The Mis-Con-Sleeved Chronicles

I HAVE NO REGRETS. But there is a lot of fear that comes with weight loss surgery, and I can't be the only one who has gone through the anxiety and worries that I have felt and still feel. I lost about 30 pounds before surgery, and since my surgery have lost 30 more so since November ( about 6 months total) I am down 60 pounds. I can expect to lose 80 or even 100 more pounds by my year anniversary of surgery. I am so ecstatic, but there is one dark cloud that hangs over me; loose, excess skin. I'm sure there are a lot of people who are on the fence of weight loss surgery and/or an extreme weight loss journey who have this fear as well. And we just have to face it. There is no way of knowing if we are going to have to deal with it (but we should absolutely expect it). We can't know how 'bad' it will be, how it will effect us or what it will make us feel. What we can know is that it can't stop us from achieving our goals. Although it has been giving me extr...

Although, no one has told me directly to my face that I took the easy way out of my weight problem; I know the stigma exists and the thought has passed someone's mind when they discovered my "super secret" method of losing all the weight. Just take a look at comments on any entertainment social media page about a brave celebrity who took the leap into bariatric surgery and see the hurtful and ridiculous comments that both heavy and healthy people write. "I lost 100 lbs. without the help of surgery" "Look at her using her fame and fortune to get cosmetic surgery" The uniformed comments go on and on! A certified surgeon once told me that the success rate for a person who needs to lose a significant amount of weight (over 75 lbs) is 1%.   That is a 99% failure rate. (Without Surgery) Firstly, it is just a tool! The surgeons do not use a magic stapler that melt away all the fat in your body and have you come off the table 100 lbs. lighter. Your jaw...

Being over-weight gets a bad rep. And there are tons of scientific studies to shame society for waving their finger at us for being lazy and lacking will-power. I, myself, once believed I was just lazy and did not have the power within me to lose the weight. I would get positively motivated by these TV shows or negatively motivated by an insult thrown my way, but ultimately would gain back any of the weight I lost. And as a person who was always considered "big", even during my adolescent years, I never had that satisfaction of being a skinny, fit or non-plus size girl. And I blamed myself, just like society did. This is a misconception. We don't choose to be fat. Just like no one chooses to have mental health problems, alcoholism, diabetes, cancer, etc. There is a long list of causes that come into play with obesity, and only a part of it concerns a lack of exercise and healthy diet choices. Genetics and your body's set weight point is the biggest part of decidi...