I've had a couple of family members tell me stories of people they know who had the gastric bypass and gained all of their weight back. They are asking me if I'm sure I want to spend the money on the sleeve. I defended my position in the moment but it's is creating second thoughts..how is everyone else dealing with this?

Ignore them. They don't know what they're talking about.

Everyone is different, some people don't follow the rules and revert back to bad habits , stay focus trust in your judgement good luck.

You MAY gain the weight back. That is possible.

But if you don't do this you will CERTAINLY stay fat, right?

This will give you the best chance you're ever going to have at loosing and maintaing weight loss. Of course, as you hear over and over again, it is only a tool. It is a very powerful tool that you can utilize in your efforts to be healthy, but the ultimate success will be determined by the decisions you make.

Figuring out and understanding why you eat when it's not necessary will be key in concurring this battle once and for all. Spend time researching the procedure but also on doing some real soul-searching so that you can address the REAl reason why weight is an issue.

If I had a nickel for every time a "well-meaning" soul has told me about someone who had WLS and gained it all back I'd be a fricken millionaire! Quite frankly it really peeves me because it's like they want you to fail and thus prove them right in all their mistaken and uninformed ideas about WLS. Most of us do struggle at some point to maintain our weight loss. The surgery isn't a cure and one must still work at keeping the weight off and deal with all the emotional and behavioral issues around food and eating in order to have long-term success. The majority of people who've had WLS do keep most of their excess weight off.

I have a close friend who had RNY about 8 years ago. She was 325 at the start, lost about 80 pounds, had skin removal surgery (although the surgeon recommended losing more weight) and proceeded to drink rum and cokes daily until she gained back all the weight and has a whole new set of physical problems. The problems that happen as we start to hit that 55-60 age range. Once she had the surgery, it was as if she couldn't fail. Ate mashed potatoes on the way home from the hospital, hard candies with the week ...

While she's the one I compare myself to, my brother also had RNY, left 340 to 185 and has settled in there for about the last 3 years or so. He's rooting for me, close friend isn't even mentioning surgery.

I'm not really talking to people about it because I already know that is the kind of feedback I am going to get, people love to share horror stories. Not everything is going to work for everyone, and people who do not continue to live a healthy lifestyle are not going to succeed.

Great info y'all. Thanks. I feel better and knowing this is my tool for my new life that will be all about better choices is how I think I will succeed long term.

Keep that attitude and you will be doing fabulous!