What made you decide to have a WLS?

[omrhsn 611]

3 hours ago, Arabesque said:

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.

I'm glad you managed to do something before it was too late. It never crossed my mind before to do this but here I'm. There is a time for everything.

[Jeanniebug 473]

On 10/2/2022 at 11:51 PM, omrhsn said:

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?

Your story sounds very similar to mine!

I'm sick of yo-yo dieting, as well. I've been off and on keto for a few years, too. I actually lost 62 pounds doing keto, but it wasn't sustainable for me and I was STARVING ALL THE TIME. People say they're never hungry on keto. Ha! I wish! I couldn't eat enough food. And I think it changed the ghrelin and leptin in my stomach. Because now I'm either STARVING or I'm full - there's no in between. After going off keto, I gained back all but 15 pounds. Thankfully I didn't put on even more weight than I lost.

I've tried other diets and I failed all of them. I have diabetes and high cholesterol. My blood pressure, while still normal, is creeping up. I'm going to say that I have metabolic syndrome.

I'm 52-years old. With my co-morbidities, I don't think I'll make it to 60. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. I have a life to live and I need energy to do it. Gastric bypass in 34 days!!! Woo hoo!!!

[omrhsn 611]

4 hours ago, Jeanniebug said:

Your story sounds very similar to mine!

I'm sick of yo-yo dieting, as well. I've been off and on Keto for a few years, too. I actually lost 62 pounds doing keto, but it wasn't sustainable for me and I was STARVING ALL THE TIME. People say they're never hungry on keto. Ha! I wish! I couldn't eat enough food. And I think it changed the ghrelin and leptin in my stomach. Because now I'm either STARVING or I'm full - there's no in between. After going off keto, I gained back all but 15 pounds. Thankfully I didn't put on even more weight than I lost.

I've tried other diets and I failed all of them. I have diabetes and high cholesterol. My blood pressure, while still normal, is creeping up. I'm going to say that I have metabolic syndrome.

I'm 52-years old. With my co-morbidities, I don't think I'll make it to 60. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. I have a life to live and I need energy to do it. Gastric bypass in 34 days!!! Woo hoo!!!

All the best and I hope all goes well with the surgery and recovery. Please keep us posted on your progress

[blackcatsandbaddecisions 845]

For me it was realizing that if I could have done it on my own I would have at this point. It’s not a lack of knowing what to do or laziness it was a deeper issue.

As to why now? I have young kids I felt too exhausted to do anything with. I love to travel and I didn’t fit in a plane seat, full stop. I was tired of feeling like I didn’t want to meet new people or see old friends because of how ashamed I was of how I looked. I was tired of the very real everyday discrimination and judgement morbidly obese people receive. And I knew I would never be happy at 340 lbs. it would be a source of frustration and unhappiness my whole life. Some people are able to be content at any weight and I admire them but that wasn’t me. I felt wrong and miserable in my own skin, and I couldn’t do the physical activities I wanted to take part in.

[omrhsn 611]

2 hours ago, blackcatsandbaddecisions said:

For me it was realizing that if I could have done it on my own I would have at this point. It’s not a lack of knowing what to do or laziness it was a deeper issue.

As to why now? I have young kids I felt too exhausted to do anything with. I love to travel and I didn’t fit in a plane seat, full stop. I was tired of feeling like I didn’t want to meet new people or see old friends because of how ashamed I was of how I looked. I was tired of the very real everyday discrimination and judgement morbidly obese people receive. And I knew I would never be happy at 340 lbs. it would be a source of frustration and unhappiness my whole life. Some people are able to be content at any weight and I admire them but that wasn’t me. I felt wrong and miserable in my own skin, and I couldn’t do the physical activities I wanted to take part in.

I think you made the right choice for yourself and your kids. My kids were a big part of why I decided to do it. I wanted to be more active with them and do a lot of fun things that that see other dads do with their kids. My life changed for the better these past few months and I'm so glad that I went for it. Well done. I can see you have lost quite a lot and reached your goal.

[FarfelDiego 118]

My reasons are similar to many listed here. Knee pain, so many meds for high blood pressure and diabetes. When my doc suggested it I enthusiastically said YES

[omrhsn 611]

25 minutes ago, FarfelDiego said:

My reasons are similar to many listed here. Knee pain, so many meds for high blood pressure and diabetes. When my doc suggested it I enthusiastically said YES

I hope you are feeling better now.

[Tomo 1,157]

Life with a BMI over 60 was unbearable. I was in my late 40s when I had my first WLS. I waited far too long. I would've had a much better life, with better memories, if I had done it in my 20s. But I am a firm believer that "You are never too old to make things right. ~Anonymous". I'm in my 60s now and it has been the greatest ride of my life. I am so thankful WLS is available.

