Well first let me just tell you a little about myself, I am almost 23 years old, I have been overweight my whole life but the last 5 years or so it has just gotten out of control. I have thought about WLS before and the ins wanted 6 months of supervised weight loss and I had to lose 10% before they'd approve me and I just didn't go through with it. But now I have had two kids my oldest is 3 and a half and my youngest is a month old. I am at my highest ever weight. I think I'm ready to do this n then idk I'm scared it won't work, I'm scared of the side effects... Are they horrible? I am afraid I will never be able to eat normal never a piece of chocolate or anything. Idk what is true and what isn't. And I also am not done having kids... Can I have kids after my surgery without defeating the purpose of the surgery in the first place? Sorry so many questions but I'm just lost and feel hopeless.

First, breathe....it will all work out as it is supposed to, I promise!

Now, you don't need to worry about side effects and diets, just read, read, read. An Educated decision is the only way you will know:which surgery is best for you, whether or not you can or even want to deal with the post surgery lifestyle, etc.

I don't know what you would call eating "normally". I wasn't eating like a normal person before surgery, now I can have a bit of this or that now and then but it really is more normal now then what I was doing before.

Yes, you can have kids after WLS...they say you have to wait at least a year afterwards but we have a lovely lady, Jillybean, that posts here that is pregnant and has had the DS. She is about your age and is a wealth of information!

Please, look inside and find that YOU ARE WORTHY. Of love, of a long, healthy life.....whether or not you have WLS. If you don't believe you are good enough or believe you aren't worth it, there is nothing...WLS, weight loss, plastic surgery....nothing...that will work. Have you looked into counseling? OA? these two things I did for myself were key to my recovery from the reasons why I ate emtionally, how I found who I was and what I was worth. Be there for you, there isn't anyone that knows you, where you're going, or where you've been better then you!

Nothing is hopeless, sometimes it just seems that way. As an artist I look at it this way, you have to lay down the darkness to contrast the light...it makes for a more beautiful effect and adds so much depth to the painting...life is like that too, focus on the good and charish the harder stuff for adding to the beauty of your life!

Angela

I agree with MRSangelaks - breathe! I had my WLS when I was 26. I, too, had been overweight my whole life. I was 200 pounds before I even started high school! You can have a successful pregnancy after any of the various WLS procedures available (meaning the band, RNY, VSG, and DS). Be sure to research ALL of these procedures - when I started out, I thought the RNY and the band were the only options, and I was scared out of my mind! More research led me to other options, and I found the DS to be the perfect fit for me. I'm wondering if the VSG might be a good fit for you? But only you can make that decision - and I do mean YOU make that decision; select the procedure you want based on your own research before even talking to a surgeon. I say this because most surgeons do NOT perform all four procedures, so they are likely to try to "sell" you on one they DO perform, so they may not paint you the full picture on all the options.

Regardless of what you decide to do, I recommend getting started on the 6-month weight loss program. During those 6 months, you can continue your research (research procedures, research surgeons, research local support group/networks, etc.), and if you end up deciding against surgery, then you've had a few months of medically supervised weight loss plan - no harm done there!

I also agree that counseling may be VERY helpful. You're quite young with two young children - you've got a lot going on!

Oh, and yes, I am currently pregnant. It certainly won't undo all my progress - if I ended up gaining 120+ pounds during pregnancy, there's definitely a bigger issue at hand! So far, I lost 12 pounds during my first trimester (just by eating more healthy and keping carbs low - I did not battle morning sickness) and have started regaining and am now 22 weeks along and right about at the same weight as when I first found out I was pregnant. So, so far, just over halfway through my pregnancy, no net weight gain. I expect to gain some in the coming months, obviously, as my baby grows, but I don't expect it to get out of hand, and I don't necessarily expect I will gain as much as many other women since I'm still slightly overweight to start with. My OB will have a few extra growth scan ultrasounds during my last few months to make sure baby is growing well since she's confident I won't gain as much as one would expect, so they can't judge baby's growth based on my my weight/size like they normally might. But so far, baby is 110% normal - average size according to my 20-week anatomy scan with not a single abnormality to be noted.

This is my first baby, so I do not have a personal basis for comparison of pre-WLS versus post-WLS pregnancy, but I got pregnant with this one in my very first cycle off of birth control and have had a breeze of a pregnancy so far. I've even complained that it wasn't very exciting because I basically had no symptoms, didn't gain any weight, have no baby bump...it's like there's nothing to show for it! It became more exciting in just the past couple weeks because I canfinally feel him moving in there I do plan to have another child in the future.

