Foxbins

I didn't do a pre-op diet. I started at 232, ended at 135; 97 lbs lost. It's seven years later and this morning I weighed 137. It is possible.

Seven and a half years after surgery and only my doctors know. It's no one else's business.

I didn't have surgery in TJ, mine was in Mexicali. It's seven years later and I regret nothing. I was 56 at the time of surgery, so after I lost 97 lbs my face was very saggy. I had a facelift the following year. Some of my body skin is a little loose, mostly on my thighs, but clothes cover it up and nobody looks at a 63 year old in a bathing suit anyway. Also about a year after my surgery I had to have my gallbladder removed due to gallstones that developed as a result of quick weight loss. I do have osteoporosis and GERD now. My endocrinologist thinks that I not only had a genetic predisposition to develop osteoporosis, but the drugs used to treat GERD have an effect on bone health and the ability of the body to absorb calcium. Also, I can't donate blood anymore because I don't get enough iron in my diet to replenish ferritin stores. I get enough so that I'm not anemic, I just can't give any away. Those are the negative things associated with my surgery but I would do it again in a second. I feel so much better thinner. I can move, airline seats fit, I don't feel like people are judging me for being fat. Best of luck to you, whatever you decide.

Well, my surgeon died, so I won't be following up with him. My Kaiser primary physician did all my extensive labs the first three years and then I moved away. My current primary is awful and I doubt she even remembers I had surgery. Two more years and I can go back to Kaiser. My endocrinologist is good about doing labs related to my nutritional status, he's trying to get osteoporosis in check and thinks it might be partially related to my surgery. I think the yearly labs are important but I don't know that everyone needs to return to their surgeon. I mean, if it's convenient, why not, but if you have a good primary physician I don't really see a need.

I had my VSG 7 years ago. When I was fat I had a round face and chipmunk cheeks. After I lost weight, without the fat plumping up my face I looked way older than 56. So I had a face and neck lift in 2013 and I think I look great. I have some loose skin on my body but the only person to mention it is a masseuse, who asked if I had lost a lot of weight. It doesn't bother me so I won't have a tummy tuck or anything, but I only lost 98 lbs, not hundreds like some people. My surgery was the best thing ever and I am happy everyday that I did it. Good luck to you!

I'm seven years post-op, lost almost 100 lbs, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. Until I was thin I never realized how much time and energy I spent thinking about food and about being fat. No more! Dieting never got me to the healthy weight I am today. Do what's right for you, but make up your own mind. Why would your coworkers not want you get healthy as quickly as you can?

It's just my experience but there is no rule. I couldn't eat chicken the first few years but I can now. Eggs are a "sometimes" food--sometimes they stay down, sometimes they come up. You will get to know the feelings associated with foods that are not agreeing with you on a particular day. I find that if something isn't agreeing with me, if I put it aside and try it a few hours later sometimes it will be okay. "Dumping" doesn't happen to me anymore and I think it's because I have included more fats/sugars into my diet. In the beginning it was almost all protein and I think my gut bacteria adjusted to that. Adding something high in sugar and fat just caused everything to be ejected. That said, I try not to eat a lot of desserts. My maintenance calorie intake is about 1400 cals and using up a third of them for a dessert just doesn't seem wise.

I had a sleeve done and what my surgeon said was a large hernia repair. About a year post-op, I got pancreatitis from an errant gall stone and had to have my gallbladder removed. It seems to be quite a common occurrence in people who lose a lot of weight quickly. Top 3 pieces of advice?? 1. Track your food, your calories. Empty calories go down easy but don't fill you up. Protein first, even now. 2. Measure your portions. I lost my hunger after surgery and it hasn't really come back, but I can still mindlessly eat if I'm bored or anxious. I still measure my food because I know I can be satisfied with less than my eye tells me if I just pile stuff on the plate. 3. Do weight-bearing exercise while you are losing and keep doing it. I lost a tremendous amount of muscle mass and it has taken quite a long time to rebuild the strength I had before surgery. It takes muscle to haul around that excess weight and it's easier to keep it than gain it later. Good luck with your surgery. I hope you are as happy as I am with the end result/

I went alone and I was fine, too. Stuck the carryon in the overhead going to MX, checked it coming home. It was no problem pulling it off the baggage conveyer and I wheeled it to the car. You'll do great, I was just tired when I got home, no pain at all.

I'm in Portland. I had my surgery in Mexico in 2011. I went from 232 to 134, today I weigh 140. People call me skinny! Happy to help anyone who has questions about life after surgery. Good luck, pre-ops!

I'm in Portland. I was sleeved in Mexico in 2011. My 7th anniversary is on Jan 13. Lost 100 lbs and it's still gone.

