Hello Friends,

I am Angela the new assistant moderator a Military wife and Retiree. I would like to know when did you decide to get sleeved? What was your decision making point, and what has been the most challenging part of the process? In my case I decided to get sleeved after I couldn't lose the weight with diet and exercise alone. After I retired, I gained over 30 lbs and no diet or starvation method could take off more than 20 lbs. On my 45th birthday I said no more by the time I reach 46 years old I will not weigh 242lbs this is unhealthy and it's time to lost this weight for good. I started noticing commercials for the lapband and learned all about the the good, the bad and the ugly. While conducting my research I learned about the gastric sleeve and I knew this was what I wanted. With this info I went to my PCP and Triicare approved me for the surgery. I began the long process and will get my surgery sometime in Dec. Overall, I am pretty satisfied with my decision and there's no turning back.

I've been overweight my entire life. Done the merry-go-round of yo-yo dieting. And I struggled with bulimia starting at the age of 13. 4 months before my 20th birthday, I sought out counseling for my eating disorder, and came clean to my husband and my family. After months of counseling I realized my body wasn't getting any healthier, and the warped mindset I had/have from my years of distorted eating were making it impossible for me to adopt a healthy eating style, all I would do is diet for a couple of weeks and fall back into old habits. On top of all of that my husband and I had been trying to conceive since we got married (2 years ago) and were having no luck.( I am thankful now that I wasn't able to conceive because my mind was not in the right place.) Anyways I had gone to talk to my OB/GYN about our difficulty conceiving and she assured me that it was because of my weight, and that is how I got put on the pathway in February of this year. On August 26th 2011 my life was forever changed. This year I celebrated my 21st Birthday (Nov 18th) 53lbs lighter than I was on my last bday. My sleeve has given me so much. It's helped me (well that and counseling) to realize that I don't need food to comfort me and the detrimental cycle of binging and purging is absolutely worthless. I feel good about being able to nourish my body. Something I have never seen in what I eat. I eat food for it's nutritional value to my body, not because I have a hole inside that I am trying to fill. This was my first Thanksgiving where I was truly able to enjoy the company of my loved ones and not be focused on having to empty out my stomach so I can fill it again 3 more times. I'm no longer self conscious about eating in front of others, and I just feel like the whole world has opened to me. I never would have been to this point without the support of my husband either. I'm not saying that the sleeve "cured" my bulimia, because I still hear that nasty little voice in the back of my head on occasion (particularly lately since my weight loss progress has slowed a bit). But I am saying that it has given me the self restraint to not give into my defeatist alter ego. I will forever be grateful that I was given this chance, because for the first time in the last 8 years I have been able to live my life without fear of food. And that to me is absolutely priceless.

Sorry for the book lol.

Thanks TurtleButt, this was deep and I can tell you have no regrets about your decision.

I decided to have WLS about 4 years ago, due to the fact that we were living overseas though it was not an option.. So I tried WW online and I had a trainer, I even worked out with friends..

I moved to Jacksonville when my DH got orders to NAS JAX almost a year ago.. After purchasing our house and getting the kids in school I finally started looking into WLS again.. My defining moment came for me when I was a Girl Scout Leader and asking the Girls at meetings and camps to do things that I was physically unable to do. How can I expect them to do things that I myself could not do what kind of role model was that? I didn't want to be the fat girl in the corner at the clubs with her thin friends, or the Mom hiding behind her children in photos or just unhappy and unsociable anymore.. I tried taking care of myself and doing the things without surgery but I never lost more than 20lbs.. Now that I have gone through the preliminaries for the surgery I know I have to change my relationship with food and the decisions I make on what and how much I eat.. I have successfully lost 15lbs just by better food choices and no exercise.. I have started introducing exercise into my daily routine and hope that I see the scale moving again..

My surgery is scheduled for 1/25/12 and I can not think of a better way to look at being 35 then with being the me I have always known was inside that fat girl, this skinny b***h is ready to come out! LOL