What was the final straw to decide this?

[Anumarie 17]

I've considered wls for about six years now, however I got to my highest weight, developed hypertension and then the joint pain came. I've been on and off diets most of my adult life plus my family has a history of HBP, heart disease and diabetes... I'm 37, my mother died at 55 and I don't want to follow the same path. So I've decided WLS and a permanent change to a healthier lifestyle is just what I need to live a full life.

[SunflowerGal 30]

I was always opposed to weight loss surgery mainly because somebody I worked with about 20 years had terrible side effects (she was always running to the bathroom and it would sound as if her stomach was exploding, and the bathroom stunk!).

I have been overweight my entire life. I have dieted throughout the years but was never able to keep my weight off. The most success I've had was losing about 100 pounds through a medically-supervised program. I was under 200 pounds for about 5 minutes.

Fast forward to this year. My doctors gave me pills to lose weight; I did not want to take them. As mentioned, I've tried several diets over the years and it seemed like pills and surgery were the only options I had. I noticed a colleague had lost a lot of weight and she said that she had lost 100 pounds in 6 months via the gastric sleeve. She has followed her doctor's instructions to the book and has not had any complications. After talking with my colleague, I decided surgery was the route for me to take. I received a referral from my doctor and my consult is in early September. I'm hoping to have surgery in November (cash pay).

More specific "final straw" reasons include:

• Wanting to be physically healthy.
• Wanting to live a long and healthy life.
• Wanting to longer use my CPAP for sleep apnea.
• Wanting to get my back (core) feeling better.
• Wanting to eliminate knee and feet pain.
• Wanting to walk and talk at the same time (without being winded).
• Wanting to walk up stairs without being winded.
• Wanting to be able to buy a coach airplane ticket (I usually upgrade because I cannot comfortably sit in a coach seat). And, wanting to stop having to ask for a seat belt extender.
• Wanting to have physical endurance.
• Wanting to not have to think about things that I may be too overweight to enjoy, like a helicopter ride.
• Wanting to feel comfortable to put a bathing suit on in public, which I did up until about 40 pounds ago.
• Wanting to accept my body as it is.
• Wanting - and enjoying - to have my photo taken. I was fortunate to visit Italy last year with some photographers; I don't have one nice professional photo of me. I was too afraid of what people would think when editing a photo of me, even though I KNOW they wouldn't pass judgment.
• Wanting to not judge myself because of my weight and also wanting to not place my self worth on my weight.
• Wanting to get rid of the memories people have told me over the years that are weight related (calling me Moby, telling me things like "you have such a pretty face, if you just lost weight" and "the reason you have such nice legs is from carrying all of that weight around").
• Wanting to weigh less than a professional football player.
• Wanting to shop in other stores besides Lane Bryant and Catherines.
• Wanting to have a social life and meet a nice man. I feel like I cannot meet the type of man I'm attracted to being so overweight.
• Wanting to buy pretty lingerie. I now have to wear sports-like bras because underwire bras hurt me.
• Wanting to feel like I have control over my food and life instead of food having control over me.
• Wanting to really love my body (I just don't love it as much as I think I should due to my weight).

I'm sure there are more "final straw" reasons... these are the reasons that are top of mind.

I am looking forward to my journey and have enjoyed reading all of the great messages on these boards!

[Pinkgirl1234 761]

Well said.

[Mountaingal 322]

I decided next year is the year I will finally see the Rockies. I want to walk in the mountains and enjoy the trip without carrying a lot of extra weight every extra step. Then I thought this is the time for me. If I leave it any longer it may be too late. I have taken care of others my entire adult life and have cared for a post stroke husband for the last 4 yrs. I had wanted surgery 5 yrs ago but my husband's Drs were not in favor of it (like it was their business) and since I would be self pay I did not fight for it. This time I was going to have surgery whether my husband liked it or not. Guess what...he was right on board with me after seeing me work so hard to care for him all these years.

[Jennifer Ostermeier 45]

I'm brand new on this forum and am 2 months into the process. It really helps to read your tips and ideas about this surgery. I am on 2 different hypertension medictions, a statin and an antidepressant. If I can just get rid of a few of these I would think the surgery was a success. Thanks again for all of your posts. @@muzical1

[Amylou 206]

When our third baby was weaned and we had made the permanent decision to be done having kids, I realized that for the first time in several years, my body was my own again. No one residing in it our on it for food. I was so tired of being the largest person in the room everywhere I went - so sad of being asked by my 8 year old to stop volunteering at school because the kids would make fun of him for having a fat mom - so depressed from failing every single diet I'd ever tried...

However the last straw was having a friend have the surgery and absolutely glow afterwards. She'd always been a gorgeous person but seeing her spirit leap from her eyes in her new body is what pushed me over the edge - knowing that could be me too if I just started the process...that's what made me harness the negativity and use it to propel my journey into WLS.

