DesertRat

I was heavy as a kid but when I was 15 my appendix ruptured and I lost about 40 pounds putting me at a fairly low BMI. I remember having to adjust to being slender for the first time in my life and loved every minute of it.

JMO. People are going to find out and, these days, anyone that loses a lot of weight will probably be subjected to rumors of WLS no matter what. I just decided to tell most people and let them deal with it.

What I find amazing are the people that could eat anything and not gain weight. Even when I was at a normal weight I had to watch it. I'd see people drinking soda and eating Hostess cupcakes and I couldn't comprehend how they were getting away with it. That was then this is now. Flash forward a few decades and obesity has become a terrible epidemic. When I was in high school we wore tight clothing, now fashions have changed and are unlikely to revert because the proportion of overweight teens has increased so dramatically. There was one truly obese girl in my high school, which had 1,500 students. There was one truly obese boy that I remember as well. There were a handful of kids in the 30 - 34 BMI range but many more in the 20 - 25 BMI range. Thing sure have changed. The two truly obese kids I remember from school wouldn't even stand out in today's schools but the slender kids would definitely be in the minority. I fear for the kids of today. When they hit their 40s it's not going to be good.

I've had some moments of doubt but at this point I am favoring having the procedure mid summer. Losing any tissue is a matter for serious concern. I don't give up pieces of myself lightly and, other than my wisdom teeth, an appendix, some bone spurs and a meniscus I've managed to hang onto all of my various parts for 57 years now. Unfortunately, even though I'm physically active I have several co-morbidities. Hypertension (controlled with medication), apnea and an HA1C in the pre-diabetic range are the big ticket items. I fear diabetes and do not want to go there if at all possible. According to all that I've found in my research, the VSG seems like the safest bet. If I have the sleeve there is a possibility of regret but if I don't take some decisive action there is a much greater possibility of regret.

I'm really appreciating this thread. I'm doing a lot of soul searching right now about this decision. For me, the issue has always been portions. I can relate to eating too many slices of pizza or just too much of anything, even healthy foods. During my years at normal weight I had to watch the scale but I could, at least, eat fairly normally. Nowadays I have to be ravenous to lose weight slowly and one lapse can undo a lot of work. Reading how others have dealt with similar issues gives me confidence that I'm making a good choice.

I'm very happy for you, both that you are doing better, and even more so, that you have a great partner in life. These can only be good things. I put on weight after I got married and didn't want sex. I felt ashamed of myself, too fat to be desirable, etc, etc. Too bad this option didn't exist back then.

My employer was informed at the very beginning of the process. I realized that there were going to be a lot of doctor visits so I let them know up front what was going on, what the visits were for and that it didn't mean that I was going to be missing a lot of work from then on. So far, so good.

I've been reading anything I can find about the sleeve and have seen some concerns about GERD, possibly getting worse after a few years. I asked my prospective surgeon about it and he suggested that it probably is a result of overeating. Any thoughts or experiences?

I haven't had sleeve surgery yet but have a long history of weight problems and weight successes. I was obese as a child but when I was 15 my appendix ruptured and I gained control of my weight. I had 16 very good years. There were occasional slip ups but for the most part I stayed at or near 181 pounds which is about perfect for my height . . . but only about perfect. I wanted to be somewhere around 160 - 170, aat times I wanted to weigh much less than that, but I couldn't get there and stay there. A lot of it was loose skin, some of it was adipose tissue on the flanks. In retrospect, I should have been happy with what I had accomplished. I had gone from an obese kid that was teased and pick on to being quite average . . . not perfect . . . average. When I got into my thirties something changed and I started to gain weight. I got as high as the 260s and was very unhappy with myself. In the years since I've bounced around from the low 200s to 250 or so and hated it. I knew I had done better but I just couldn't make it work any more. My surgeon felt that with effort I could get down to 170 and that's music to my ears. The point, IMHO, is getting healthy. At 180 pounds I don't look like Michaelangelo's statue of David but I look OK. Much more importantly, my blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol will be better. I'll be geared up to be healthy and that's what counts. The beauty of it is that if you are healthy you are postured to make the best of things. You may not ever be petite but you can be a healthy person and be treated with respect. In a dream world I'd look like George Clooney and everyone would have the physique of a swimsuit model but this is the real world and things aren't that way. Over the years I've come to appreciate that people come in varieties and that's just fine. Healthy is where it's at for me.

That's really an inspiration.

I wonder how much of this nausea is just a digestive system in shock. When I was 15 my appendix burst and in the weeks following the surgery even the thought of food, almost any kind of food, was sickening. I lived on broth, pretty much by choice. A few weeks out from the appendectomy I was able to eat normally but my appetite was substantially reduced for quite a while. I lost 40 pounds (keep in mind that I was still a growing boy) and became athletic for the first time in my life. All this without any surgery on my stomach itself. Of course two weeks of hospital food when I was in isolation probably didn't hurt either.

Music to my ears. I can live without a lot of carbs, been there, done that, but I hope that I'll always be able to add some liquid fire to my diet in the form of salsas, etc.

I've told a few relatives, several co-workers and friends with mostly positive results. I am a singer and guitarist in a band so I had to tell them that I wouldn't be able to do any live performances for the first month or so. Everyone has been relatively supportive. Several people have advised caution and I assured them than no one was coming after me with a scalpel unless I was completely certain about it all. One thing that seems to help is to mention the co-morbidities and the fact that this surgery is a way to keep these from progressing.

I really don't have a problem with it now. It's just that I've heard that some people develop it after a sleeve and I'm curious about the experiences of others. At this point in time I basically have a cast-Iron stomach that will absorb the spiciest foods I throw at it. Last night I had Kung Pao chicken with no worries.

In my case GERD not a problem currently. I've had it happen a few times, but certainly no more than a handful of times in my lifetime. If I have had it there was either a very large meal or some incredible stress levels involved.

Mine is simple, I live in the desert and I'm a large rodent with a pointy nose and a long tail. OK, I was lying about the rodent part. I just figure it's a good name for a crusty old guy that lives in the desert.

Some great suggestions. Thanks!

I hadn't thought about Jerky but that makes sense too.

Another good call on Chipotle's. Likewise the beef and broccoli. I love that dish and I would imagine that sans rice it's pretty healthy. Carbs have always been my downfall do I'm planning to be pretty aggressive in avoiding them. I did a low-carb regimen for a year with no lasting losses.