Very very new newbie

Hey, everybody.

I just today met with the insurance people and found out that surgery is a possibility for me, so I'm kind of hopeful and scared at the same time.

I'm 37 years old, and I've had to fight my weight all my life.  I'm 5'8" and presently weigh 335, which is just ridiculous and I'm tired of it.  I have no aspirations to being model-skinny (I'm just not built that way), but I finally bit the bullet and started seriously looking into WLS.  As you can see from my ticker, I'm hoping to get to 175 lbs (which would still be technically overweight) and see how I feel and look at that weight.  When I was 21 and in the best shape of my life, I weighed 165, which is technically slightly overweight for my height, but I was fit and muscular at that weight, so we'll just see how things go.

I'm leaning heavily toward the sleeve/VSG, because I take naproxen for arthritis (which I hope will be helped by finally losing some weight), but I don't want to have RNY and never be able to take my naproxen again.

I meet with the surgeon for the first time on 27 August.

I'm glad this board exists. 

Welcome to the forum.  I wish you well with your decision about Weight Loss Surgery. 

I am so happy that I decided to have it. I had my surgery on May 1, 2013, and I've lost so much weight and I'm so much healthier.  Also, I am not driven to eat as I was before surgery.  I have to remind myself to eat rather than constantly controlling myself to not eat.  It is such a relief.  The surgery made the weight loss possible. 

Best of luck with your weight loss journey.

Carol

Thank you.

I'm hoping to get to that point where I have to remind myself to eat rather than fussing at myself not to eat.

:)

Congrats on beginning the process, and good luck!

Thank you!  :)

Just wanted to wish you a wonderful weight loss journey.  I'm getting my sleeve done on Monday.  I have the band right now, it didn't work for me, caused complications..so it's being taken out first.  What I found on Obesity Help and in the is forum is tons of information and support.  :)  A wonderful place to visit to ask questions, learn and even 'brag' a little about both your scale and non scale victories. :)

I'm not keen on the band because of the potential complications, and also I don't like the idea of having something left inside me that isn't just direly necessary for life.

Best of luck to you in your journey too!  :)

welcome to the journey

 the most important thing is to find a great surgeon  with a great support group

 also start tracking your food on myfitnesspal.com , start with around 1200 cal

it gets easier

 I got my sleeve 3 weeks ago and have not had  any problems eating small amounts of anything I tried, mostly protein I can eat abvout 3 oz of fish, turkey ,meatballs  

So far I'm really impressed with my surgeon's staff and the support system around the surgery.  They have support groups and classes on how to grocery-shop and cook for post-op and all kinds of stuff like that.  I've met the surgeon briefly, and I like him too; the practice does a lot of WLS.

I've seen MyFitnessPal talked about around here a lot.  I used to use SparkPeople for a while, and then I joined the YMCA to exercise and started using their platform (ActivTrax).  What are the benefits of MyFitnessPal over other similar sites, or does it matter as long as you use one?

Thanks!  Best of luck to you, too.  :)

Welcome to the support area - I have found this place to be the one and only place where I can really be myself and just admit to needing help and knowing others out there can provide it.  I just had the sleeve procedure 3 weeks ago- I'm hoping the weight will start to come off faster, but my bigger goal is to develop some exercise habits that will support that.  Stay focused, you can do anything you want!

Tanya