Just Curious, if anybody had a defininig moment when they made up their mind that the weight had to come off. I will start it off. I was at the playground with my son and there weren't many kids around so I decided to play with him. After chasing him around for fifteen minutes I couldn't go on. I was hot, sweaty and felt like I would pass out. I took him away from his fun in the sun so I could get back to my easy chair and the air conditioner. I wasn't gonna let my fatness ruin his childhood.

I had been going out with my bestfriend to a bar for a couple months. My weight had creeped up to almost my highest I was at about 268ish. I was fine with being the girl that never got hit on but one night I noticed that not only was I that girl but I was the girl that people looked away from and made a point not to talk to. It was like I was invisible. Then my friend and I took a picture together. I was sweaty and FAT. She said, "That's a great picture of you, you are so beautiful." I hated to look at myself and was starting to hate myself as well. My body was starting to hurt and I was worried about diabetes.

I had been researching for about 2 years before I met and married my husband. When we married, discussed conceiving and bringing another human into this world, I simply refused to get pregnant at my pre-op weight. I find utterly selfish, ignorant, and dangerous to conceive as a morbidly obese woman. I was obese with my first pregnancy(unplanned), and was NOT going to do it again. I don't care if other women get knocked up while they're fat, but for me, my personal convictions, I simply refused to endure a pregnancy, or put my unborn children at higher risk just so I could have a child with my husband.

I want to add that I was not miserable, nor did I suffer from any co-morbidities. My #1 driving force behind having WLS was to pursue a healthy pregnancy and delivery. My #2 driving force was pure vanity, I just damn tired of being fat.

Three things that cummulatively added up to the epiphany:

1) I had my internist tell me thta it wsn't a matter of IF I was going to have a heart attack but WHEN I would have one.

2) I was the same age as my father when he dropped dead of a massive heart attack.

3) Last September I was climbing up a steep hill in a park to go to a balloon festival with my two sisters and my 85 year old mom. My chest started hurting so badly, I thought I was going to die right there. I thought that would be an awful thing to die right in front of my mom.

After I got back from the vacation with Mom and my sisters, I got serious about getting the weight off.

My defining moments were the following: being told that I would have to take a shot for diabetes; hurting so much in my knees that I needed a cane to walk or have a knee replacement and not being able to love my husband physically (hang from the ceiling doing back flips kind of loving). Thanks for the topic, CT, hope you are drying out in CT.

I can so much relate to southernsleever, I WAS THE INVISIBLE GIRL! I hated this feeling, I was there talking and starting conversations but others were looking away at my friends ( who have it, the skinny body) although I consider this very shallow.. but it was so hurtful.

I lost over 120 lbs. doing low carb 8 yrs. ago. I HATED being obese, I felt like I had been let out of prison when I lost the weight. After 2 more kids and then a miscarriage this past year my weight has gotten within 17 lbs of what it was originally. When I go back to low carbing I will lose 5 lbs of water weight and then stall. I am just sick and tired of it. Enough is enough, I want my thin body back!!! I also have had back surgery and osteoarthritis in my back. To get this weight off will be a huge relief to my spine!

I felt helpless and guilty for not being able to givemy daughter a high quality of life. I am the only person she has and we love eachother dearly. She loves to go for walks around the neighborhood and I had gotten so big that I couldn't even make it 10 minutes before my back was screaming and I was limping from the pain in my knees.

She is so full of life and deserves a mother who can be just as excited about everything as she is. I want to be able to run, play, ride bikes, go to the mall, and amusement parks or even just roll around on the floor. At 207 lbs I couldn't manage doing any of that.

I had to change.

Various health and comfort issues just came crashing around me last summer / fall. I had to do SOMETHING and I have NEVER been able to stick to a diet, I was always miserable and hungry. I too was ashamed at the way I looked and could not participate in much of anything with anybody.

I researched various WLS and was determined to NOT get a bypass or have a plastic gizmo (band) floating around in my gut. When I discovered the VSG I was ecstatic! So simple and virtually NONE of the "side effects" of a bypass or limitations and dangers of a band.

I investigated my insurance options and did not want to wait and play the "games" they played so I ponied up the money and did self pay. A few emails, a few phone calls and a month later I was sleeved and on my way to a healthier me.

Sorry for the TMI, this is just one of the BEST things I have EVER done for myself and I am so proud to have done it.

