Good morning, Sorry for the long post.. But I think I'm gonna need some support here, my plane takes off tomorrow and my surgery is the next day. I am so getting nervous and jittery about the surgery and the new life that is about to begin. I sat there thinking last night that maybe i should just postpone this and wait and see how i feel later on. But I know I would be chickening out which is so unlike me and just making excuses like (I'm not that heavy, I still fit into my clothes (only because I had to keep buying bigger sizes), I can control my eating (so I'll just start exercising a lot more), Everyone loves me for who I am (but I have to Love myself too), I lost 11pounds so far on pre op so why can't I keep going and keep it off. And up to this point I have been strong and encouraged and very focused on this journey. So now I'm trying to talk/think myself out of it,

Thanks for listening and any encouraging words would be much appreciated

34 minutes ago, Tamwell said:

Good morning, Sorry for the long post.. But I think I'm gonna need some support here, my plane takes off tomorrow and my surgery is the next day. I am so getting nervous and jittery about the surgery and the new life that is about to begin. I sat there thinking last night that maybe i should just postpone this and wait and see how i feel later on. But I know I would be chickening out which is so unlike me and just making excuses like (I'm not that heavy, I still fit into my clothes (only because I had to keep buying bigger sizes), I can control my eating (so I'll just start exercising a lot more), Everyone loves me for who I am (but I have to Love myself too), I lost 11pounds so far on pre op so why can't I keep going and keep it off. And up to this point I have been strong and encouraged and very focused on this journey. So now I'm trying to talk/think myself out of it,

Thanks for listening and any encouraging words would be much appreciated

I don’t know how old you are, but in my personal experience my weight has continued to go up and I have developed more health problems from it in the last 5-6 years. For reference, I will be 47 in a couple of months. I cannot imagine waiting longer to change directions from the path I am current on because of how my health has suffered from obesity in recent years. I cannot tell you how much I wish I started this process 5 years ago instead of stopping enjoying life due to joint pain and negative self image. My people love me the way I am, but I am not feeling the love I should for myself.

Think of the path you are currently on. Is it the one you want to stay on for the rest of your life or do you need to make a change?

You can do this! You have made it so far already. We are all cheering for you!

being nervous before a surgery is very normal. I felt that way before every surgery I've had. But I'm sure things will go just fine!!

as for losing weight on your own, statistics show that fewer than 5% of people can lose a significant amount of weight and maintain it. So maybe you could, but the odds are against you. Having WLS will not guarantee that you'll lose a bunch of weight and be able to maintain it effortlessly, but it greatly improves your odds.

I put off WLS for YEARS because I thought I should be able to do it myself. But I kept repeating the same pattern - lose 40-60 lbs, hit a brick wall, gradual regain until I was back where I started. It happened over and over and over again, for almost all of my adult life. I finally admitted to myself that I was never going to lose the 200 lbs I had to lose, if I couldn't even maintain a 50-lb loss for more than a few months. So at age 55, I took the leap and had the surgery. Best decision I ever made. I should have done it YEARS ago!

Feel the fear and do it anyway!

Surgery is scary. Not only is the actual surgery and recovery a big thing to go through, but it will make a permanent change to your body and you don't know yet how you will feel long after the surgery is over. It would be weird if you were not freaking out a little bit.

I just want to tell you to trust yourself. No one knows better than you why you decided to do this in the first place. You can do it tomorrow, wait a little while, or never do it. You are the best person to make that choice.

However, I do want to push back hard on any thoughts you have that it should be easy to lose 100 lbs without surgery because you recently lost 11 lbs. Studies are very clear on this. Losing a few pounds over a short period is something almost anyone can do - losing a significant amount of weight for more than 2 years is very rare. Depending on what you count as success - your chances of doing it on your own are about 5%. And even if you do succeed, you will be fighting against your body the whole time - you will be hungry and tired because your body will think you are starving to death. In contrast, bariatric surgery succeeds 60-80% of the time, and comes with similar big improvements to diabetes, cancer, and long term mortality. A year after surgery, people end up with a metabolism that is fairly normal for someone of their size - the surgery really resets your body's weight set point.

Don't buy into this weird moralistic view of obesity that says the problem is just lazy gluttons with no willpower. The data shows that surgery is the best treatment there currently is for obesity. That's why I decided to go ahead with mine.

That's a great point about changing course and avoiding future medical issues. I got a revision to SADI DS in May. At the beginning of the year I had to get a MRI for hip problems. I also had serious high blood pressure. My family has a history of diabetes and with my morbid obesity I'm sure I would have developed diabetes if I made no changes. So far this year I've lost 82 lbs. I have almost no issues with my hip now. I've reduced my blood pressure medicine from 20 mg to 2.5 mg. My last two weeks' readings have been perfect.

On 7/2/2020 at 6:37 AM, Tamwell said:

Good morning, Sorry for the long post.. But I think I'm gonna need some support here, my plane takes off tomorrow and my surgery is the next day. I am so getting nervous and jittery about the surgery and the new life that is about to begin. I sat there thinking last night that maybe i should just postpone this and wait and see how i feel later on. But I know I would be chickening out which is so unlike me and just making excuses like (I'm not that heavy, I still fit into my clothes (only because I had to keep buying bigger sizes), I can control my eating (so I'll just start exercising a lot more), Everyone loves me for who I am (but I have to Love myself too), I lost 11pounds so far on pre op so why can't I keep going and keep it off. And up to this point I have been strong and encouraged and very focused on this journey. So now I'm trying to talk/think myself out of it,

Thanks for listening and any encouraging words would be much appreciated

@Tamwell, how are you doing? How did surgery with Dr. Illan go? I am leaving for TJ in less than a week to Hospital BC....when you are able to, please let us know how things went, and how you are doing now. ?

Surgery was the best decision ever... I've lost weight before but it always came back on.. but with the bypass I've lost more than ever and kept it off for months now and feel amazing...