If you had it to do all over again what would you say was missing in your weight loss surgery experience thus far? Length experience doesn’t matter.

i love that i had my surgery. it has changed my life exponentially for the better in more ways than a hundred. i have ZERO regrets having it and would not change any aspect of it that i endured (both good AND bad) because that road got me to where i am today.

anything i did not know beforehand and/or had to learn or be surprised by during the actual process were non-issues in the grand scheme of things. just teaching moments really. sometimes i think its better to internalize a lesson when you when you find out the consequences of being on the other side of it, vs just being TOLD.

BUT.

i will say i do wish i had known 5-6 years earlier than when i first started looking into WLS that i would have qualified for it at a BMI of 35 with 2 co-morbidities. Instead i had waited until i got to BMI 40, because i did not know about the lower qualification. But whatevs. Better late than never!

Edited August 12, 20232 yr by ms.sss

On 12/3/2022 at 9:58 PM, Bee kami said:

If you had it to do all over again what would you say was missing in your weight loss surgery experience thus far? Length experience doesn’t matter.

All possible side effects besides weight-loss. That can be detrimental to your health. (Reality ) ?.

On 12/3/2022 at 9:58 PM, Bee kami said:

If you had it to do all over again what would you say was missing in your weight loss surgery experience thus far? Length experience doesn’t matter.

I wish I had realized that if I had pain or needed an in office procedure or whatever that drs would not just rx me pain meds like I was led to believe. I had back pain and had two procedures requiring NSAIDS and was basically left to tough them both out because I could not take them and they felt that rx pain meds were not warranted even though I told them my medical history. I even had a doctor ask me to leave his practice after I was telling him I was concerned about future pain management. I think he thought I had an addiction but I was really just in pain and scared because they weren’t helping me.

On 12/3/2022 at 9:58 PM, Bee kami said:

Coming up on 2 years post-op next month and looking back the only thing I wish is that I had trusted the process and worried less about losing. Give yourself grace.

Reading all these forum posts shows that everyone worries about the same things with mostly the exact same concerns; losing the weight. Its understandable considering its why we're all here and why we all had the surgery, after all we've exhausted other methods without success, but we need and should just give ourselves a break, step back and trust the surgery/process it will work as long as the rules/guidelines are followed.

Lastly, there will be loose skin and no matter what you do it will happen. No amount of anything; vitamins, collagen, exercise or sitting in vats of moisturizer will correct it. Just either learn to live with it or plastics if you can afford it. Just come to grips with it before surgery because it WILL happen. Like MIZ60 said get used to no shorts and no short sleeves and definitely no bikinis!

Edited July 28, 2025Jul 28 by BlondePatriotInCDA
Typo

On 7/28/2025 at 11:15 AM, BlondePatriotInCDA said:

Coming up on 2 years post-op next month and looking back the only thing I wish is that I had trusted the process and worried less about losing. Give yourself grace.

Reading all these forum posts shows that everyone worries about the same things with mostly the exact same concerns; losing the weight. Its understandable considering its why we're all here and why we all had the surgery, after all we've exhausted other methods without success, but we need and should just give ourselves a break, step back and trust the surgery/process it will work as long as the rules/guidelines are followed.

Lastly, there will be loose skin and no matter what you do it will happen. No amount of anything; vitamins, collagen, exercise or sitting in vats of moisturizer will correct it. Just either learn to live with it or plastics if you can afford it. Just come to grips with it before surgery because it WILL happen. Like MIZ60 said get used to no shorts and no short sleeves and definitely no bikinis!

You know what. Maybe it’s just me at this particular point in my life but I’m starting to look at my bat wings and jiggley thighs as battle scars like all of my other surgical scars. The weight loss is a fight just as much as any other medical condition and it’s something to be proud of.

Would you judge me for my masectomy scars if I wanted to wear a bikini that revealed them? I assume not. So why would should I feel like my bat wings or jiggly thighs are any different. Obesity is just as much of a disease as anything else and the extra skin mean you are winning the fight against it!!

Early out I had hoped that I would maybe some day be able to at least get my arms cosmetically fixed, but then they took out lymph nodes so they said that’s not a good option anymore.

You know what I did when I learned this. I went out and bought myself a tank top for the first time in about 15 years. I put it on my pasty white body and I wore it out in public.

This body has survived me abusing it for a lot of years and it’s fighting to bring me back to good health even still. I’m still a female so I’m not perfect at this but I try really hard to be less Critical of these little things that are less than perfect and just love this body that i FEEL so much better in.

I can finally do the things I enjoy. I try to skip the judgment and focus on that and my health and view the jiggly skin as a reminder that I need to continue to treat this body the best that I can so I continue to live my best life for many years to come. I know we try to cover things up that make us uncomfortable and that’s fine if that is what works for you, but letting it show is okay too. It really is just a testament to how far we have come.

I would say, I'm satisfied with it for the most part, but that I should've started way sooner.