if you ask the typical WLS person they will tell you that they did it for thier health, family, etc. and while this may be true I am wondering how big a role vanity had in your decisions. I will admit that my vanity was the final straw that helped me to make my decision.:rolleyes

I don't have it yet, but this is all about vanity for me. I try to say it's because diabetes runs in my family, but no, it's all about vanity. I spend hours online and in catalogs searching for clothing that I dream to wear. I have gained 50lbs this year and now that puts me at 100lbs overweight. I worked out 5 days a week and stuck to a healthy way of eating and still gained the weight. I think it was God's gift to me, now I can finally have surgery and lost that extra 50lbs I always carried with me since middle school. I hope losing 100 lbs is realistic. I love to work out and eat very healthy anyway, and have no health problems, so I am praying to have that body I have alwasy dreamed of having. a size 8 would make me so sosoosooo happy!! i'm so excited!!! I hope to find a dr. and financing here in Germany!

My main reason for the surgery was health. I have diabetes, high blood pressure and am on way too many meds. Although looking better is a benefit, my health and ability to get around was getting out of hand. I have been saying that I want to be fit at fifty. I turned 49 on September 30 and had surgery October 2. My gift to myself and I do plan on being fit at fifty.

Vanity was high on my list, I had a BMI of 36 and I was just starting to experience some musculoskeletal problems not caused by my weight but exacerbated by it. I wanted very much to avoid future health problems, now almost 40, I just wasnt feeling as "good" as I did 10 years ago. Since I"ve lost the bulk of my excess weight I can now appreciate how bad and lacking in energy I really WAS feeling.

But mostly, I just didnt want to become a fat frumpy middle aged woman. I've got years of life in me yet, I"m not ready for the dowdy clothes, sensible haircut and flat shoes I felt like I was heading for.

Good Question. For me, number one is health issues- as you can see in my tag line I have lots of them. However, it was after the realization that my husband's own health issues were going to keep him from being the primary breadwinner of the family when I realized I could no longer live in my homemaking cocoon of fatness and contentment.

I started college and now I huff and puff around campus all day and in each class step in front of 200+ fellow students as I pull a portable mini-table over to those way-to-small-for me student desks, their stares on me with every step. EMBARRASSING.

I found something out though- I'm a good student. I've been ranked number ONE in every class I've taken so far and have a 4.0 grade average....BUT sitting in one class the teacher's lecturing about how overweight people are less likely to be hired, more likely to be passed over for promotions and raises, earn less on the dollar than other workers, and are assumed to be lazy, weak, and incompetent that I realized it didn't matter how hard I worked- because those skinny girls texting messages/ sleeping in the back row would beat me out for a job every time- thats when I realized enough was enough. If I ever wanted the world to give me the credit I deserved, I had to play their game.

So in answer to your question, I don't care about being "hot", I just want my abilities and intellect to be recognized before my big gut. I'm more than some fat lady- and I want people to finally realize it.

LOL wow, sorry for the total vent- guess if anyone understands you awesome people! Thanks for "listening"!!

For me, I was terrified of growing old and having health problems. I've always been very active and healthy and want to be my entire life.

That being said, vanity plays a huge part in this process. I'm a makeup artist and work in an industry where the image that you portray is very important. I know that I've lost opportunities because of my size. I could be the most talented or pretty one in the room but a thin person who looks a company's image will get the job.

I've always dated but have seen my confidence and sense of self worth diminish with each increasing dress size. I've lost 55 pounds in 4 months and have started getting much more attention from men. It's exciting but also a little scary.

So yes, I guess I'm a vain but look at what the possibilities now are for me!

YES.

So I wanted to look better, buy/wear more fashionable clothes and I'm unapologetic about it. My weight meant I got less interest from men, affected my career, and made it hard for me to live the life I aspired to have.

I feel exactly the same way. I'm not sure that wanting to improve these parts of my life is dissmissable as vanity. I think that there's an improvement in mental health that goes along with the weight loss.

I'm also single and VANITY was #1 for me in my decision...

