What made you decide to have a WLS?

[AuntieJ62 1]

I have had two knee replacements and one of them was a horrible mess from the start. I'd like to not have to have revisions as long as possible. I am so close to diabetic, but I have fought to not take any medications for 12 years after my messed up knee replacement. I am on medication for high blood pressure, my cholesterol is high, my hips are hurting and I just want to be able to move better without as much pain and live a very long happy life with my husband and our fur-kids. I have tried everything out there and loose weight, but it comes right back on when I try to eat real foods.

[Afrankrn 27]

I felt trapped in my body. We went to Lake Placid NY this summer, and my family wanted to do hiking/kayaking/etc but I struggled to make the 5 steps up to the condo. I was worried and embarrassed that the seat belts on the plane barely fit. The seat belt fastener on my car kept digging into my hips. Just maneuvering around was more difficult.

I knew I was obese, but I would never allow pictures of me, because in pictures I could see how big I really was.

I had thought about wls previously but always considered it "the easy way out". Figured if I had the willpower and determination then I could do it on my own. I had gotten down from 235ish to 194 about 3 years ago, but I got off track and gained it back all the way up to 259 lbs.

After the NY trip, I started on my wls journey. I just had the gastric sleeve on Oct 11 (so just a few days post op). I'm still in the "what did I do phase" somewhat courtesy of these blasted stomach cramps, but I am excited for the journey to come.

[Rebecca-RN 7]

Thanks so much for the transparency and openness of everyone sharing their struggles!

I have been researching (nurse brain here, lol) bariatric procedures for over 4yrs before finally being brave enough to seek out help. I’m almost 40 and have struggled with my weight my entire life. Have lost and gained back over 60lbs three times, but never in a truly healthy way. When all my scrubs were skin tight, and I was over the weekend gut limit for a bicycle, I realized I had enough - time wanted my entire life to change!

I used to love bicycling, hiking, and strength training, but have gotten so out of breath all the time which made me depressed, and then I had to have a hysterectomy and everything really changed after that!

so fast forward to now, I’ve lost about 10-15lbs since March/April and am scheduled for my sleeve provider in just three days!!

good luck to everyone

Edited October 16, 2022 by Rebecca-RN

[Afrankrn 27]

18 hours ago, Rebecca-RN said:

Thanks so much for the transparency and openness of everyone sharing their struggles!

I have been researching (nurse brain here, lol) bariatric procedures for over 4yrs before finally being brave enough to seek out help. I’m almost 40 and have struggled with my weight my entire life. Have lost and gained back over 60lbs three times, but never in a truly healthy way. When all my scrubs were skin tight, and I was over the weekend gut limit for a bicycle, I realized I had enough - time wanted my entire life to change!

I used to love bicycling, hiking, and strength training, but have gotten so out of breath all the time which made me depressed, and then I had to have a hysterectomy and everything really changed after that!

so fast forward to now, I’ve lost about 10-15lbs since March/April and am scheduled for my sleeve provider in just three days!!

good luck to everyone

Congrats on the pending surgery!

I am also a nurse and struggled with the decision for years. Despite being a nurse, I still felt determined that if I was going to do it "properly" I had to do it on my own with willpower and determination.

Honestly, prior to deciding this summer that I was going to do wls, I had no idea the work that went with it.

I'm now 6 days post op from gastric sleeve. I'm down 20 lbs. I feel fine with exception of struggling to get my Fluid (and now protein) intake up. I know lots of people struggle for the first month though, so I am keeping that in mind and pushing through.

Best of luck on your surgery!

[DaisyAndSunshine 272]

Horrible quality of life - That's what got me to do it. Anxiety, Depression and eating disorder had taken over my life. I lost out on a youthful decade of mine and last 5 or 6 years were the worse of the worst. I legit stopped living, didn't feel like doing much of anything social. My life was more or less my family, that's all. I had isolated myself away from friends, work and anything to do with life per se. Life had legit stopped and seemed like a vicious groundhogs day, I couldn't come out of.

And yup, heard of WLS back in 2017, but didn't know if I wanted it for myself given the *easy way out* outlook of WLS. But finally gave in and I am so effing glad I did. I couldn't be more than grateful. I mentioned this before, WLS has legit blew a new life in me. I just feel super blissful to be where I am today and look a certain way I always dreamt of in the past. Dreams can become reality and WLS has proven that. So yes, for me it was the fact that I was giving up on life, which I didn't want to.

[Edge13 54]

Diabetes. Saw how that story ended a few times. Didn't want to live it. Day after surgery they told me to stop all diabetes medication. Been good since. No heartburn, and no CPAP, are great bonuses.