7.5 weeks later - no looking back!!

[OKCPirate 5,323]

I completely relate to every post here. But what got me was listening to a Mental Floss pod cast on losing weight. And they went after the food industry yadayada but then he shifted gears and said - but the biggest problem is our bodies won't let us lose weight, and only 8% can lose it with behavioral change, but 80% who have WLS do. I remember yelling "I call BS." But I Googled it, found the Cleveland Clinic Studies and realized wow, this works. Spent a weekend researching it, found this site and really tried to find bad results videos (once I can accept the worst possible thing that can happen, I am ready to go forward). Finally found a window of time to have the surgery done and made it happen.

[gpmed 623]

I actually had a different kind of final straw. I first heard of WLS about 15 years ago when I was in high school. I lived in a small town and a group performing the surgeries about 45 minutes away was having terrible outcomes. Years later when I gained enough weight to potentially qualify, I didn't even want to consider it because I thought it was unsafe. I also thought I could do it on my own.

Fast forward to February of this year. I'd had some success losing weight over the years, even getting out of qualifying range for the surgery, but I inevitably gained it back. I'd tried everything. I was about nine months into my new job in marketing at an academic medical center. We needed to promote our bariatric surgery center, so someone asked me to write an article about a successful patient. (I remember thinking, is this some kind of joke? Assign this story to the way overweight lady?)

I quickly learned how safe the surgery is and about our clinic's excellent outcomes. I even interviewed my surgeon (by phone so he wouldn't be biased by knowing he was talking to someone potentially eligible for surgery) for the article. I asked him all the "tough" questions swirling in my brain. How safe is it really? How come patients can lose weight after surgery, but not with regular diet and exercise? Why did you choose to work with this patient population? He was very knowledgeable and sincere.

I was especially struck by a statement he made that people who qualify for surgery and don't have it have a 2 percent chance of losing the weight and keeping it off. Patients who qualify and do have surgery have a 50 to 60 percent chance of losing it and keeping it off. After so many failed attempts to lose weight and turn things around over the past eight years, I decided I can handle those odds! I'd learned so much about myself and my relationship with food during those attempts. With this added tool, I know I'll be ready to beat this once and for all!

Edited August 14, 2015 by letitbeatles9

[MrsKarenC2008 622]

Mothers ... wow ... you all nailed that ... mine doesn't like me to cry in front of her ... really?! I'm your child .. I can cry ... it's okay ... so throughout this surgery process I couldn't show my true feelings ... I had to keep smiling and say things are just rosey! Yeah right.

My final straw ... Wow ... I had lost 100lbs taking Healthy Trim ( weight loss supplement made here in ATL ) ... Took a year and I felt wonderful! Then .... the bottom fell out of my world ... my husband was injured at work and couldn't walk for a year ... that was my straw. I was so depressed and so much turmoil .. that I just ate and ate to comfort myself ... I put 80lbs back on ... and my bone-on-bone arthritic knees said "enough" ... so I went to see about a knee replacement ... doctor said he couldn't help me because there was so much fat around my knee that he couldn't bend it completely to do the surgery ... ( I have lymphedema in both legs too ) ... I was devastated ... so WLS was my only option. I just knew that within myself .. I couldn't loose weight on my own again ... I had to have help ... So here I am almost 6 weeks post-op and looking forward to a bright and healthy future!

[IncredibleShrinkingMan 437]

I had been slowly losing weight (mid 310s to mid 280s although vacillating quite a bit) over the last 2 1/2 years before my decision, and was really ready to pull the trigger at any point in there, but the last straw was a blood sugar reading that was inching towards pre-DM2. I had no history and it was like Russian roulette for the past several years with no concerning readings and a very good lipid profile, but I felt I had gotten very lucky for a while and did not want to squander that good fortune by continuing to be reckless. I had just turned 30, and suddenly for all the usual reasons I no longer felt invincible.

[ShrinkingButtercup 60]

I'm Gastric Bypass pre-op but here goes. There was no real "last straw". It sort of came to me slowly. I sought it out in 2012 but no one at the surgeon's office got back to me. I was discouraged and went on with my life, all the while gaining more weight.

Fast forward to January 2015. I made the New Years Resolution to lose weight. As my 30th birthday approached in June, I hadn't done a thing about it. Just kept gainin'. When 30 crept up on me, I decided it was time to change. I spent my 20s miserable. I was very depressed and that just helped me gain and gain. I did not want to spend another 10+ years being sad and anxious and fat and eventually very sick. So I made the important phone calls and set upon this journey. (Fun Fact: Same surgeon's office that ignored me at first. New staff makes one hell of a difference.)

