Im new to all of this

[Mandy325 1]

Hi my name is Mandy. all my life as far as I can remember I have been overweight. I am now 25 years old and weigh 325 pounds. I am so ashamed of my weight and im working the best I can to work it off. So far i have lost nine pounds of the 325 weight. Today my dr put me on a new weight loss medication called Phentermine. She also said that at my next appointment she wanted to discuss Bariatric Weight Loss surgery. As you can probably tell this has consumed my mind and i have allot of questions and allot of worries. I haven't fully decided if i want to go through with it yet but maybe you guys can help me by offering support and answering a few questions i have.

1. Is this surgery risky in any way?

2. How do you guys feel about the recovery and success rates?

3. If i already have some mental health and self esteem issues is this a good idea?

4. My doctor told me my stomach is the last to go when loosing weight. How do i go about looosing all the access fat is my stomach area?

5. How long does this process usually take? Im trying to go from 316 to 125

Thank you for reading this and taking the time to answer my questions. i hope to make friends on here

Sent from my RCT6K03W13 using BariatricPal mobile app

[Healthy_life2 8,319]

16 minutes ago, Mandy325 said:

Hi my name is Mandy. all my life as far as I can remember I have been overweight. I am now 25 years old and weigh 325 pounds. I am so ashamed of my weight and im working the best I can to work it off. So far i have lost nine pounds of the 325 weight. Today my dr put me on a new weight loss medication called Phentermine. She also said that at my next appointment she wanted to discuss Bariatric Weight Loss surgery. As you can probably tell this has consumed my mind and i have allot of questions and allot of worries. I haven't fully decided if i want to go through with it yet but maybe you guys can help me by offering support and answering a few questions i have.

1. Is this surgery risky in any way?

2. How do you guys feel about the recovery and success rates?

3. If i already have some mental health and self esteem issues is this a good idea?

4. My doctor told me my stomach is the last to go when loosing weight. How do i go about looosing all the access fat is my stomach area?

5. How long does this process usually take? Im trying to go from 316 to 125

Thank you for reading this and taking the time to answer my questions. i hope to make friends on here

Sent from my RCT6K03W13 using BariatricPal mobile app

Ask lots of questions at your appointment. Understand surgery is not a magic pill to lose weight. You will have to learn to eat healthy and exercise. Your food choices you make will make you successful.

(1) your medical professional will give you information on the risks.

(2) Recovery from surgery? For me I healed and bounced back quickly. Success rates and statistics you can google. Also ask your Dr. I'm three years out and maintaining.

(3) You will have a mental health eval as part of the pre surgery screening. They want to make sure you can handle this process and change behaviors to be successful.

(4) You have no control of where your body gains, holds or loses weight.

(5) This is not a race Each of us lose weight at different rates. It's not how fast it comes off...It's the FACT it's coming off.

[Mandy325 1]

Thank you very much

Sent from my RCT6K03W13 using BariatricPal mobile app

[CaliforniaCandy 67]

I'm new as well, with my orientation 1/6/18, so let me tell you what I've been doing. It might help you.

Read everything you can on this website. Most of the threads are extremely relevant. Many people ask questions and get answers that could help you in your journey to a decision.

The people here are super friendly and very helpful so don't be shy about posing your questions.

Nice to meet you. Good luck on your journey through this website.

[Nessy76 134]

Hi Mandy, welcome!

1. Is this surgery risky in any way?

Every surgery has risks. Not sure what bariatric surgery you are contemplating (gastric sleeve, gastric bypass etc.) , but bariatric surgery in general is very safe and you will be put through a battery of tests to make sure you are healthy enough to undergo surgery. You have to also weigh the risks of surgery with all the health risks that come with morbid obesity (diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, sleep apnea, etc, etc.). It was an easy decision for me.

2. How do you guys feel about the recovery and success rates?

Recovery was easy, for me, everyone is different, but generally you feel pretty crappy at first but then there is marked improvement each day and people are often back at work in 2-3 weeks. Success can vary, the surgery is a tool to help you shed the weight, you have to put in the work to help create healthier habits for long term success. Often this requires work with a mental health professional to help uncover why we are abusing food.

3. If i already have some mental health and self esteem issues is this a good idea?

Only a mental health professional can tell you for sure and you will have to be cleared by one to proceed to surgery. Many obese people suffer from low self esteem and depression, there isn't much joy in being overweight.

4. My doctor told me my stomach is the last to go when loosing weight. How do i go about looosing all the access fat is my stomach area?

Everyone loses weight differently, that's really impossible to say.

5. How long does this process usually take? Im trying to go from 316 to 125.

I don't want to kill your joy, but it's important to have realistic expectations, depending on the surgery the average bariatric patient loses between 60-70% of excess body weight. You have roughly 175 lb of excess body weight ( given a normal BMI of a 5'5" woman is ~150lb)... the average patient your size would lose 122 lb..that would put you around 200lb. This is the AVERAGE, so many people exceed this and many don't even lose this much...

I have seen several people on this site shed 100lb in year.. the weight comes off faster at first and then slows down considerably.

As others have said this is a big decision and not a magic bullet, you will have to be mentally prepared to make some life changes. There is a lot of great information on this site, i spent hours and hours reading through posts prior to my surgery. Make a list of questions to ask your dr and surgeon. Overall, you will find very few people here who regret having their surgery. Good luck to you!