Hi Pookyl. I've never had or needed weight loss surgery, but my sister has had it. She felt she needed it. Her main concern was her health. Vanity was surely a lesser part of her decision, I believe. She had developed diabetes type 2 and that concerned her a lot.

My sister has bipolar disorder. I have bipolar disorder, too. She's definitely struggled at times, though was never disabled from it. At the time she prepared to have the surgery, she was able to handle the rather challenging expectations. She then had the surgery and there were strict dietary restrictions, particularly right after the surgery. She did great! She was well and lost a lot of weight. Her mental wellness (incl. dedication and motivation) was crucial to the process.

I'll admit that it's been a while since her surgery. She's fallen back to some of her old eating habits. She's put on some of the weight that she lost. The surgery does help as an assistant to keeping her weight in check, but doesn't do all of the work for her. She still has to watch her diet. She told me recently that she might need to go back on diabetes medication after being able to get off of it for a while. I hope she can get back on track so that isn't necessary. Getting back on track is hard no matter what.