[omrhsn 611]

1 hour ago, Tomo said:

Life with a BMI over 60 was unbearable. I was in my late 40s when I had my first WLS. I waited far too long. I would've had a much better life, with better memories, if I had done it in my 20s. But I am a firm believer that "You are never too old to make things right. ~Anonymous". I'm in my 60s now and it has been the greatest ride of my life. I am so thankful WLS is available.

I can see you have achieved your goal. Well done and I totally agree with you that it is never too late to make things right. I had the surgery before I turn 40 and I lost 50 kg and went below 100 kg for the first time in 20 years just in time for my 40th birthday. I'm now going to try all the things that I wanted to do but couldn't because of my weight

Edited October 6, 2022 by omrhsn

[Leo segovia 54]

Hello from Canada. My reasons for surgery is peaked at the thought of my new born daughter needing me. I just turned 50 when she was born (my first and only). I thought I could not bear the thought of dieing at 65 from some complication due to poor health. I am diabetic and also suffered from ever increasing pains. Back, hands, shoulder pains. It never seem to end a new ache every day almost. I lost and gained weight too many times and had been looking at bypass surgery for over ten years as an opinion but was still undecided and often spoke and researched about peoples success and failures. I'm trying to be very realistic with my expectations of where I am am going from where I am. I have read here about some struggles some are having with staying with the strictness of the new diet routine. How some struggle with keeping food down and even reading about a concerned wife telling us about her husband eating beacon and eggs at week 3 or 4. He seems to have giving up or is in denial about how he had to rethink his relationship with the foods that have lead him to do the surgery in the first place. We all will struggle some more than others. This forum will for me allow me to be inspired and hopefully inspire in return to be better and push through the hard times ahead. If we're easy we would not be here. But we are here to help and encourage. Blessings for everyone and continued success. Keep at it!!

[AboutDangTime 34]

I've been struggling with the decision for about 4 years now. Back and forth on if I want it or not, only because it's a permanent option. That being said, I had a son about a year and a half ago which is my absolute world and I could not imagine a day without him, so I decided to go through with the surgery to help me lose the weight quickly, but give me the tools to keep it off this time, in order for me to be around for a long long time. Now I find out that my wife is pregnant with our next child, so this is perfect timing.

[Leo segovia 54]

10 hours ago, AboutDangTime said:

I've been struggling with the decision for about 4 years now. Back and forth on if I want it or not, only because it's a permanent option. That being said, I had a son about a year and a half ago which is my absolute world and I could not imagine a day without him, so I decided to go through with the surgery to help me lose the weight quickly, but give me the tools to keep it off this time, in order for me to be around for a long long time. Now I find out that my wife is pregnant with our next child, so this is perfect timing.

Congratulations for you both. One of my biggest decides was the birth of my daughter. It amazing how we can love something so small and precious. Best wishes on your weight loss journey to being a heather you. Keep at it.

[Starwarsandcupcakes 1,922]

I was in high school (late 90’s) and saw some kind of dateline/news special about bariatric surgery. By that point I was already doing diets with my mom. It had been in my mind since. Fast forward 20 years to 2019 and I had my appendix removed. At my post op appointment my surgeon (who also happened to be a bariatric surgeon- I didn’t know that when the hospital asked me if I had a surgeon I preferred. I chose him because he had previously saved my dads life) asked me if I had thought about weight loss surgery. I said I had and he recommended that I sign up for the program his office offered, so I did.

[HashiHope121 74]

Like some of you I was lower BMI. I was healthy but I had struggled for 10 years, my deciding point was when I realized that I didn’t want to suffer for another 10 years and then get the surgery. It was the best thing I have ever done for myself & recommend it to anyone struggling. Good luck!

[STLoser 1,087]

I had considered wls for about 20 years, but when in was a new RN in the late 90s, it had a pretty high mortality rate. I didn't have any comorbidities then, at 207 pounds, so it just wasn't for me. Fast forward 20 something years later and I was 393 pounds with a bmi of 69.9 (I'm 5'3") and had also recently developed high BP. I had also been diagnosed with severe asthma that was hard to get under control, not to mention how uncomfortable I was and unable to do so many things because of my weight, although I did a surprising amount for someone as big as I was. Anyway, in January 2020 my liver enzymes were the highest they had been after being high for several years and I got an appt. With a liver specialist. Before that I had my gallbladder removed and mentioned that to the surgeon who said he'd biopsy my liver. At my follow up appt., he said my liver looked really bad and that he didn't think I'd make it to 60 years old if I didn't lose weight. I was 48 at the time. He recommended wls. And for the first time, I had a doctor speak to me with compassion, without blaming ME for my weight and he told me how much safee wls is these days and that it would reset my metabolism. It was because of him that I decided that day that I would do it and I ended up having my SADI-S in July of 2020.
200 pounds later I am feeling amazing and like I can do anything. My asthma is so much better that I don't need to see my pulmonologist anymore, I don't have high BP, no longer pre-diabetic, and my liver enzymes are normal. I could go on for days about all the benefits. It was by far the best thing I ever did!

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