I know when I was recently post-op I wanted to know what my life would be like after the dust settled, so to speak. When I had surgery I was 56 years old, at a weight of 234 lbs and a BMI of 35.6. I wore a size 22 dress and size 10 shoes (I'm 5'8). Dr. Alberto Aceves did my sleeve in Mexico (a 36 trochar) and repaired a large hiatal hernia. I was self-pay. After my surgery I lost my hunger and also developed some food aversions. I lost 102 lbs over about ten months. I followed the post-op instructions as well as I was able although some days I was not able to drink all my protein. When I graduated to solid foods I learned that regular bread seemed to ball up in my stomach and it felt awful. So did noodles. Chicken made me vomit. I ate lots of shrimp and steak. I ate no desserts other than baked custard that I usually ate for breakfast. As my weight stabilized at 136, I had much more energy. I mostly walk and hike in summer, and swim indoors and ski in winter, but I am certainly not a fanatic. However, it is considerably easier to breathe and move almost 100 lbs. lighter than I was. Bad habits, though, can creep back. My hunger is still gone, but I have a tendency to eat when I am bored. It's easy for portion sizes to increase, so I consciously use my food scale and measuring cups. Also, my sweet tooth came back. I still can't eat cake (see bready things above) but let me tell you, chocolate candy and cookies go down just fine. But, I can easily lose five pounds in a few days when I am busy and out of the house and so I have managed to stay under 140 lbs (and size 6) since my surgery. (Oh, and I went down half a shoe size!) To this day I cannot eat too fast or it comes right back up. I still get the slimies but rarely--usually when I am very hungry and eat too fast. I can't eat bread easily, although toast is fine. I cannot eat salmon, tuna, or other fish that dries out in the cooking process. I frequently use sauces to slide dry food down and I have learned to cook in ways that preserve the moisture in food. Eggs are iffy--sometimes I can eat them, other times not. Vegetables are fine if the pieces aren't too big. Crunchy things, like crackers, chips, and apples, are fine, although I avoid the chips except at parties. If I have them here I will eat them, but out of sight, out of mind. That is the difference between pre-surgery and post-surgery for me. Before surgery, I thought about food ALL THE TIME. I would be eating breakfast and thinking about what to eat for lunch and dinner. If I had to go out I had a "snack" in my purse. If I traveled, I carried food with me and bought food in airports and roadside quickie-marts besides. Now I don't think about food except when the clock tells me it's mealtime or if I get a little light-headed because I've forgotten to eat. There have been some drawbacks to surgery. I can't give blood anymore because it takes too long to replenish my iron stores from food alone and iron supplements irritate my sleeve. I developed GERD about a year after surgery and have to take a PPI daily. I was diagnosed with osteoporosis this year--I had some risk factors unrelated to the sleeve, but a year of malabsorption/malnutrition probably didn't help, despite the liquid calcium citrate I took. All in all, surgery was the right choice for me. It did not change my life, but it changed my relationship to food, and for that I am profoundly grateful. I have so much more time to devote to other interests instead of thinking about what I'm going to eat next. I wish you all the best and hope to read your success stories in a few years.

I eat a protein-heavy diet, get calcium through a combination of diet and calcium citrate supplementation to equal 1200 mgs daily, take an adult multivitamin with minerals, and a weekly sublingual 5000mg B12. Labs have been excellent.

I developed GERD about a year after my sleeve. I take 40 mg of omeprazole daily and keep a glass of water by the bed if it wakes me up. Some days are better than others, and on especially bad days I might have to take a Pepcid in addition to the omeprazole. Have you made any dietary changes? Chocolate makes my GERD flare up. Try keeping a food diary to see if you can identify foods that make it worse.

Hello, all-- I had my surgery on 1/13 and have lost 50.5 lbs. I am running, lifting weights, sticking to my low-carb diet, and hope to be at goal by nine months. I have no food intolerances and I feel great. I haven't been shopping for new clothes yet but the old size 16's from ten years ago are fitting a little loosely now. How is everyone else doing?

Hi, everyone! I had my surgery in January of 2011 with Dr. Aceves and posted actively on this site for about 18 months; then got a new job and was busy. Eating just a little became a habit and not something I needed to think about all the time. At my lowest I weighed 134.5 but as my weight stabilized I stuck at 137.5-139, this morning I weighed 138. I find that I don't really need to think about counting calories any more or journaling my intake, it is just habit now, I kept track of everything in the beginning. I weigh myself every morning and I take my Vitamins religiously and mostly walk for exercise. I feel great and I think I look good too. My round face did get all saggy as the fat left it and I had a facelift in 2012, but then I'm 58, so you women in your 20's don't fret. My surgery was one of the best things I've ever done for myself and I have never had a single moment's regret. I had some food intolerances (chicken! broccoli! rice!) but they have resolved, though broccoli is still a little tricky some days. I told no one about my surgery and no one has guessed, though some people do tell me that I eat very slowly. That's okay with me after shoveling in all I could hold for so many years. I encourage you all to take one day at a time; it seemed like losing the weight took forever but it was only about seven months for me. I will admit I was very strict with myself and did ultra-low-carb until about a month before goal. I am glad I did. Best wishes to you all!

