What made you decide to have a WLS?

[omrhsn 610]

Hi. I know that we all had our different reasons for having WLS. I did it because I was fed up with yo-yo dieting. I was on-off Keto diet for over two years. I've lost some weight and gained it all back in the end. The longest I've stayed on diet was 5 months and that paid off really well (lost 25 kg). But then Covid-19 hit.

I was about to go back to Keto diet in January 22 when my sister called to tell me she was going for the mini gastric bypass. That was the first time time I've heard of it. Fast forward three weeks and I'm on the plane flying to Egypt to have mine.

My "breaking point" was finally going back to work in the office and having to remove the arm rests of my office chair because it somehow "shrunk" and was squeezing my thighs.

How about you? What made you decide to have the surgery and what was the breaking point?

[MountainClover 81]

I have a bad knee.... again. The only way the dr will fix it is if I lose about 30 lbs. Im 68 years old. I cant breathe and cant walk because of my knee. I have been dieting forever and now I am losing a minimal amout of weight. My dr suggested it in April but I wasnt quite ready She refered my to a dietian and I have been following that diet and by July had only lost 5 lbs. I decided if I wanted to ever get my knee fixed and get off the oxygen I would have to have the surgery. The dietian said it would be the sleeve which I hadnt even heard of. I go for my first surgery appt on Tues. Im hoping it is not going to take another 6 months to a year for me to have the surgery.

[omrhsn 610]

22 minutes ago, MountainClover said:

I have a bad knee.... again. The only way the dr will fix it is if I lose about 30 lbs. Im 68 years old. I cant breathe and cant walk because of my knee. I have been dieting forever and now I am losing a minimal amout of weight. My dr suggested it in April but I wasnt quite ready She refered my to a dietian and I have been following that diet and by July had only lost 5 lbs. I decided if I wanted to ever get my knee fixed and get off the oxygen I would have to have the surgery. The dietian said it would be the sleeve which I hadnt even heard of. I go for my first surgery appt on Tues. Im hoping it is not going to take another 6 months to a year for me to have the surgery.

I hope all goes well with you. Good luck with the surgery

[liveaboard15 1,292]

one day i decide to go to my local mall. and i could not walk across from one end to the other without serious back pain and just exhausted. Also i am a person that enjoys traveling and everytime i travel i have to fly first class for the bigger seat and its so expensive. I could pay 400 bucks round trip for coach vs $1500 for first class... Also not being able to ever find any clothes that fit... Most stores dont carry anything larger than XL except for like Walmart. and pants size was impossible as well as no one really carried size 54. I am now a size 42 and can find that everywhere.

[ShoppGirl 3,424]

I was a lower BMI to start but only because I had basically been on a never ending diet for years. Just because of the portions of what I ate (even when it was nutritious food) I was gaining like ten pounds a year). Well my knees were starting to hurt when I exercised and I just knew that within a year or two when I weighed even more it was going to hurt that much more and make it impossible to exercise making me gain even more weight. I could see it snowballing and I decided to do something before it got out of control.

[St77 86]

I already was a pretty high risk for a stroke because my Migraines are in the stroke region of my brain. However, my cholesterol had sharply jumped up 2 years ago, I was having trouble walking very far without having trouble breathing and my blood pressure had gone up enough that my PCP wanted to put me on medication for it. She was trying to avoid that though because of the number of medications I take to control migraines and seizures.

Then came the part of going to places like Disney and Universal where I would get exhausted easily. I didn't have problems fitting into rides at Disney, but Universal is a whole other issue. I almost wasn't able to squeeze into some of the newer rides.

I realized that I was missing out on a lot being tired, needing naps all the time and wanted to improve my health. I'm fortunate to an amazing support system.

[SuziDavis 544]

I was so tired of not being able to so the things I enjoy. The last ten years have been miserable... I wanted my life back.

[Voogs 41]

I'm 66 and tired of taking meds for diabetes, high blood pressure (that never seems to go down) and thyroid issues brought on by the various meds for diabetes. I'm a 35 BMI , so on the low end but assorted diets and exercise never seemed to work. Hoping that the sleeve helps reduce the weight (245) and allows me to possibly drop some if not all of my meds.

