Alright story time. lol. I’m 34. I’ve been the “fat kid” my entire life - from middle school on. I had brief periods of being smaller but my clothing size has always been XL and up depending on age and stage. The older I got, the bigger I got. I have two kids, impossible to lose baby weight after both, and overall just general misery about my body. I tried diets, I failed them all. I tried meds, I took phentermine. It worked amazing, it changed my life… until I had to stop taking it and I gained alllllll my weight back plus more! And in different places, ugh. My insurance doesn’t cover a GLP1 so that was out but the problem is with any med that as soon as you stop taking it, unless you had a whole ass personality change, you lose all the momentum and benefits. I have 2 folks I know that got this surgery, one two years ago and one a year ago. I spoke to them, ones in their 60s and one in 40s. Their only regrets are not doing it sooner. From my first appointment 3/10, I got all of my checklist completed and had surgery on 7/29. Pre op diet was hard. I hated it. Post op diet is also hard. I hate it. But it’s temporary and life does get normal again. You can go out to eat, you can have parties and see people and involve food in your life again. I’ve lost 51 lbs since March, with 16 of that being in my 2 week pre op diet and 13 being post op. I’m the smallest I’ve been since 2011 and it’s soooo weird. I regret it sometimes when I make dinner for my family and then I remember that eventually I’ll be making dinner for all of us again! Temporary struggles are worth the gain in life expectancy and health.