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As of today, I am down 120 lbs. from my highest weight. My HW was 374 when I had my first appointment with a new endocrinologist in July 2019. My A1C was creeping up again and I was put on Victoza. I made a conscious effort beginning at that point, to maximize the weight loss side effect of the medication. I lost about 60 lbs. by the end of the year. In January 2020, my insurance began to cover WLS. I had my first appointment that month. The process of classes, doctor visits and supervised weight loss was going to take a minimum of 6 months. The insurance and program mandated everything was done through program providers. There was no option to see my local doctor or dietician. Covid slowed down my progression and I also made the choice not to rush to surgery when it first became available again. By the fall, I was ready to proceed. I managed to not gain a tremendous amount back (about 8-10 lbs.) but wanted to stop the trend. I decided to schedule surgery for right before the holidays so I could minimize the time off from work for recovery. I weighed 325 on the day of surgery on 12/14/20. Today, I am 254. Surgery was relatively easy for me. I had post-op discomfort, but no pain. I was able to tolerate and progress through food stages as expected. I’ve not been hungry or overly full since surgery. I do experience old, bad habits trying to creep in at times. I know that is always going to be the case. Surgery did not eliminate my want for food nor the thought of how nice it would be to eat large quantities again. That will also be an on-going battle. The hardest daily thing for me is not to eat and drink at the same time and then to wait until time has passed before I drink again. Eating slowly and thoroughly chewing has been a challenge (with sometimes painful reminders) but I am gradually getting more mindful. I feel better than I have in years. I don’t remember the last time I weighed 250. I would like to get to 180 but don’t know if that is achievable or realistic to maintain. We’ll see. I’m tall so that weight would put me just slightly over normal weight. I recently had 3 month labs run. Everything was normal and my T2 diabetes is currently in remission. I stopped all diabetes meds the day of surgery. The pressure was lowered on my CPAP but there is still a need for it. I’m not done. Even if I never lost another pound, I’m happy with the changes and the regaining of health. One of my primary motivators was the desire to not lose mobility. I’m fortunate that I’ve never had any issues with mobility but I could see the writing on the wall if I stayed the way I was or continued to gain. I did not want to have to participate in any of the pre-surgery preparation. I just wanted to have surgery and be done. I thought I knew all there was to know. And while I did know a lot going in, I really did learn things and have benefitted from listening and following the plan provided. I did not want to weigh, measure or track my food. But I did (and continue to) and it’s paying off. I’m troubled sometimes by questions that I read on this board and it leads me to wonder about the quality (or lack of) preparation that other programs offer. It makes me grateful that for once, I listened and learned. What I take away from this board is the wisdom and experience of others who are going through the WLS process now and those veterans who share strategies that have helped. I try remember that everyone’s experiences are slightly different but I still look for common themes (same process I use when I read vacation/resort reviews).

I'm only 6 months post revision, so I'm not really sure if there is a honeymoon period like I heard about with the sleeve. I too have gotten below my goal and significantly lower than I ever got after VSG surgery. But I was overweight, not obese, at the time of my revision since the surgery was done for medical reasons, not for weight loss. I really don't know why I've lost so much weight, since I feel like my insides have been healed for months. I try very hard to eat healthy and I walk 5-6 miles a day. But I would be less than honest if I said I never ate sweets, snack foods etc. I haven't been actively losing weight for the past month (only lost 1.2 lbs. in the last 30 days). I think I'm actually in maintenance, which would be great if I can just keep doing what I'm doing and maintain! If it's a honeymoon, I hope it keeps going.

This is what my surgeon is recommending for me to do has anyone had it and what exactly is it I have not been able to find much information about it

I just got my Surgery date! Its April 26th...anyone else having surgery in April??

My CO2 levels have been around 19 for as far back as I have records, and my doctor has never brought it up as a concern. I would think that CO2 poisoning would be HIGH CO2 levels, not LOW CO2 levels, so I don't think that's likely to indicate sleep apnea, but I work in oncology, so it's not something I have familiarity with. In fact I just found this: "People who suffer from the nighttime breathing disorder known as sleep apnea may develop high levels of carbon dioxide in the blood during the daytime -- a condition known as hypercapnia," - (Reuters article) So, a CO2 level of 19 is not caused by sleep apnea.

Even if it is.....the scale cant differentiate!!! 10 lbs is 10 lbs & F the haters!! YOU DID IT! CONGRATS [emoji3060] Sent from my SM-G975U using BariatricPal mobile app

I havent been losing much at this point nor do I want to. I lost 25lb more after the revision and have been maintaining it now for a good 6 to 8 months. I have noticed that if I dont eat a normal 3 times or more a day my weight will drop. I had a crown done a week ago and havent been able to eat on that side and dropped 7 lbs in a week!!! CRAZY

I’ve read that just the stress of the preop diet, they surgery stress itself on the body, and the recovery period immediately following surgery can actually trigger hair loss early on. I’ve been reading that Biotin and Iron are really critical to help with it.

Its hard to believe that there are people who dont believe in wearing masks it is an airbourne transmitted virus that means that you are in danger of contracting the virus everytime you are near someone not wearing a mask i wear two surgical masks ensure the nose clip is. Tightand a visor on top of that as you can contract it via your eyes as well Wearing a visor on its own is of no use without a mask i work as a nurse in an intensive care unit and it is so sad to see young people dying who we simply cannot save .This is a deadly virus and the UK variant is much easier to contract .I think wearing a mask a small price to pay to save your life and that of others in Spain you cannot even be on the beach without a mask The huge problem is all these covid patients worldwide are taking up ICU beds which there is a limited amount of it also means that patients are having procedures postponed as there is no ICU beds available i think if everyone spent one day in a covid unit watching people gasping for breath it might sink home to stay at home and if u must go out please wear a mask it just common sense really

You have a new opportunity to retrain your Stomach Beast to obey your Rational Mind. I discover bow & then giw easy it is to allow my eating plan to revert to the old sport eating habits. Even the 18 months I tracked each bite at under 1800 calories my weight didn't drop...but my pants size fell and so did my tshirt size. Don't forget to exercise whatever your meal planning. Cheers!