The first six months I ate no veg, fruit, starch, or sugar. Carbs came from dairy (half and half in my coffee and Greek yogurt) and whatever occurred naturally in meat. Most days I was under 20 gms, on yogurt days I sometimes hit 32-33. As a side benefit, I lost my sweet tooth and it's still gone today.

I have no magic wand to wave, but questions I am sure you have heard from others if you have asked before. What are you eating? Are you documenting all you eat (measuring/weighing, and counting everything)? Are you exercising? Are you drinking enough water? Are you close to goal? Low carb worked for me but others find it intolerable for different reasons. Eating less and moving more always gets me losing now. What worked for you in the beginning?

Thanks so much! You have done phenomenally, congratulations! Feels good, doesn't it, hitting that goal?

I was 56 when I had surgery in January 2011. I hit goal in seven months (BMI 20.9) and I feel great. I wear size six and have tons of energy.

I had my gallbladder out 10 months post-op and went back to eating high protein/low carb. No problems at all and I feel great.

I don't have similar stats but I'll give you my opinion as someone who is 2 years post-op. People with lower BMIs have less to lose and generally take fewer months to lose it all. It's difficult to stick to mostly Protein and green veggies when special occasions keep coming around and what I have seen is the treats creep in and the weight comes off more and more slowly. That said, I think if you are determined to lose all your weight, you can. Just keep journaling and don't add extras until you're at goal.

I had surgery two years ago with Dr. Aceves in Mexicali, Mexico. I wrote down everything that went in my mouth for a year. I kept my calories between 600-800, usually toward the lower end, until I reached goal. I also kept my carbs under 50 gms/daily. I reached my goal of 150 lbs on Nov. 18, 2011, ten months after surgery. I had thought that because I was 56, with hypothyroidism and MS, that I might lose more slowly but I was happy at the rate it came off. I swam a couple of times a week and ran a little bit but I was by no means a fitness fanatic--I wanted to be strong and healthy rather than ripped. I lost lots of hair from months 3-9 but it has all grown back now. I am 5'8" and weigh 136 lbs as of this morning and wear a size 6. The difference between before surgery and now is like a miracle. I used to think about food all the time--thinking about what to eat for Breakfast as I was going to bed the night before! Now I have to remind myself to take something out of the freezer for dinner. I gave up pretty much all processed food--initially because I couldn't eat a whole Lean Cuisine and later because it was just easier to make a turkey burger or some shrimp to make sure I got all my Protein in. I still eat protein first, but I also have wine occasionally, and cake, and candy, but they are treats and not something I have to have every day. I drink coffee daily, though, I couldn't give that up! I do not eat until I am full. I stopped making my portions larger in month 8 and now eat the same amount as I did then--3 oz lean meat, fish, or poultry and 1/3 cup green, red, or orange veg. I take my multi-vit and Calcium citrate every day, B-12 twice a week, and my labs are stellar other than a little deficiency in my Iron stores due to the fact that I gave blood twice in the months right after surgery. My doc says I can't get enough iron from food to give any away. I am a little sad about that because I used to be a regular donor. My face looked really bad, with sagging jowls and cheeks, so I had a facelift a year ago. Yesterday, someone said I looked 35. I think he needed glasses, but I do look better that I did before the lift. I look great in clothes but naked my stomach has some sagging. my butt is flat, and my inner thighs are so wrinkly. I can live with them for now, I'm doing squats to try and firm up my glutes. My cholesterol and blood pressure have come down and I feel fantastic. I can't tell you how freeing it is not to think about food all the time. If you are on the fence about this surgery, know that it worked for me and really, maintenance for me has been about keeping the good habits I made while losing. Good Luck!

What worked for me is NOT eating until I was full. I measured my food until I reached goal, but if you choose not to measure, I encourage you to eat slowly and stop before you feel full. This will reduce your calorie intake by a litte each meal and I promise you will never miss the extra bite or two. This will also help in social situations where you don't want to get the foamies or vomit from eating too much.

I can eat anything but there are some things I need to be careful of-broccoli stems are really fibrous and make me sick but the floret parts are fine. Chicken needs extra moisture--gravy, cranberry sauce, ketchup. Other than those two, no problems.