Attended surgical weight loss seminar

Last night I went to a surgical weight loss seminar put on by a local bariatric surgeon and his team. The doctor said he doesn't perform lap band surgery anymore because it's not proven effective in the long term. Just a few years ago my mom was trying to talk me into having that surgery with her. She got it, herself. Got down to a healthy weight but then gained it all back again. Whenever I pictured getting that done I thought I'd feel like Ping the Duck, in a childhood story I read, with a ring around his neck that prevented him from swallowing his fishing catch.

One thing the doctor pointed out in the seminar that I didn't know is that if you need to take medications regularly, and have them absorb well, a gastric bypass is not the best option -- you not only have limitations on absorbing nutrients, but on medications as well. The gastric sleeve, which is what my friend had, doesn't do this. But sometimes people get really bad acid reflux after the sleeve and end up having to convert to the bypass (which corrects the reflux).

I gave them my information at the seminar with the thought of starting their process in case my current gung-ho efforts at weight loss through increased protein and decreased carbs doesn't turn my health around enough. If I'm going to move forward in their process (which would take at least 6 months before insurance would approve it, including nutritionist and psychiatrist appointments leading up to the surgery) the next step is to get a referral from my primary care doctor and have him send over my labs etc. My next follow up with my primary care doctor is in 2 weeks, so I'll talk with him about it then.

Mommy dearest :-/

Last Tuesday I was out at Panera's with my mom and two of our friends who get together once a month for a sort of book club. I got there later than everyone else because of work. I ordered a half a tuna sandwich and a bowl of tomato soup. The checker said, "if you order a drink, you can pick one of the dessert items here for free!". I succumbed and got an iced tea (good) and an m&m cookie (bad, but still under my calorie budget for the day).

I went and sat down. My friend Kristin asked "what's in the bag" (my actual food was still on its way), and I told her some dessert, a cookie. "What kind?" she asked; m&m I said. My mom jumped in, "*Kristin* decided not to get a cookie because *she* went to the gym today!"

Yeah, thanks for that, mom.

I am trying to keep the peace like the good little middle child I am but my mom sure is pissing me off lately. And it's not just for the stuff she's doing today, like the cookie incident. I've been sorting through a closet full of old clothes from my high school days, and coming across pairs of pants and shorts that look so tiny to me now. Specific pairs that I remember wearing from back then. And remember, as in one incident after my first real boyfriend broke up with me, my mom sat me down and told me that in no uncertain terms he had broken up with me because I was fat, and that even if he was attracted to me, it wasn't socially acceptable to be paired up with a fat girl.

Many years later I found out that the real reason he broke up with me was that he's gay. And even if he wasn't, high school relationships are naturally short lived, that's just the way it is, and it's a learning process that everyone goes through. A mother's job is to comfort her children through those events, build up their self-esteem, encourage them to try again. Right? Am I far off here?