Jolanda

I was self-pay (I'm in Europe, and the total was around the $15 000 mark) and I've never regretted it one moment. I calculated that I will probably get it back in lower food costs in less than ten years, not to mention the health benefits and quality of life benefits. That said, I understand it's not an option everybody has. But this surgery has done so much to improve my life that I'd never put it off for one month more than necessary if I had to make the choice now.

Ok, I'm over 10 months out and officially in the middle of the normal BMI range. I can eat almost anything, except, for some to me unknown reason, mushrooms. I love mushrooms, especially chanterelles, but now when I try to eat food containing them, I immediately get an unpleasant bubbling sensation in my stomach. I know this is a tiny thing, and I'm not complaining. Just interested in what would make mushrooms different? Some chemical reaction I haven't noticed before surgery, as my stomach was so much bigger?

You can see my result on my ticker below my signature. I lost a lot of weight by myself, then yo-yoed for a few years, never getting below a BMI 34 at any point. I had a little difficulty with the surgery (blood loss, but I recovered fine) and am now down to a normal BMI. I've never been happier in my life. Never felt better. I enjoy my life more than ever before. I'd say go for it. That said, there are risks involved and the first months aren't that easy. But it's doable. For me, I think it helped that I was never bulimic or anything, I just ate a LOT. Loved food. Still do, but now I only eat about 1/2 of what I used to.

Bjean, yes, I'm not complaining. This is just weird. Like I'm suddenly in a different country altogether. A stranger to myself, in some way. But of course it's unbelievably rewarding to be able to go from a size 24 to a size 10. Sometimes I don't recognise my own reflection if I walk past a shop window.

I remember that: about a week post op I tried to walk around a shopping mall for a few hours and had to sit down and rest for ten minutes after I walked up one flight of stairs. I decided to walk around the house instead until I felt better, which took another week at least. You do get tired after surgery.

Yes, I'm still working on the "don't buy a lot of food, it'll spoil" thing. Just looked in my fridge, and it's completely full! I throw away probably over half the food I buy - I either have to become unsingle or start having more people over...

Pamela: when you overeat with the sleeve - or when I do, which has been very rarely, but sometimes in the beginning it happened - you feel totally sick. In the beginning, you may also get what people here call "sliming" - basically the food comes up again, it's not like vomiting, but pretty disgusting nonetheless. I only had that very occasionally when I was 2-3 months out. It's preventable if you eat little enough at a time, I think. Iguidry, I think it would depend on the weight you need to lose. I had lost about half of my excess weight by myself in the years previous to my surgery, so the surgeon immediately suggested the sleeve, although he also does GBP. Now I'm more than happy with his decision: I love the fact that I can eat anything, a little of it, and don't get sick as the GBP patients seem to get from greasy food. Also I like the fact that my intestines are intact, except for the stomach itself: I think the risks are slightly lower with the sleeve. But if you are very obese, the GBP may be more efficcient. That said, recuperating from a surgery as big as this and getting by on 6-800 calories a day for months on end is no walk in the park. You need to be prepared for that. But if I look at myself and my quality of life a year ago and now, it's so different I can't even begin to describe it. I feel much happier. Moving around is a joy, not a chore. I'm more outgoing and I think better company all in all.

I'm glad I'm not alone! In the week before my period, I really want carbs. Now I'm more maintaining than losing - and before that, even, I decided to just sort of give in to them but do it sensibly: I allowed myself some cookies and stuff and it hasn't messed with my weight loss at all. The way they're so hormonal - the cravings - makes me wonder if part of the way I used to be a carb addict was hormonal, too?

Let me just say two words: Robson. Green. But yes, I've noticed the same effect.

I think the half way into the normal BMI range is probably a good goal. I know when I reached that, I didn't lose any weight in over a month. Then dropped a few pound because of a lot of exercise, and they've stayed off. Maintaining hasn't been a problem in the past two weeks, though. I'd say don't trust your gut feeling but look at a BMI scale. Why? Because your head can mess with what you see in the mirror. And as losing weight is so easy with the sleeve (well, it IS easy compared to dieting before the sleeve: I lost a lot of weight the non-sleeve way so I know) it might be tempting to just sneak in a few more pounds lost just in case. Or that's me, at least. I've set myself a definite lower stop point just to prevent that from happening. That still leaves me about 20 pounds heavier than the teenage fashion models, but hey, I'm forty...

Oh, and yesterday I was trying on some jeans and slapped myself on the side of the hip, where the thigh begins. Nearly gave myself a bruise! And I still occasionally wake up at night because of sleeping on my side: without the padding on the inside of the thighs my knees hurt. Bone against bone, ouch.

OK, just speaking up for the mom here (I don't have kids though, so I'm just guessing): I think the gut reaction she had was to want to protect you, even though it came out sounding like that. Surgery is scary! Especially when done to people you love.

And Carrie: less than a week out of surgery I had some regrets, too: I've never been so weak in my life! But it did get better very fast. Hope everything goes well for you, too.

I have to admit I've stopped counting calories: this is a new thing, just into it about 2 weeks or so. I just eat a bit more and weigh myself every 2-3 days or so to see that I'm neither losing nor gaining. So far I've lost a couple of pounds still because I've been moving a lot, so I'm still fine tuning this. I'm still about 4 pounds from my goal weight (though I am perfectly happy as I am now!) and thought I'd try to see how maintaining succeeds: it's really not that easy to always get about 1600-1800 calories in, which I guess would be about what I need to maintain. I'm actually more concerned about continuing to lose weight than to start to gain weight, which feels completely funny to me! But that's why I started to stop losing a bit earlier than my goal weight, just in case it turns out more difficult than I thought to stabilise.