[Tony B - NJ 641]

I had my surgery because of a little girl. My granddaughter has had such an impact on my life that I did not want to be limited in any way in the way that I interact with her and I wanted to make sure I was around when she grew and became a young woman. She was 4 when I made the decision and the last year with her has been exceptional and now, having lost over 100 pounds I know I am going to be able to continue being active flying kites, riding bikes, running around, crawling around playing on the floor etc, etc.

[Arabesque 6,565]

I had put on weight with menopause pushing me from 75kgs (always my highest bounce back weight) to 91kg very quickly. Could not shift it at all and after three years I woke one morning & said that’s it. Enough! Rang my GP straight away for an appointment to get a referral to a surgeon & not quite 6 weeks later I had my surgery.

Had a friend who had surgery a good year before, but it wasn’t really on my mind until that morning.

I didn’t have any comorbidities (except for my feet which would get sore from carrying my weight if I stood for a couple of hours or wore heels). I knew it was likely they were ahead of me though.

[omrhsn 610]

18 hours ago, liveaboard15 said:

one day i decide to go to my local mall. and i could not walk across from one end to the other without serious back pain and just exhausted. Also i am a person that enjoys traveling and everytime i travel i have to fly first class for the bigger seat and its so expensive. I could pay 400 bucks round trip for coach vs $1500 for first class... Also not being able to ever find any clothes that fit... Most stores dont carry anything larger than XL except for like Walmart. and pants size was impossible as well as no one really carried size 54. I am now a size 42 and can find that everywhere.

I've always dreaded flying. Having to always ask for seat belt extenders and getting "the look" whenever I get up to go to the toilet and ask the person next to me to move. Not anymore 😀. I flew back home in July 22 and for the first time in 20+ years I didn't need the extenders. I felt veery comfortable in my coach seat and there was enough room between my belly and the food tray. Looking forward to my next flight already

[omrhsn 610]

17 hours ago, ShoppGirl said:

I was a lower BMI to start but only because I had basically been on a never ending diet for years. Just because of the portions of what I ate (even when it was nutritious food) I was gaining like ten pounds a year). Well my knees were starting to hurt when I exercised and I just knew that within a year or two when I weighed even more it was going to hurt that much more and make it impossible to exercise making me gain even more weight. I could see it snowballing and I decided to do something before it got out of control.

You made the right choice for sure! I hope you are feeling better already

[omrhsn 610]

17 hours ago, St77 said:

I already was a pretty high risk for a stroke because my Migraines are in the stroke region of my brain. However, my cholesterol had sharply jumped up 2 years ago, I was having trouble walking very far without having trouble breathing and my blood pressure had gone up enough that my PCP wanted to put me on medication for it. She was trying to avoid that though because of the number of medications I take to control Migraines and seizures.

Then came the part of going to places like Disney and Universal where I would get exhausted easily. I didn't have problems fitting into rides at Disney, but Universal is a whole other issue. I almost wasn't able to squeeze into some of the newer rides.

I realized that I was missing out on a lot being tired, needing naps all the time and wanted to improve my health. I'm fortunate to an amazing support system.

I'm lucky that I didn't have any health issue despite being obese. We have diabetes in our family (both sides) and my changes of getting it was very high. I'm planning to take my kids to a theme park in December and I can't wait to try all the rides now that I can

[omrhsn 610]

14 hours ago, Voogs said:

I'm 66 and tired of taking meds for diabetes, high blood pressure (that never seems to go down) and thyroid issues brought on by the various meds for diabetes. I'm a 35 BMI , so on the low end but assorted diets and exercise never seemed to work. Hoping that the sleeve helps reduce the weight (245) and allows me to possibly drop some if not all of my meds.

Good luck reaching you goals. Getting off the meds is definitely a major goal.

[omrhsn 610]

14 hours ago, Tony B - NJ said:

I had my surgery because of a little girl. My granddaughter has had such an impact on my life that I did not want to be limited in any way in the way that I interact with her and I wanted to make sure I was around when she grew and became a young woman. She was 4 when I made the decision and the last year with her has been exceptional and now, having lost over 100 pounds I know I am going to be able to continue being active flying kites, riding bikes, running around, crawling around playing on the floor etc, etc.

Congratulation and well done! I'm glad you are enjoying your time with your granddaughter