I am curious as to how many members on here have been obese since childhood, just since adulthood, or just for the past handful of years. How do you think that has shaped your expectations of surgery and your body image?

I have only been obese for about 8 years. In my FB group, a lot of the women struggle with getting down to a smaller size because they aren't used to the compliments or they feel uncomfortable. I was "warned" prior to surgery that my brain won't catch up to my body size for a while. I have the opposite issue. I MISS the attention from men. My brain still sees me as skinny, so when I walk past a mirror I am shocked at my large size. I think that has played a huge role in my disappointment in the surgery and my unrealistic expectation that I should lose 50lbs a month. LOL. I am SO ready to be the me I know and miss, and losing "just" 70lbs isn't as big of an accomplishment as others may see it as. I will be proud when I accomplish that final plateau and settle into a size that my brain recognizes. I know this is a very different perspective than those that have been heavy since childhood, for example. Would love to have a dialogue about these differences and expectations.

My weight has gone up and down, but I've only been "obese" for the last 10 years. I would be "heavy" at times but not as huge as I was before surgery (100 pounds obese). I too didn't see myself as "fat" when I looked in the mirror and was shocked when I finally saw how large I had become. I'm 53 years old.

I truly do still get very distressed when I see how big I am in the mirror. My brain sees me as tiny and that's how I think other people see me. It's going to be so amazing when the outside matches the inside!

Hi there! I’ve been consistently overweight/obese for my whole life, but my weight really skyrocketed when I started college 4 years ago.

I used to get comments from men about my breasts before college because they were still comparatively large to the rest of my body. That mostly stopped when I got big.

I do miss it a little bit, and I would now describe myself as an extrovert stuck inside of an introvert. When I first meet people now, I’m very shy, soft spoken, and really acutely (and uncomfortably) aware of how much space I am taking up at all times. Then when I get to know people, I go back to my old sarcastic, funny, fun self. I’m looking forward to hopefully being that person full time when the rest of the weight is gone.

I have been obese off and on since childhood, I never saw myself as being that big until I had to have hip replacements then I had to face the fact that I was obese. I lost 160lbs in one year, so your weight loss is good, the mind plays a lot of tricks on you I am still getting use to the fact I can pick a pair of jeans off the rack and have to go back for a smaller size because they are to big, I don't know what the sizing is there but in New Zealand I have gone down seven sizes from a 30 to a 16 or 6xl to a L or xl so I am still getting used to it. I got asked what my goal weight was and I told my goal was to get two hip replacements and anything after that was a bonus so I had them seven months ago and have lost 37 lbs since then so I am happy would like to loose some more so if it happens it happens I am a lot happier than this time last year, good luck on your journey. What I find amusing is people who wouldn't talk to you before now talk to you and others you know don't also friends you haven't seen for a while don't recognize you for a start, I was on crutches for two years and couldn't drive for ten months so I didn't see a lot of people for a while.

I’m in the same boat. I only gained weight after my pregnancies. My weight has really shot up in the last 5 years. I’m dying to restore my body to what I feel inside. I feel like the real me is around 150 lbs but it would be a great bonus to be even thinner (I’m 5’8)

I have been big ever since I was a kid. I got married I was 240. And after each pregnancy I gained more weight. I have 3 children. My HW was 350 and had lap band surgery which I lost 70 lbs. Got down to 280. But I've been slowly going back up so had my band removed in September 2018 and just had my sleeve done on January31st 2019. I'm ready to start this new journey and get down to a healthy weight. I would love to get to my wedding weight for my 25th Anniversary in December...

45 minutes ago, mousecat88 said:

I truly do still get very distressed when I see how big I am in the mirror. My brain sees me as tiny and that's how I think other people see me. It's going to be so amazing when the outside matches the inside!

YESS!!! I feel the same way. Sitting in my work chair here...I feel tiny, but when I look in the mirror I don't see what's in my head. I know I'm lumpy with fat rolls, but I don't necessarily "feel big". I can't even look at my work badge picture because to me, it doesn't look like me. So I get you

Edited February 4, 20197 yr by ???????

To answer your question, I don't think I became "obese" until about 2007. I was married and we ate SOOOO bad. That's when I ballooned up quite near, if not 300lbs.

I've always been a muscular, strong person. People used to equate me to one of those Clydesdale horses As a kid I was slightly overweight, maybe just about 10lbs over. As a teenager I was active in marching band, had leg muscles solid as telephone poles and clocked in at about 170lbs my senior year. When I was 20, I got pregnant and skyrocketed WELL over 220lbs and never really lost it. Then once I got married, I ballooned up to 300lbs...got on Adderall in 2009 and lost 100lbs, got pregnant AGAIN in 2009-2010 and shot back up to 270 something. That's kinda where I stagnated until keto in 2017 and finally dropped to 240 something. Now I float between 245-250.

51 minutes ago, 247598 said:

When I first meet people now, I’m very shy, soft spoken, and really acutely (and uncomfortably) aware of how much space I am taking up at all times. Then when I get to know people, I go back to my old sarcastic, funny, fun self. I’m looking forward to hopefully being that person full time when the rest of the weight is gone.

YES. This. All of this.

34 minutes ago, Debbi Moore said:

I have been big ever since I was a kid. I got married I was 240. And after each pregnancy I gained more weight. I have 3 children. My HW was 350 and had lap band surgery which I lost 70 lbs. Got down to 280. But I've been slowly going back up so had my band removed in September 2018 and just had my sleeve done on January31st 2019. I'm ready to start this new journey and get down to a healthy weight. I would love to get to my wedding weight for my 25th Anniversary in December...


Best wishes with the sleeve! ❤️

Best wishes with the sleeve! [emoji173]️

Thank you so much.

I have been obese since I was about 12. I remember going to weight watchers at that age.

I do think it is completely different perspective wise for those that have been obese their whole adult life. I am shocked now when I see myself, I look small to people that have known me now that I am at a more normal weight.

I still worry about chairs with arms and stuff like that but the reality is I don’t need to. Old habits die hard either way.

I've always been large. You can see it in my class pictures starting around third grade probably. Even though I've always been large, I don't feel it. I'm still surprised when I look in the mirror even though this is the size I've always been! I'm very curious to see how my brain handles all of this long term.

Even though I haven't always been overweight, I've always felt overweight. In HS/college, I was likely in the high end of healthy weight (didn't stop my mom from putting me in WW/Jenny Craig/Nutrisystem constantly since I was in middle school). Got overweight in college, obese in my early 30s, probably.

Because I always thought I was big, I didn't realize I was SO big until I was morbidly obese. In a lot of ways, up until then, I was just growing into my self-image.

Edited February 5, 20197 yr by notmyname

Started expanding laterally when I was around 6. Looking back through old pictures, I reckon I hit obese at about 10 years old and stayed there until I was 26 when I had the sleeve done.