I started my journey on March 1st. My insurance requires 6 months of supervised diet. By my 6 month mark I had lost about 42 pounds and was very excited to be sleeved. Took 3 weeks to get approved. Then when I had my preop testing my EKG came back "irregular". After well over a month and lots of tests I am happy to say that while my heart "beats to the beat of a different drummer"- this is perfectly healthy and fine for me. So last Friday the cardiologist gave me a "low risk" for surgery. My surgeon immediately scheduled me for Nov 24th.

Here is my dilemma... I started at 286 and am now 227 (59# loss) I still have 92 pound to goal. I am 7 pounds away from being below 40 BMI. I called my surgeons office today and told them I wanted to cancel. They told me to think about it for 24 hours and give them a call back tomorrow with my final decision.

Yes, I have been a yo-yo dieter- lost weight and then gained it back. The difference this time is that I was always "on a diet" and would actually try to "cheat the system". This time I feel like I have had a total mind shift and am concentrating on only putting good and healthy items into my body--and seem to be doing just fine for the last 8 months. I read about folks who after about 2 years from surgery start gaining weight back and then having to start all over. Not sure if I want the constipation, gerd, and a plethora of other "inconveniences" that seem to be things that folks dealer with forever after surgery.

I would be so interested in hearing back from all of you and getting your input.

Thanks

Yvette,

I am 3 months out and besides the egg and sausage morning snack and the desert I basically eat about the same as you. I have 6 ounces of fish for dinner and 1.5 ounces of veggies

@@MarciaN

You have a tough decision to make and of course no one but you should make it.

I was a habitual yo yo dieter so my opinion is based only on my own personal experience. I have lost hundreds of pounds over the years (I am 52) only to gain it all back and then some. At first losing weight was easy for me so honestly I'd I gained some back, no problem I knew I could lose it again.

The problem with that thought process is we do not realize what we do to our metabolism by yo yo dieting. As I got older that weight got harder to take off and was usually put back on in a shorter period of time adding even more weight.

Then by the time I hit 48 years old it simply would not come off at all. It did not matter how little I ate or how much I exercised, i would lose 10 or 15 pounds out of the gate, get stuck and then give up. This was difficult to accept because I am a stubborn woman and have great will power.

The heavier I got, the worse I felt. I literally destroyed my joints and particularly my spine. Then of course all the comorbitities come on and pretty soon it is just a vicious cycle of trying regaining and getting fatter. I ended up with a huge list of comorbitities including stage 3 kidney disease.

my situation is a classic case of metabolic disease that I brought upon myself. It was never going to get better without surgical intervention.

When asked if I ever regret having bypass, my one response is I only regret not doing it 10 years ago. I truly truly mean that. I am now 127lbs lighter, 17 lbs from my ideal weight. I am thrilled I did it every day. I should also say, I literally destroyed my spine and unfortunately there is nothing that will take my pain away or resolve my severe arthritis.

My only advice would be don't let it ever go so long. If you get the weight off leveraging your new plan, great but work your butt off to never again let your weight or metabolism get out of whack.

I wish you the very best in your decision!

Thank you all for responding back so quickly. After a lot of soul searching I have decided that I will go through with the surgery. This was not an easy decision but I started to remember that I never can seem to EVER get below 200. And the odds are not in my favor to keep it off. The only regrets I see from people is that they wish they had done it sooner. I put a lot of effort into going through all the list of items to get approved and am proud of where I am now but want to be sure that I continue on this journey. You are such a wonderful support system! Thank you so much. Since I am so close to 40 BMI I do not want to lose this opportunity.

Thank you all for responding back so quickly. After a lot of soul searching I have decided that I will go through with the surgery. This was not an easy decision but I started to remember that I never can seem to EVER get below 200. And the odds are not in my favor to keep it off. The only regrets I see from people is that they wish they had done it sooner. I put a lot of effort into going through all the list of items to get approved and am proud of where I am now but want to be sure that I continue on this journey. You are such a wonderful support system! Thank you so much. Since I am so close to 40 BMI I do not want to lose this opportunity.

SO HAPPY AND PROUD THAT YOU, and YOU ALONE HAS MADE THE DECISION TO BE A HAPPIER HEALTHIER YOU!!!!!

I never had a problem losing weight. I did great on Weight Watchers, on Atkins, on South Beach…

My problem was maintaining my weight loss. Once I got to where I wanted to be, I lost focus and gained all my weight back. Plus some.