I am truly blessed to not have much in the way of comorbidities. I'm 5'7" with a high BMI. That was enough for my insurance. Pre-Diabetes showed up on some blood work early on (Hello wake up call) but my surgeon doesn't seem too worried. (My PCP however...'nother story. 'nother time) and I still need a sleep study but I have no symptoms of sleep Apnea. At least apparent at this time. I do have back problems and joint issues.

If I am very lucky with my insurance, I'm looking at a December surgery date. (January is more likely. I'm a pessimist) I'm ecstatic to be starting to take back my life.

Edited August 14, 2015 by pushpin

[IncredibleShrinkingMan 437]

Happy (belated) Birthday, and welcome to the new decade. It is a painful awakening, but the first year of my 30s has taught me so much about life, and having surgery and losing weight are just by-products of a new person that has emerged from the depression and self-loathing that the end of my 20s brought. I had surgery the day after my 31st birthday, and it was and still is the best birthday present ever. I didn't even care that I couldn't having the usual cake and pizza. It felt so much better being free to dream and start again, and I hadn't even gotten on the table for surgery yet.

Good luck, pushpin. Remember there is so much that can and will get better in your mind and in your life before you even lose a single pound. We are the real surgeons here!

[MommaJ96 3]

Hi! My final straw was me! i am miserable! My life seems like a big huge mess and I feel I am to blame! Let me start way back....short version?...I have struggled with yo-yo dieting my entire adult life. Not extremely overweight, but chubby. I wore it well! I would gain some, then lose some. I was active and happy! Single "momdom" set in and I still was good! Met my wonderful husband, still "yo-yo" ing, but still good!

Got married, had a little girl, was able to stay home and be a mom, still good! Very active at home mom of two, kept happy, ate well, looked good, I think! Third child, OK, issues with pregnancy, OK. Lost a lot of weight after last child's birth! Great! Swear to keep loosing, not so great! Busy life, bad food habits, feed the kids, eat later! Work from home, eat later! Youngest off to school, empty house. Joined gym, doing AWESOME! Feeling great! BORED....go back to work! Desk job, no time for gym, need to be home for kids before and after school. OK. Treadmill and elliptical at home, we all know how that goes.....Tore meniscus, excuse not to exercise. 3 kids, overworked husband, desk job, lots of school activities, no exercise time, no time for me, picking at desk, stress eating at night, anti anxiety meds, too tired to walk any where; 10 lbs. added each year x3 years back to work, 20 lbs added during the past year.....Not as young as I used to be! MISERABLE! Do not recognize that tired old lady in the mirror. Where did that over confident beautiful woman go?

Relative had Gastric Bypass a few years ago, she looks wonderful. Her daughter had sleeve, she looks beautiful. I also know some that have had surgery and have done well, only to boomerang and gain it all back. I always looked at surgery as the easy way out, a "cop out", for people with major medical issues or a lot of money! I've been wrong! I have now done my research. I need this tool! I am a 46 year old, morbidly obese mother of 3. I can not walk very well, especially after sitting for a little while. I am tired! I am lazy! I don't like myself! I snap at everyone and everything! I am not fun! I have a very athletic, slim, healthy son who is starting his second year of college and 2 young (overweight) girls.

My kids need me. I can do this with the help of this wonderful tool! I did question surgery with my Primary almost 2 years ago, but I guess I wasn't ready? I decided to try losing weight by myself, I had done it before! Even the "miracle" pill all the celebs take couldn't help me! I went back to my Primary this Spring ready to ask for that referral! and he granted it! Yay me! I met with the Surgeon and had my initial consultation, along with the mandatory seminar and guess what? I am a candidate for Bariatric Surgery! Like I didn't know that...What I didn't know was that because of my weight and my short stature (5'2") I qualify with my weight and high BMI alone!

I have been doing a lot of research and a lot of googling. I am really looking forward to this.

I have to say, just taking that first step and going to this initial consult in June, my whole attitude has changed! I am so looking forward to finding ME again. I can not wait until surgery, I am sooooo ready. My family needs me to be me again, to have the energy to be me again, to be a true role model to my girls, to smile! I only have to wait 3 more months, luckily, I had 2 previous "weight" notes at my Primary's and need 6 for insurance purposes. I have the waiting game, but I got a call yesterday to set up a date for the surgery, October. Additional appointments need to be set up prior to that, you all know the drill, and 2 more weight checks, August and September, but IT IS REAL NOW, I have a date!

Sorry...

This was much to much......

My final straw was me!

[SPettijo 40]

I was going through job training and I wouldn't do the physical activities required and was asked to leave training. I lost a job I really wanted before I got to do one hour of meaningful work because of my ballooning body.

[Alex Brecher 10,486]

Good question, limichelle34. My final straw was that I couldn’t stand it anymore, and I had a way out. I couldn’t stand being overweight, and struggling with food, and facing the rest of my life being unhappy and overweight. I was in my 20s.

My way out was the lap-band, when I learned that my friend got it and it worked for him. That was it!