best flight experiences I ever had and it was all thanks to the fat guy that anyone else would have asked to change seats. The point of this long story is this. Next time something mortifying happens, don't be mortified. Don't let them think it bothered you. They don't know you, they don't know your story. Don't be shy and share your life with a stranger. You might just change their mind like my mind was changed. I can honestly say it was one of the most life changing events I've experienced. I learned to give people a chance before I place opinions.

So the seminar went pretty good. I'm not sure that the lap-band is what I'm going to finally choose. I was fairly certain it was what I was going to do for the last 5 years but...now not so much.

The surgical group I'm going through is one of the tops in the country. So they're very well versed on all bariatric surgeries. But after all the information I received last night, I don't think I'm comfortable taking the route I originally chose. Some of things I was told just didn't sit well with me. They don't know who the band will work for and who it won't. The statistics show that 57% have it removed. It has a significant lower percent of average weight lost. And there was a significant higher percent (compared to sleeve and roux-en-y) of persons that have re-surgery, for various reasons. He also mentioned they are taking more out then they put in. The complications he mentioned I just wasn't comfortable with, and the fact that it is foreign object the chances it will need to be removed/replaced at some point, and there isn't enough long term data on them.

I don't want to go into this with the probability of having another surgery. I'm also scared of the probability of not losing weight. I want the best chance possible and looking at the statistics I'm just not sure this is the road I want to take. So I'm on pause right now doing more research on on 3 procedures. I'm still working through with insurance and moving forward. I'll make the decision soon because no matter what I need to do one of them. Having a BMI of 54/55 is not ok. Just trying to figure out what is going to be best for me and and the healthiest long term.

If anyone had any input Id be glad to hear it. But otherwise I'm just updating where I'm at mentally.

I was on a flight to Detroit a few years back and the entire plane loaded. Every seat was filled on the plane except the one next to mine. I'm a big guy so I was ecstatic and happy that no one had to sit next to me. After a few minutes of sitting there a guy boarded the plane. I took one look at this guy' date=' looked at the seat next to me, looked back at the guy, looked back at the seat knowing it was the only empty seat and thought to myself, holy cow. This was a big guy. I mean big. He made me look skinny. He was coming right for me and I was pissed that I had to sit next to this guy. I was already crowding the seat but now I was squished. As soon as the guy sat down he apologized for being fat and that I had to sit next to him. My heart broke right then and there because I understood his sentiment. Turns out, he was one of the best and coolest strangers I ever had the chance of meeting. The guy had an awesome career and one hell of a life story. We laughed until we cried the entire flight. It was one of the best flight experiences I ever had and it was all thanks to the fat guy that anyone else would have asked to change seats. The point of this long story is this. Next time something mortifying happens, don't be mortified. Don't let them think it bothered you. They don't know you, they don't know your story. Don't be shy and share your life with a stranger. You might just change their mind like my mind was changed. I can honestly say it was one of the most life changing events I've experienced. I learned to give people a chance before I place opinions.[/quote']

This story completely moved me emotionally...to tears. Being obese makes it a very lonely world. Thank you for sharing.

i believe that's its a personal choice for WLS of any kind. when i went into this I knew one thing...if i didn't change my weight i would shorten my lifespan...I have grandkids that i want to see for as long as God will allow me too and not because of my struggle with being overweight. When i looked into the possibilities of WLS i think the one thing that made me decide to do the banding was the fact the it did not involve cutting up my stomach to help me loose weight. Statistics are iffy at most. they do a study and publish results based on a % and not the majority. I looked at banding this way. They would not be cutting up my stomach which is something that cannot be reversed. and banding is reversible. The time under anesthesia is less which lowers the chance for complications. I am not banded yet, i am looking for that around feb/march of 2014 but i am preparing myself for this journey each and everyday. If the band doesn't work out in the long run, well at least i have other options. But if i chop up my stomach then the future will be a lot bleaker as for where i can go from there. I admire your tenacity for wanting to think things through. Just remember that statistics are what they are. and not always what they should be. Good luck in your decision and your journey.