I've been at my goal weight for over a year and a half. My restriction is very good and my inability to eat some foods suits me well. I don't have to think about maintenance too much, it just happens for me naturally now. I don't regret this decision one bit despite some of the minor complications I've had.

Best of luck in your decision.

This is me 100%- I have lost hundreds of pounds over the last 20 years...it is the ability to maintain that has been an issue.

What are the reasons you wanted surgery? Have any of those changed? Where do you think you will be in 6 months? A year? Will you regret getting the surgery and losing weight? Will you regret not getting the surgery if you don't lose anymore?

Really this is such a personal decision! Good luck with whatever choice you make! ????????

Oops! I missed the post where you decided! I am glad you were able to come to a decision! Good Luck to you!

I wish you the best going from this point, heading into surgery and coming out on the other side. You need be proud of reflecting past your initials fears, worries, doubts, what ifs and digging deep enough to summon the courage to go ahead with surgery.

I myself just canceled... Too many signs not to do it.. Was on or table and couldn't intabate. Then rescheduled 3 weeks later, got sick 2 days before and also found out pre opp testing needed to be done over And along with 4 other intervention delays I realize someone doesn't want me to go threw with it. I lost 30pounds so far and I'm gonna work my butt off(literally) and lose the weight myself. I was so ready for this but too many complications so far and im taking this as devine intervention Lol good luck and hope you can do it

Regardless of whether you've had WLS, you are still "losing the weight yourself." WLS is simply a tool to help you get there, not something that does all of the work for you.

...and lose the weight myself.

I lost 30pounds so far and I'm gonna work my butt off(literally) and lose the weight myself.

Ugh...I'm sorry you've had so many complications, but I agree, everything happens for a reason.

That said, those of us who have had surgery ALSO lost the weight ourselves. I can guarantee you that no one did it for me. I am sure you aren't implying that this is the easy/cheater/quick fix way to do things. I fought for every pound lost and I am mindful for every ounce regained.

What convinced me to get the surgery was the rate of success of maintaining the weigh-loss over 5 years. Its about 5-8% for behavior modification or 80% with WLS. That was what did it for me. I have gone down and way up for too long. This was the best chance of long term success and I grabbed it, despite being a BIG skeptic.

Be sure to look at this before making a final call: Look up Weight of the Nation (HBO special) and figure out just why it is so hard to keep it off after you lost it (HINT look here too: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/tara-parker-pope-fat-trap.html?_r=0) and you will see that your body is really conspiring against your weight loss.

Don't write off the surgery just yet. And look, you could just say, "yeah this guy is like a reformed whore or smoker, really holier than thou"...but all I did was run the numbers and look at the research and it was an easy call to make.

The lap band wasn't successful for me. I lost 80 lbs, but am gaining it all back. I am in therapy to find out what my issues with my weight are.

I didn't think I could eat so much with the lap band. Odd, but true, I can't eat healthy foods - throw them all up. I get hungry and only the junk like ice cream go down and stay down.

I think you might want to postpone the surgery. You can always get it later.

sounds like you made a decision that makes sense for you and that's the most important thing:) I have had a similar experience to many posters... even now, I have lost 45#s pre-surgery, but am having the sleeve tomorrow. I know that I've lost before but can't keep it off...this is just another tool to help me to do that.

Just a piece of information...when I attended the mandatory seminar for my surgery, the surgeon presented a PowerPoint. According to him, without surgery, the chances of a person keeping their weight off is only 1-2%. I thought the number was more like 5% but regardless of what the accurate percentage really is, it's nearly impossible. The 1-2% correlates with those who I have known personally. Of all the people I have known to be obese, there has only been one person who has kept the weight off long term (more than 5 years).

I was a volume eater when I was banded but 10 years later I had become a "slider" carb junky. It is because dense Protein and veggies often caused pain but junk food did not.

There are emotional reasons and there are physical reasons that obesity can win the battle.

Good luck, you can still win the war.

The lap band wasn't successful for me. I lost 80 lbs, but am gaining it all back. I am in therapy to find out what my issues with my weight are.

I didn't think I could eat so much with the lap band. Odd, but true, I can't eat healthy foods - throw them all up. I get hungry and only the junk like ice cream go down and stay down.

I think you might want to postpone the surgery. You can always get it later.