For the pass few years my weight has been up and down. I've tried every diet, spent $1000's on gym memberships, diet pills and anything else that I thought would help me lose the weight. I have sizes 10 to 20 clothes to select from and it seems I may be moving up a size. My job requires me to dress business casual, but being a big girl, I spend more just to feel comfortable and look nice. I've have had people come and say, you getting a little thick but you still cute. It's funny that some people think overweight people are suppose to be unattractive. I just say thanks and keep it moving. Glad I don't have a self esteem issue or else I would have given up.

Nov. 26, 2011, tragedy struck, I lost my father and almost 90 days later Feb 4, 2012 my mother passed away. After the passing of the two people I loved the most, I started picking up weight because food was my friend. I tried to stop but it was hard. I found myself at my highest weight Jan 2014. I made an appointment with my doctor and she suggested I look into surgey. And here I am today, one visit from meeting with the surgeon to set the date to becoming a healthier me and be here for my two kids.

I'm in the pre-op stage and I think you've come to the right place. I've learned so much on the forums and it's really helped me understand just what to expect.

Keep a running list of questions for your doctor. I keep them in the notepad app on my phone so when I talk to him, I can get my questions answered.

Best wishes!

For the pass few years my weight has been up and down. I've tried every diet, spent $1000's on gym memberships, diet pills and anything else that I thought would help me lose the weight. I have sizes 10 to 20 clothes to select from and it seems I may be moving up a size. My job requires me to dress business casual, but being a big girl, I spend more just to feel comfortable and look nice. I've have had people come and say, you getting a little thick but you still cute. It's funny that some people think overweight people are suppose to be unattractive. I just say thanks and keep it moving. Glad I don't have a self esteem issue or else I would have given up. Nov. 26, 2011, tragedy struck, I lost my father and almost 90 days later Feb 4, 2012 my mother passed away. After the passing of the two people I loved the most, I started picking up weight because food was my friend. I tried to stop but it was hard. I found myself at my highest weight Jan 2014. I made an appointment with my doctor and she suggested I look into surgey. And here I am today, one visit from meeting with the surgeon to set the date to becoming a healthier me and be here for my two kids.

Hi Debra, congrats on making the decision to change your life and most important of all, improve your health for you and your children. My condolences to you as you mourn the loss of your parents. I pray that the support and encouragement you find on this site will provide you with the strength to move on to your journey to health and happiness and provide you with encouragement that helps you to be successful as you grow stronger in accepting the loss of your parents. God bless you on your journey and welcome!!!

I am 11 months post-op and one of the surprises was how much I like buying new clothes. It was a major motivator in continued weight loss until I reached my bottom weight. I went from a size 3X in shirts down to a Small and from a size 46 in pants down to a size 33. I replaced my entire wardrobe of clothes and it was fun. During my weight loss, I would buy a new shirt. It was so tight that if I took a deep breath, I felt it could rip apart at the seams. Two weeks later it would fit like a glove. That brought me immense satisfaction, very different than standing on the scales each morning. Good luck on your surgery.