Hello,
I just found this board. I am beginning the process of being approved for WLS. I have been doing a lot of research and am leaning toward VSG strongly. I am 37 years old ( will be 38 in March) and struggled with obesity since childhood. I have all the typical horror stories of being teased and bullied about my weight. It didn't bother me much until middle school, when at the age of 13, I got on the scale in the locker room at gym class and was horrified that I was 200 lbs. I don't remember how tall I was at the time, but I'm pretty sure that 200lbs. on a 13 year old girl is fat. Then began my ongoing battle with my weight. I tried restricting calories and increasing exercise, only to give in to my cravings for food. I come from a tight-knit Italian family that always offered food as a sign of love. I also watched my mother struggle with morbid obesity, gaining and losing hundreds of pounds over the years. I soon began a battle with bulimia, that lasted 20 years. My weight went up and down, but mostly up, despite"getting rid of" a lot of food I ate.I have been in recovery from my bulimia for over three years. I don't binge and purge and no longer have the desire to. I want to live a healthy lifestyle and I've tried to be as healthy as I could be despite my weight. I try not to let my weight hold me back, I try to be as active as possible but it is getting harder (I have osteoarthritis in both knees and my right ankle) I think there is a certain amount of denial involved with me not confronting my weight. I think I don't want to be seen as an average fat person. I don't say this with any disrespect to anyone else. I just wanted to believe that I could live life and be ok fat. I wanted to be the one obese person who had normal blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels without losing the excess weight. Fir the most part I have been ok. My blood sugar is normal, cholesterol is good, bp could be better, but I have been convinced it is stress related (anxiety) and not weightrelated. The ttruth of the matter is I am morbidly obese, I weigh 340 at 5'8", which puts my bmi at roughly 52. It is getting harder to deny what obesity is doing to me. My body aches, my back, my knees, ankles, all screaming under the strain of nearly 200 excess pounds. I graduated from nursing school a year and a half ago. I am a licensed practical nurse. I work in nursing homes through a staffing agency. It is becoming abundantly clear to me that my nursing career will be dramatically shortened if I don't get control of my weight. Being on my feet for hours at a time is hard, I don't move as well as I would like and let's face it nursing home rooms, much like hospital rooms are not known to be spacious, and having big hips and a big butt makes it hard to maneuver around lol. Diabetes runs in my family, my mom struggles with it and many other obesity related health concerns. I do not want to head down that road. I know I am ok and can manage fairly well now, but what about a year or two or ten. I have seen it in many patients as well, morbidly obese, in a nursing home with diabetes, congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, arthritis that renders them basically immobile. I don't judge them, I can't, I have no right. I know all too well it could and may very well be me if I don't do something. I have tried dieting over and over and I always seem to end up heavier. I am down from my all time high weight of 358, but the scale is refusing to budge despite changes in eating habits and exercise. I hate that I have allowed myself to get this big. I hated my 200lbs body at 13, I wish I weighed that now. I haven't been under 300lbs in 7 years at least and forget about under 200lbs, I think 12 years old was the last time I saw that end of the scale.I feel ready to make changes in my life so I can be healthy and live an active life free of obesity related diseases. I am realizing more and more that WLS is something I need. Last week I went to a sseminar with the surgeon and my next appointment is for a nutrition seminar next week. I feel positive about this process that this will be a good thing for me. I know it is not going to be easy, and it wasn't easy to admit I need this surgery and accept that I am morbidly obese to begin with. I know this is just the beginning, the beginning of a chance at a better life. Thanks for reading this long story. I look forward to getting to know people here and get much needed support.