Well... another introduction post! I'm so glad to have found these forums, reading through them you are all so supportive and how cool to have people going through the same thing as you are.

I'm 32 years old and weigh 330lbs. I've battled with my weight all my life. I lost 88lbs through Weight Watchers in 2008, but i'm horrified to say I have put all of it back on again - why? I'd love to come up with a variety of excuses, but to be honest, in my case, I guess it is just plain laziness.

So, fast forward to 2015 - now i'm a T2 diabetic. I need to take control of my life and stop letting food do it for me! In July, I went and spoke to a specialist about getting a gastric sleeve. He recommended the surgery for me - comes at a hefty cost - $20k. He seemed to think I may be eligible to get it through the public system, so i'm currently in the application process for that - i've been accepted onto the programme, now I wait for up to a year to be approved for surgery, if I meet the weight loss goals. I haven't met with the hospital yet to go through the motions as there is a 2-3 month waiting list, so just patiently waiting.

In the meantime i've started optifast VLCD to help me lose some weight. I'm on day 2 at the moment - a little hungry, a bit headache-y from cutting the carbs - but managing I'd love to hear from anyone else on the plan!

I feel like regardless of if I have surgery or not, i'm going to keep going forward. The only thing I have to lose.... is a lot of weight

Thanks for listening to my rambles...

Welcome, Amarie! I am not on that particular program, but I hope you achieve your goals.

Welcome Amarie83! Check out the Optifast thread in the diet section http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/pack...-oh-works.html
lots of info there!

Amarie83! Good attitude about going forward, surgery or not! I hope you reach all your goals! Good luck!

Welcome Amarie83! I'm new here too and I find so much inspiration here and read different posts for a little while in the evening before bed after I do my short evening walk on my treadmill. You can do it! Regarding your diabetes, have you ever watched the documentary "30 Days Raw"? You can watch it online. It's great even for people that are not diabetic.