...But as a side-note, I really am getting into sports in a big way. I'm running a marathon in June, and bike EVERYWHERE I go. I got back from Guatemala last week where we hiked up a volcano to 14,000 feet, slept at the top and hiked back down the next day, kayaked all day, biked all day, and did so many other things that I would never have dreamed of doing when I was over 300 pounds. This band has changed my life.

Wow - marathoning, hiking up a volcano, kayaking, biking?

That makes it worth it right there. How cool that a tiny little band can improve our lives!

My Doctor told me that my weight issue could kill me, That is why I, started to lose weight and after losing the first 50 of so I could then a change in my face. thats when it tured in to a vanity thing now im hooked! I was on fire for fitness & health I now look into the mirror and see my self twenty younger and in good shape, and at the age of 41 Im hot.hehe.

I had absolutely no health problems before I got banded. I was just tired of being fat. I am 33 and I had been fat since I was 5 years old. I have a wonderful husband that married me fat and doesn't care if I gain or lose weight. It was all just for me. I wanted to look good.

Initially vanity didnt play a big part I was doing it for my health/lifestyle/children...However, now after having Lapband Surgery vanity keeps me motivated...I keep working to show off...I discovered my X was cheating 2 weeks before I had the surgery so I am very keen to show him what he missed out on!!!

Initially vanity didnt play a big part I was doing it for my health/lifestyle/children...However, now after having Lapband Surgery vanity keeps me motivated...I keep working to show off...I discovered my X was cheating 2 weeks before I had the surgery so I am very keen to show him what he missed out on!!!

Sorry to hear about your misfortune, but I would like to give you a high five and say that I hope you have every success !

I think vanity plays a part. I did it for what I call "quality of life". Part of that being health. I was borderline diabetic and had high blood pressure. The doctor wanted to put me on meds for both. The other part of the quality of life thing for me was to not be seen as the jolly fat guy, or to be able to go to a sporting event and not worry if I would fit in the seat, or go to a concert and buy a concert T-Shirt like everyone else, or go to a reseraunt and not have to wait extra for a table because I couldn't fit in a booth, etc. I don't know if I consider that to be vanity or just being able to be "normal".

I have no health problems outside of being obese but my family does and my main reason for having the surgery was because I didn't want to develop those problems. I also want to have children but I want to be a healthier weight before doing so. But there is still that side of me that wants to be sexy...what woman doesn't?!? :heh: I would be fooling myself if I said vanity didn't play a part in my decision. I have people tell me all the time how beautiful I am, but I don't see it. When I look in the mirror, I see fat. I want to be attractive for my husband, I want to turn heads and I want to buy all the cute clothes that everyone else is wearing. Vanity, although not the main reason, was definitely a factor for me.

When lying in bed at night, where all your fears rear their ugly heads....my health was on the forefront. I would imagine dying from one of the diseases (High blood pressure, diabetes on the way, strong familial history of heart disease) I was dealing with, and no one being able to lift my casket at the funeral. I could see them rolling me out, and every person there knowing it was because I was too fat to carry.

In the light of day---vanity was the most obvious. I didn't want to be looked at funny when I went out to eat. I did not want to be the biggest person in the room at DH's company Christmas party. I wanted to buy clothes and bra's off the rack, in ANY store!!! But I knew my diet history....and knew that as badly as I wanted it, it was a distant if not impossible dream, until I heard of lapbanding!!!

Now 75 pounds lighter, in the daytime I do still recognize the "look" change first and foremost......I have dropped sizes, and can shop in "normal" stores!!! But true to form, at night when thinking back on things it is the fact that I no longer take a single prescription medication! And should an accident happen---my casket CAN be lifted!!! Warped yes.....still comforting to my overactive mind!!

Kat

Well, I'll be honest, Vanity DID play a huge role in my decision. Turning 40 and being fat was not fun for me. Health is starting to deteriorate too, so I'm telling my DH its for health reasons, but deep down, I want to be sexy again!

Its like Justin's song goes "I'm bringing Sexy Back!"