Making the decision

I have a friend who had gastric bypass 8 years ago.  After seeing what she went through, I swore to myself I would never put my body through that.  Especially since I have no co-morbidities!  However, my weight has continued to go up over these last 8 years, and technology continues to change.  I have another friend who did the lap band surgery in November 2010.  She is rockin the band and is doing phenomenally well.  My biggest issue was the surgery itself and the malabsorption of all the vitamins and minerals.  The band, in its design, alleviates both of these issues.

So,  after reading online a lot ( I lurk on lapbandtalk.com a lot!) and reading / watching blogs and videos of people who have gone on this journey before me, I decided to get information from a local surgery center.

Tonight was the seminar.  Now, since I am an obsessive researcher, there was not a lot of new information, but I did feel like it was an important step.  I looked up the information online (the same center my lap band friend used in 2010) and they had the seminar available online.  I thought about it, but decided I needed to go in person.  Making the decision and effort to go to the seminar in person was an important step to me.

Turns out it was a good decision.  I was SUPER nervous going into the seminar, almost shaking!  As soon as the doctor started his presentation though, I was able to relax.  I really like him.  I was able to calm down and become comfortable with this part of the decision.  Did you know that only 3-5% of the people who try to lose weight, do so successfully and long term?  I want to try and find the study where that info came from, but I thought it was very interesting.

He reiterated, just as I have read online, that the band is a tool only.  It does not provide an immediate solution, it is not a magic pill.  It is however a way for me to relearn what my body's signals are for full and hungry.

I'm working my way through the medical history paperwork now, and will hopefully have everything mailed in just a couple of days!

Let's start at the very beginning....

...A very good place to start!  My name is Sara and I am 31 years old.  I am starting this as a private blog, and if I get confident, I might just make it public :-)  I am starting a quest to a better me!  Don't get me wrong, I am usually pretty happy with myself, I consider myself a fairly outgoing, well-adjusted person, with some areas I would like to improve.

Part of this improvement is some weight loss.  I am well into the morbidly obese category when looking at the BMI.  For the most part, this doesn't bother me.  I am not on a ton of medications, or in the doctors every other week.  I am however at that point where my weight is limiting what I am able to do.

I am an outgoing person.  I crave adventure.  However, I am usually over the weight limit for those things I find adventurous.  I love to travel.  Last year, I had to get a seatbelt extension for the first time on an airplane.  It was rather humiliating.  This year, in Jamaica for my cousin's wedding, I was not able to do any of the excursions I wanted to do (the zip line through the jungle sounded amazing!) because at almost 300 lbs, I am over the 250-275 limit for most of the fun ones.

So, for the last year, my sisters and I (I'm one of 6 kids, but thats for another post!) started Weight Watchers together.  I rocked it for the first 5 months or so, losing almost 35 lbs.  IT FELT GREAT!  But, I started having difficulty keeping it up.  So for the last 7 months, I've been up and down determined not to gain it back, but not losing any more.

Which brings me to one of the big items I'm planning on blogging about.  My quest through the lap band process.