My God, yes! It's such a change. I realised just about a month or two ago that I'm actually (for the first time since I was about ten years old or so) thin enough to wear not only tight jeans with a huge shirt on top to hide all the excesses, but tight jeans and a skintight T-shirt! It feels weird, still, but I love it. I was so completely suspicious about this that I actually had a friend take some pictures of me wearing it, but actually true: no love handles. No nothing sticking out that shouldn't be. Mind you, I've been doing Pilates religiously for a year, that certainly helps holding things in!

One close friend. Nobody else. Some people may have guessed, but I'm not sure. When people ask how I've lost so much weight, I tell them I'm eating everything, but in very small amounts. IMO it's a private thing - but it would be no big deal if someone found out either.

I'm a journalist.

This is an interesting thread, and I agree. Now at BMI 23, I find people in general are more comfortable around me in some ways. But I'm also more comfortable around them, because I like myself so much better nowadays. So which one is the cause, which one the effect? I don't know. But I do know that this makes me appreciate my friends even more: the ones who were my friends even when I was at BMI 40+. And I think people who meet me now after a while and don't exclaim over how much weight I've lost are classy people: it means they probably didn't care much about my weight before, either! Or they're just polite and well brought up. Whichever, I don't care...

I'm a little over 8 months out (started at BMI 36 before my VSG, having previously dieted down from BMI 46 and am now at BMI 23.8) and starting to try to taper off the weight loss. I've been eating a little more the past month, 1500 calories or so per day, and have still lost the same 3-4 pounds as the previous month. Weight loss was very rapid at the beginning and is now clearly tapering off. I've read about others continuing to lose weight even when increasing calories gradually so I was prepared for this, and still want to lose 10 pounds or so. I can't believe how well everything has gone! I'm mostly wondering about a couple of things: I do have some excess skin, how much do you suppose that weighs? I'm aiming for a BMI of about 22 but of course I have no idea what my normal weight is so I'm shooting from the hip here. Should I factor in for the excess skin and if so, how much? I don't know if anybody has that info or would hazard a guess. I'm 39 and though there is some loose skin around my lower belly I've come out surprisingly all right in that area, I think. I'm not comfortable wearing short shorts, knee-length yes, and have been seen in a skirt (with tights!) ending a couple inches above my knees. My arms have really firmed up well (I'm doing Pilates weekly) and I'm trying to get more exercise done now it's so easy to move. For anybody just considering having the surgery, I'd say definitely go for it. It has been one of the best decisions of my life. And I'm really glad I found my way to this forum: I don't post a lot but I've read a lot of the info and it has helped enormously. To each and every one of you: thank you! So now what? I go on with my life, healthier, happier and half my size six years ago. I'm still a work in progress in other ways, but I think I've got this particular problem out of the way. I'll still continue to watch what I eat, make sure I get enough Protein and weigh myself weekly, and look forward to the rest of my new, healthier life.

I don't have a family doctor as such, I've been disgustingly healthy in spite of my weight all my life, but before the VSG I thought I'd get a devil's advocate opinion on it and so I got an appointment with an intestine expert Dr that listed weight loss as his areas of interest in the hospital bio. He was very good at listing all the possible complications and reasons not to have the VSG as he really knew his stuff - but none of the arguments made me change my mind. It did help me make up my mind though. Best 150 bucks or so I spent after the several thousands on the surgery a month afterwards.

Thanks Tiffy - yeah, aren't we all a little weird! I've done odder things than that (I'm sure, though at the moment of course I can't think of any...) But ok, then I'll factor in about that 4-5 pounds when I work out my ideal weight. Or then I just eat a little more and see where it stabilises. I've really been losing weight from the top towards the bottom and do have fat still in my ab and thigh and butt area. But I can actually feel the muscles below. Strange... I've actually reached the point where sometimes I catch sight of my reflection in a shop window or something and don't recognise myself immediately, by the way. It's weird. Mary, I have no idea, probably - I haven't weighed this little since my early teens so I've no idea what the correct calorie intake is. I'll see how it goes.

I just read my ticker, saying "13 lb to go". Wow. Incomprehensible. I've tried to diet since my early teens. Started a diet every third day or so for two decades. And now thanks to the sleeve I think I've actually managed to solve this problem. Best money I ever spent.

Ourobourous (that 99% likely I spelled wrong), that sounds a lot like what I used to be like before the sleeve. I never really craved certain foods, I ate a lot but mostly - now it sounds silly to say it - for something to do. I ate cookies and chocolate because it tasted good. I also got a mini hit of pleasure when swallowing food, which I think enforced the overeating. But also I could go easily a day without eating, and I never had bulimia as such. I gained weight over a period of twenty years and though by the end of it I was very overweight and couldn't get it all off myself (though I did diet the traditional way at first and was comparatively successful) it was never a question of food being totally in control of my life. Which is probably why life post sleeve has been comparatively easy for me: dieting made me pretty used to eating salad and protein, so I've been able to slip into it again with little trouble. Not being hungry after the operation has made it 90% easier, though.

Globetrotter, for me it's been exactly like that. I can take one piece of (dark) chocolate and enjoy the flavour. And stop at one! And I'm happy if I go to a restaurant and the portions are manageable, not insanely huge like some places - well, that's how it feels now. Before I'd just have been happy the portions were large. If you can choose your own portion size I fill up my plate with mostly lettuce so it doesn't look so odd to take so little food.

Anyone here like horses? I'm a horse fan - I've got two at the moment and am really looking forward to riding more now my weight is down.