I had never let my weight keep me from what I wanted to do, with a few exceptions (roller coasters, plane seats) nothing stopped me. I was healthy, no meds, no comorbidities, just an abundant amount of weight, over 300 pounds. This spring we went on vacation to the Outerbanks of NC. Awesome destination and, if you are a lighthose fanatic, as I am, it has the "holy grail" of lighthouses, Hatteras. I have prided myself that I can walk up those circular lighthouse stairs no matter how tall the lighthouse, not this time. I couldn't do it, I was too big, it was too tall, and I thought I was going to die. For the first time my weight got in the way of doing something I wanted to do. And then I saw the pictures that were taken on that trip. I was huge. I had been lying to myself. I was too big and something needed to be done. And the final straw was when I brought up WLS to my PCP and he was very positive about me having it and he said "I have very few 60 year old patients your size and I have NO 70 year old patients your size. Get the weight off or you will die an early death." That was enough for me! Now I am am one month out, 42 pounds lighter and I will NEVER see 300 on my scale again!!!!!

1) Last April, I was taking 20 pills a day and didn't know if I was ill or if it was a side effect of a pill. I needed to get off of the pills and to do that I needed to lose the weight. I am now on 3 pills a day.

2) A friend of mine has diabeties, never really took care of himself with it and ate what he wanted. Because of that they took part of his foot and now he is on dialysis. He is only 4 years older than me. Last year I had to have a biopsy done on my kidneys and that was a huge wake up call.

3) I knew if I didn't do this, with all my ailments, I wouldn't make it to 60. I want to see my son grow up and get married and have kids of his own.

I was in the kitchen (of course!) listening to a college football game on TV in the other room. They announced that some linebacker was coming on the field for Arizona State and gave his weight, which was the same as mine. I swore I was not going to be the same weight as a linebacker on a football team and started investigating WLS that same day.

On 4/9/10, I went to the dr. because I was having chest pains. I had to lay on the table at 280lb, naked, and have an EKG done, while 2 women a man, and my dr. starred at me!!!Thankfully, nothing was wrong with my heart and to make a long story short, it was just a pulled muscle! That scared the crap outta me and I stopped smoking that day and haven't smoked since!! YAY ME!

I was alread diabetic and taking high blood pressure medication at that time. I thought a lot about what my life would be like if I didn't change it. I cried a lot for the next two weeks and knew that I could loose weight, but would just blow back up in a matter of time because that is what I did over and over again!

I had researched WLS in the past, but never went thru with it. I didn't like the idea of having my guts re-routed and the band was weird for me, but that was the only other option that I knew. I emailed my dr. and asked if I could do it! He referred me instantly and her I am 104lbs thinner, healthier and happier!

I love my sleeve!

Kelly

Despite my sister in law being a 6 year success story with RNY, I thought I could lose and maintain doing Weight Watchers.

However on my last attempt, despite having the best chef, cheerleader and exercise partner in the world (my mom), I STILL failed. I resigned myself to be obese for life.

That was until the day a friend mentioned she had the sleeve done. I researched non stop and knew right away I had found my answer. Haleluyah!

When my pcp had to give a second med for my BP. I 29 and have had high BP for 5 years now. I just thought to myself, what next? How long would I live for myself and my children? All of these sad thoughts came rushing through me. That was the day I began my research.

I thank God everyday that he gave me the strength and courage to follow through.

Chunky all my life, most of my excessive weight piled on after the birth of my second child. After several failed attempts at losing the weight with Weight Watchers, Slim Fast and other programs, I decided to see a bariatric doc & a nutritionist. Under their care (and diet pills) I was able to lose 60lbs thru self control and exercise. I started at 260 and got down to 200, never getting into blessed Onderland. I fell off the wagon as far as exercise goes last June and the weight started creeping back up when the diet pills lost their effectiveness. By last October, I had gained back 40 of the 60lbs I had lost and was disgusted with myself. I knew I needed more help in controlling what I ate than I could give myself so I started exploring WLS.

At the end of January 2011 I went to a local seminar and begun researching my options. I decided I wanted VSG because it was the best fit for me. Discovered that insurance wouldn't pay and even if I appealed the decision, they only covered 50% of the allowable charges anyway. Hubby & I talked it over and decided that we wanted to avoid the wait, hassle and expense of the appeal, nut and psych visits, etc. and made plans for me to go to Mexico as soon as possible.

There is quite a bit of heart disease in my family - my oldest brother dropped dead at 44 from a massive heart attack, my dad died of complications of open heart surgery and he had congestive heart failure and suffered his first heart attack at 56, both my other brothers are over 300lbs, cousins weigh in at 400 and just last month another cousin dropped dead of a heart attack at 52. The writing on the wall couldn't have been any clearer for me. I turned 40 this year and I'll be damned if I spend the second half of my life trapped in an unhealthy and gross body.