Hello Everyone,

My overweight journey began in 1978. It all began with my clothes fitting a little tighter, Jeans being harder to zip.

I shrugged it off as bloating thinking it will go away. I was wrong. Over the years I was under a lot of stress and food took on a whole new meaning of "comfort food." Now 30 years later, here I am from 116lb. in 78-263lbs. today.

My doctor discussed gastric bypass surgery with me back in November of 07, and I finally made the call last week. My husband and I attended a seminar this past Saturday and we were very impressed by the lecture as well as the guest speakers with their testimonials.

I go for my consultation tomorrow and maybe even setting a date for the surgery.

I'm stepping out on faith because my trust & faith in God is the strongest support I can have. My hubby means well, but he too is over weight and I have had so much trouble staying on a diet while trying to keep him on one at the same time. "I can't watch his weight and mine too."

I need to know what to expect having the surgery. At the seminar, they talked about "some pain," clear liquid diet for 2weeks etc. I need to hear from you, the ones who have walked down that road already.

What effects will I have, how long is the healing time and most of all; will I have excessively sagging skin and can I get rid of the sags without plastic surgery. I can bearly afford the consultation fee. "Thank God for insurance for the surgery!"

I hope you will help me in this journey. I came here because I know how important it is to know I am not alone.

God bless,

Suggabugga

Good for you suggabugga! I will go to my seminar on the 29th, and I am also looking to God to handle all of the "little" stuff about the surgey,including bills, family, work ect...

We walk this far by faith, lending on His every word. God places people and tools in our life to help us. You have made a wise decision. I am 7 days post-op, yes, some pain but doing OK. You find that this web site is great, a lot of wisdom found here. Be blessed.

Grammy in Columbus

Suga- You will do fine. Im 12 days post op and have little to no pain. I havent used my pain killers, only tylenol. This is the best thing you can do for yourself- just make sure your ready for all the mental things that follow.

Hi to all of you!

Doing your headwork prior to surgery is definitely one of the most important things. Figuring out when you eat, why you eat, and finding an alternative to food to cope with things is crucial to having a successful WLS experience IMO. Also, educate yourself about the dietary restrictions. Know that you will still be able to eat things that you "shouldn't", so you will still have to have willpower to refuse the temptation. Exercise is key to the weightloss as well as tightening that skin back up post-weightloss. Will all of the loose skin shrink back up? The response I saw on another thread here was that if you have stretch marks, chances are you will have skin hanging when you're done. The amount, I would assume, varies from person to person.

Those are all of your concerns I can address, being pre-op myself. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress and decision.

Suga- I am 8 days post-op and boy was my journey a leap of faith! I started the process to have gastric bypass over a year ago. While undergoing the tests, they found breast cancer. A year, chemo and radiation later, I finally got the lap band. (Decided that bypass would be a little bit much for my body to take).

I was apprehensive because I didn't know if God wanted me to have the surgery, or if he was trying to tell me not to by the cancer diagnosis. Well, one morning last month I was doing my bible study and it asked me to think of something that was weighing heavily on my mind, that I wanted God to communicate with me about. Of course, the lap band popped into my mind right away. Then, that very second, the phone rang. It was the Dr.'s office telling me that they had just received approval for my surgery! No kidding! Now if that isn't direct communication from God, I don't know what is!

Everything went fine. I was afraid that they would find cancer when they went in because I was having some pain in the area, but praise God, they didn't. The pain receeds rapidly from the incisions. The liquid diet is easier because you aren't hungry. BUT, My husband has been very spoiled for 25 years, and so I had to go back to cooking dinner (although not as often) for him. That is awful. He even made himself eggs and toast on Sunday morning 5 minutes before I would have been gone anyway to go to church. Smelling good food is hard.

The big pay off is weighing myself every morning. The weight is falling off at about 1/2 lb. per day. Yippee!

Thank you so much for your testimony. I am a strong believer in the power of the Lord. I know he can do anything but fail. I'm putting my trust in His hands. Keep me in your prayers and I shall keep you in mine. BTW, what is your name?

I'm Eva

Hi Eva, I'm Karin!

I am now 12 days post-op and feeling good. It is getting hard to stay on the stage II diet because I still have to cook for my husband. I finally caved and had a few bites of chicken. I chewed it really well and it was fine. I was full too! I have been steadily losing about 1/2 pound per day! I have my post-op appointment on Tuesday, so hopefully the dietician will upgrade me to mushy foods.

How did your appointment go? Did you get a surgery date? Is your husband going to do it too?

God Bless!

Karin

Hey tyme2findme,

You are an awesome and a strong person. Thank you for sharing your testimonial to how god is good all the time. Any apprehension I have or will have about being banded has been taken care of right now. I am very touched by your story. My god continue to bless you and your weight continue to come off. My surgery date is may 20th and I am currently doing the protein drinks along with chicken broth and yogurt. I have lost eight pounds since I started and I am now more focused on my goals because I don't have the worry of cooking for my dh because he does the cooking and he is very considerate when he cooks. He will cook just enough for him and when I look at what he is eating, he will ask me if I am o.k. with him eating and I will say yes. I spend most of my time on this forum reading and taking in the different problems and solutions associated with getting ready for surgery and I know that I can stay strong and do it. My name is Angela and I look forward to reading about your progress with the weight loss. god bless you!