I am fat. There, I said it. I am 5'2" and 320 lbs. I have comorbidities and some extra special stuff too.

These are not excuses, these are facts:
-I have PCOS. My mother had it and my sister has it. Even thin people can have it, btw. It is a medically known fact to cause weight gain.
-I have Metabolic Syndrome X. Or, hyper insulin sensitivity. I have the dark bands around my neck and underarms to proove it as well as an endocrinology report. This causes the pacrease to over secrete insulin, and can lead to Type 2 diabetes. It doesn't have much to do with being fat, either, in the sense that anyone can get this.
-I have a debilitating case of autoimmune related arthritis. I am med dependent for life. If I knew why I got it, or how to get rid of it, I would be all over it...believe me.

With that said, I agree that if I got off my butt and exercised and ate right, I could loose some weight. However, I have had a life long battle with stuffing my face to shove down the bad feelings. The bigger I got, the more it took to make me feel better. It doesn't help when your family enables you because they too are struggling with their own food related issues and, at that time, unknown underlying health issues.
When I was 24, and found out that in addition to compulsively overeating, I had medical issues on top of everything else that make weight gain easy and weight loss nearly impossible, and well...I thought about ending it all.

At 27, I became nearly bed bound from the intense pain, swelling, fatigue and joint stiffness and deformities associated with the arthrits I have. I gained even more weight from the lack of movement and prednisone.

Thank God in Heaven a medicine came along that allows me to live more normally. I knew I had to take control of my health...control over what I could. And I decided that WLS was the right choice because, for me, I fear an early death such as my father's at age 58.

WLS is a tool. That's it. Its not a magic cure or an easy way out. It's a chastity belt on the gut to help you out. If you don't use it right, you will not succeed. I don't consider cutting your body open and reworking the plumbing easy. Do you?

So, to the trolls on here..and I call you such b/c you are here making noise and picking on people who are already suffering from the last acceptable form of discrimination(That is just plain bullying), you don't know what you are talking about so shut the Hell up.

So you feel we are fat b/c we are lazy and eat like hogs. Good for you. Now move on and find someone else to bitch to. You have no idea what its like to be trapped in a body that doesn't comply with your most heartfelt wishes. You have no idea what its like to be in agony, both physically and mentally, just trying to take a step.
You obviously cannot empathize with anyone who has feelings, so your opinions are not valid and not wanted. Please join a hatred board. I hear the Westboro Baptist church is always looking for new hatemongers.

To everyone else here, good luck on your journeys and I look forward to talking to you all.