I am single woman 61 yrs old 5'3" 238.2#

At my past visit with my doctor ( where I was once again complaining about being tired), I said off the cuff, "So, how fat do you have to be to qualify for weight loss surgery?" Thank goodness she never made my w e i g h t the focus of our appointments over the last 10 yrs. In just the same off the cuff manner she answered, " With your BMI and pre existing condition, you qualify, I'll make a referral. For my patients who are volume eaters,WLS is very successful and for my patients who are emotional eaters, OA seems to work." The following week I took the orientation class at Kaiser and 2 weeks ago , took a 5 hour lecture class . In 2 days I have my initial appointment with the surgeon. As you can see things are moving along swiftly. I barely have had time to fully consider all my reasons but it is part of my homework assignment for surgery.

My top 2 reasons . You see in the last 3 years I have been on 20 job interviews in a field that is very competitive and I am currently only partially employed at a time when I thought I would begin to consider retirement. Further more I have been single most of my life. I cannot help but wonder if my age and weight combinedr are two strikes against me. I never thought it would happen to me because I am attractive and intelligent. I have done a little dating. on my most recent date, my blind date e- mailed me almost immediately saying that there was no chemistry. That hurt and yet I was thankful.

it brought to the forefront a thought I had not been willing to look at and that is : Even I myself am not attracted to large people, why would I think no one would botice I am fat. why did I think I was the exception?

Lest you think those 2 are my only reasons let's just say I would enjoy sitting in an air plane without a seat belt extender or driving my auto without power steering wheel rubbing my belly. I want to be able to be physical in my golden years.

In kaisers programmed they encourage you to have a support system. Because I am single and live alone I am thinking I will check out OA as a support system as well because as any of you know who has started your pre op diet it is a major transition.

Before I leave this world I want to enjoy being in my body. No I am not ill

my labs are good but I do have sleep apnea. I' love to hear your obvious and not so obvious reasons you are pursuing w l s. I know I am preaching to the choir but if there are any members on this list who opted against w l s it would be good to hear from you as well

My reasons are I'm fat.... I have degenerative joint disease and I have no energy whatsoever. I have seven children and would love to be able to interact with them the way I used to be able to!!! I am so looking forward to this surgery!!! I want my old life back...

I had the world's worst pregnancy, with complications that were not directly linked to being overweight (severe nausea for 8 months, a rare inflamed iris condition that made it feel like I had a migraine every day, completely subsided once I gave birth), and several complications that I believe were directly a result of being overweight (gestational diabetes, high blood pressure which led to being on bed rest in the hospital for 1.5 months, and Pre-eclampsia resulting in an emergency c-section at 34 weeks pregnant). This was all after attempting to conceive for 2 years and having had one previous miscarriage due to PCOS.

The gestational diabetes was a real wake-up call. That was not fun, testing myself 5 times a day, etc. I did not want to be doomed to a life as a diabetic. I also want to be around for a long time for my daughter. My husband and I want to grow our family, but that is NOT an option for me if I stay this same weight.

I am blessed enough to have a husband who loves me and finds me attractive at any weight. But he is tall and lean and has never had trouble with his weight and I am tired of looking like I ate his dinner.

I am at my heaviest. I feel that this weight has taken control of me and is holding me back. I find myself isolating myself socially. I want my life back.

I want to have the surgery to help me control my diabetes and loosing weight would be great also.

Im 24 with high cholesterol, sleep apnea, and gerd. My quality of life is terrible and I can't do the things I love because im so heavy

I am borderline diabetic and am trying to stave it off. My doctor assures me losing weight will work. I don't have any other health issues and I don't want them. Also, I am retired and want to travel and hike and camp and just generally improve my quality of life. I want to be able to go to the theater or a musical performance or anything else and not have to worry I won't fit into the seat. I want to be able to trim my toenails and tie my shoes without my husband's help. I want to be able to garden.

so many reasons

Lack of confidence which equals to less success at work, due to refusing to be in the spotlight and be more assertive when duty calls. also having hardly any energy, this keeps me from being the best mother i can be. it also makes me isolate myself and the constant feeling of not wanting to be bothered or seen, becomes depressing and saddens me. It is all a domino affect and i am sick of it all.

i want to feel good, i want to be comfortable in my own skin. i want to feel physically fit and strong. i am only 26 years old and i feel like I am 70.

i want to set a positive example for my babies.

i want to like my reflection/my image/myself.

i want to stop constantly adjusting my clothes when they cling to me.

i want to like shopping like i used to.

i want to stop being restricted. i want to be free.

There were a million reasons and almost every person here understands them all. Why not reclaim your life now, instead of waiting? I know that nearly every person here regrets the SAME thing after surgery - they regret that they didn't do it sooner.

Yes, other people treat me differently now but I think that at least half of that is because I treat myself differently. I am honestly a totally different person than I allowed myself to be prior to losing the weight. I completely envy the women that manage to be large and happy and have beautiful, vibrant personalities before surgery. Because I, for one, was NEVER nice to myself, NEVER felt beautiful and ALWAYS tried to be quiet and inconspicuous around other people in compensation for my size. I didn't truly blossom into who I am today until I felt better about myself and that started with the weight loss.

So, regardless of your reasons, DO IT. Book your appointment and do this for yourself. I promise that you'll be amazed at the person you find underneath the extra weight.

~Cheri

I want to live life on my own terms. Right now I am merely existing. There is so much more to life and I deserve to be around to enjoy it. I owe it to myself and everyone I love and who love me. Ok before I break into song because life is for living.

I cant do the things that I really want to do....cant go the places I want to go....even though I've been overweight the majority of my life I have always been an active person....in the last 4 years I've been diagnosed with osteoarthritis in both knees, and my weight has increased over the last 7 years I need surgery for a permanent fix, but my insurance has a total exclusion for WLS.... so I've been saving and took out a loan for half and now I'm having VSG to gain my life back!

Thanks to all who shared your reasons.

I am 8# away from meeting with my case mgr to set a date. Kaiser's (Richmond, CA) process is just whizzing by so quickly!

I have not told anyone yet that I will be doing the surgery maybe because I want to see how much I can lose on the pre op food plan. Yet, I'm feeling happy and hopeful which I have not felt in a long time. this could be an answer to a prayer of mine where I told Spirit I would be happy if I could lose just 55 # to weigh 180 on my 5' 3.5" frame.

My biggest concern about the surgery is having GERD as a result, which he said 30 percent of patients get with the v s g because the stomach pressure is stronger and the flap between the esophagus and stomach sometimes can't hold back stomach acid.

I am a carb addict and have told myself if I were in OA, my food plan would be similar to the hi Protein lo carb pre op food plan so I won't be giving up any more foods more than I am eating now.