If you are already sleeved, what is your biggest obstacle? If you have yet to be sleeved, what is your biggest fear?

I am yet to be sleeved. I think my biggest fear is skin problems after major weightloss.

Yeah, worried about the skin thing, too. I think other than that, I worry that I will be one of the ones who is still hungry.

My surgery is next week so right now, I am worried about everything!!! I think my most consistent fear through the whole thing is the loose skin. I know I will have it, but it distresses me that after an adult life of hiding because I am fat, I still won't be comfortable with myself. And how can I possibly afford all the skin removal surgery? My other big one has been the little "what if" devil sitting on my shoulder. What if I lose motivation? What if I gain my weight back? What if I have horrible complication? I think pre-surgery it is easy to be worried about things. But my post op friends are all very happy, so that gives me hope!

I am not sleeved yet and my two biggest fears are the loose skin thing as well because like the post before me I've hidden my whole life because of my weight and now ill have to hide skin. The second is fear of the unknown, meaning not knowing exactly how my new stomach is going to "behave" lol it is just nerves but I am sooooo ready for this journey!

I wonder how hard it is to get insurance to pay for skin removal. I have heard that it depends on infection or possible infection...
I guess we just need to do our part to exercise and hopefully the excess skin won't be so bad. Easier said than done, I know...

Maria, I know totally what you mean about the unknown. It seems like everyone experiences such different recoveries that it is hard to figure out how we, as individuals, will recover.

Yea I keep seeing people having different recoveries and it makes me nervous. I am hoping that my age and pain tolerance will help me out in this situation. I only fear it because of having to go back to work. But I've had some serious issues with pain and things so hopefully ill be ok.

Right now I'm worried about when the surgery is actually going to be done (my three month time line is putting me right around Christmas or a little after, I think), complications of surgery and how long I'll be out of work. Definitely worried about excess skin, but that's way down the road for me. I'm also afraid I will still be hungry all the time, and how I'm going to adjust to a "non-Fat" life. I've been THIS person for 37 years. How is this going to change me? Will I still like myself? Will my friends still like me? I know we think we're going to be the same person on the on inside but that's not always the case. I just hope I change (mostly) for the better.

That is another one of my fears! Will I be the same person my friends love now. The few who I have told about the surgery are already joking that I better not become a skinny bitch, mind you they are all skinny and not bitches and I am not skinny and already a bitch lol. I know they will be my friends no matter what but I don't want to change my personality for the worse.

Right now I'm so confused about what to expect post op based on the fact everyone has such different experiences. I hope mine is one where I don't feel hungry...these people who claim hunger pangs are freaking me out. I've never known life as a normal weight person. I've been overweight since I was a kid. I think in a lot of ways I've used my weight as a shield, so yes...totally daunting to think about not having that shield. I guess that's where support groups and maybe a therapist come in handy.

For sure! I plan on utilizing my program's post op support groups fully!

I have this completely illogical fear that this will be yet another weight-loss trick that works for other people, but not for me. Even though I've already lost weight and I'm just on the pre-op diet! Or, even less logically, that I will lose the weight, but still look fat. It's a mental thing that I'll just have to chip away at...somehow leave the string of failures in the past and focus on what's here and now. Not unlike a new relationship after a string of bad break-ups.

my biggest fear happened to me...I fell in the Courtroom full of people and couldn't get up off the floor. That was the day I decided to do something about it

I am four months out. So far most of it has been easier than I thought it would be. The first two days after surgery were harder than I thought - I don't know why - but I was not expecting extreme nauseau - but I dry heaved like crazy - serious yuck - but after those two days - it was amazing how fast I recovered. I was back to work in a little over a week. And have not had any real issues. MY biggest fear/obstacle is nothing makes me sick. You know how you read and this person can not eat chicken or this one can not eat bread or rice or sweet stuff or whatever? Well I can eat anything. I was kind of hoping I wouldn't be able to - but I can. SO my biggest fear is I will eat too much too often and streatch out my sleeve. I was loosing weight really good and am just (today) breaking a 4 week stall. I was so scared I had already ruined this - even though the doctor had told me stalls and plateaus are perfectly normal and nothing to panic about - I was panicking! But today the scale moved down again - I am so happy. Hang in there everyone - next year this time we will all be amazed about how much weight we have lost!
And Jessie - I am soooo sorry! That is brutal!

has anything changed?
not sleeved yet, i fear that i will fit in with everyone else and not stand out, crazy yeah, but as a giant big person, we get lots of attention, not good attention, but its still attention, ppl want to help us, or criticize us etc, once the weight is gone, then we are like everyone else and not special lol i dont know, once i typed it out, it sounds crazy lol

I'm new to the group, sleeved a week and a half ago, and I wonder if any of these fears were justified, or if time proved otherwise.
Updates please!!

I was sleeved on Feb 3,2014. I am now down 118lbs my biggest obsticle I would say is getting my head around stalls which happen more and more the further out I get I was losing everyday, then a few lbs a week now it's like one week a month that I lose...Just keeping it in your mind that a stall is only temporary.

im down to 220 from 355, my doctor noticed i don't have a lot of loose skin. you have to exercise, weight train, and drink min 64 oz water. please exercise as often as you can.

I'm pre-op. My biggest fear is that I won't lose the weight.