Back to the actual surgery - I don't have any side effects from mine. I now eat more normal-sized meals and have no food intolerances (have never puked since I left the hospital except a couple times since I've been pregnant). I've never had diarrhea or hypoglycemia or reflux...I do get gas if I eat too many starchy carbs (like breads, pastas, rice, etc.), but I'm not sure if that's a side effect of my surgery or just from having been low-carbing for a long time. Plain ol' sugar (like candy or ice cream) doesn't bother me at all. I've had a pretty easy go of it. That said, it's NOT that easy for everyone; we all have our own individual journey, some with more bumps along the way than others.

I was scared that I could not eat normal again but I said to myself do you eat normally now ......NO
As Missangelaks and Jillybean said read read alot do your research.
It took me two years thinking and reading now I am booked in for my op 19 Dec and sometimes I still think am I doing the right thing but then I look at myself look at my life.
Yes this is what I want, what I need to help me get back to me.
I want a full life not a life half lived.
Take your time only you know if this is right for you.
Good luck

Thanks so much for your support and help. I thought I was so ready for this, but I obviously have a lot of research to do. In the mean time I will. Onto ur what I'm doing with my 1200 calorie diet, as it seems to be working and will soon add in daily exercise once I have the all clear from my OB. I need all the info I can get so everyone feel free to suggest or teach me anything you want to... Or even of you just want to share your story with me that would be a great way for me to think about others experiences... Just to let me know what may or may not happen

I am a couple of decades older than you and done with having kids so my perspective is a little different. However like yourself I've been overweight all my life and feeling pretty miserable about it. I looked at WLS about 4 years ago and my husband was completely against it but 2 years ago a friend of his had it done and it changed his mind so I got a referral last year and just had a VSG on October 21st. I did 3 weeks of optifast before surgery and lost 22 lbs on that and since surgery I have lost another 20 lbs. I'm so very happy that I did this and wouldn't change it for the world. Now about eating 'normally'. My personal feeling is that I have eaten more than my fair share of cookies, chips, chocolate, candies etc, etc in my 43 years and if I have to live 43 more years without eating any of that in order to have a better quality and healthier life than it is worth it to me. That is a decision I've made for myself because I can see that slippery slope that it would be so very easy to slide down back to the way I was eating that caused me to be morbidly obese. I miss not eating things that I used to eat. Coming into this holiday season it was killing me not being able to indulge in chocolates and cookies and all kinds of goodies. That stuff is going to kill me in the long run though if I keep thinking that way. Eating normally to me now means NOT eating that stuff, eating lots of good protein and fruits and veggies and drinking lots of water. This is my personal perspective okay. Others do have things like a piece of chocolate now and again but for me that is a couple years out from surgery when I've achieved my goal weight and feel confident that I'm not going to slide backwards. As well I am avoiding anything made out of flour so no bread, crackers, cookies, pasta and yes others can and do eat these but for me I am not at present. It's a matter of personal choice and how you want to live your life I guess. It has not been great at times but in other ways I am happier than ever. Food no longer controls my life and it took me a long time to realize that it did. So yes in some ways I miss the cookies and chocolate etc but in other ways I really, really don't. I don't miss how awful I usually felt after eating something I knew deep down I shouldn't be eating. I never realized that until after I had the surgery but I am a food addict and an emotional eater. For myself I feel I have to be very vigilant about anything I eat or drink in order not to go back to that person I was. It has not been easy but I really want to succeed in this, I want to be healthier and have a better quality of life and be there for my kids.

Great stuff Jen, I hope I can handle it as well as you have!

My mom had lap band surgery over a year ago and it has changed her life, good and bad. She was diabetic and went from having to insulin injections to having to take a low dosage pill. She had also lost a significant amount of her sight due to her diabetes which after surgery returned to sight with prescription glasses. She also feels better (most of the time) and is more confident and happy. Of course food is a constant challenge. She has to watch what she eats, how often she chews, and when she eats or she will get sick.

I am embarassed to admit that at one time I thought of wls as being the easy way out. Now I see there was nothing easy about it. It doesn't take away the need to diet but instead physically forces you to do so. For her the benefits have far outweighed the negatives.