Hello - this is my first post. I've just started the research/insurance process on this journey. I'm a nearly-46 year old female from Central IL. As with most of us, I've battled weight since college and tried every diet known to man. I now have sleep apnea, hypertension and many potential problems due to my weight and family history. I work full time and my husband and I have a photography and DJ service, along with a 17-year-old son. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired, so here I go! Coreen

Hello - this is my first post. I've just started the research/insurance process on this journey. I'm a nearly-46 year old female from Central IL. As with most of us, I've battled weight since college and tried every diet known to man. I now have sleep apnea, hypertension and many potential problems due to my weight and family history. I work full time and my husband and I have a photography and DJ service, along with a 17-year-old son. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired, so here I go! Coreen

Congratulations on your decision and welcome. You can get lots of info here. If you have chosen a doctor and hospital, I would suggest starting to go to their group support now. I began my journey last summer at 252 lbs. I had to do a 6 month supervised diet for insurance, so during that time I came here, went to group support, had some of my doctor visits, and read everything I could. My diet finished in January. I decided to bump up my exercise (from just Curves) and added walking. My insurance took 4 weeks to approve me and I had surgery 3/25/08. My original BMI was about 38 with everything on the co-morbidity list except diabetes (high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, GERD, knee arthritis). I got my head around no longer eating the way I used to (work out at Curves and pick up a pizza on the way home for dinner) and the results are in my signature line. Good luck on your journey.:cry_smile: