MLeena

My surgery was 8/22. I had a great post-op, no real pain or nausea. No problem drinking or getting in the Protein. My only issues have been hunger and now fatigue. I have been mainly on liquids still. Have had some tuna with light mayo, Peanut Butter, scrambled eggs, refried Beans, ricotta bake. Still am hungry, but it is getting better. So far, I have lost 20 lbs since surgery, 67 lbs overall. Lots more to go but so far so good!

This was a huge question for me too, but there were a couple of things that changed my mind. First, was something the doctor said at the info session. He said that your body fights against you to lose weight. He said your body will let you gain, but will not let you lose for long. It goes into shutdown mode, or causes cravings to force you to eat again. He said this surgery actually releases you from that "set point" for a period of time, allowing you to lose without fighting your body. Also, there are hormonal changes that occur also and that is why so many people are cured of diabetes, PCOS and the like. Secondly, one of the main reasons why I cannot lose weight easily is because I am diabetic and have very high insulin with PCOS. If the surgery has a good chance of curing it - that alone is a good enough reason for me. Third) I looked at statistics I found that something like 95% of people who diet and exercise to lose weight do not maintain the loss for more than 2 years, while weight loss surgery is successful (in that people lose and keep the weight off for years) something like 85% of the time. Anyway, this is what helped me make the decision.

My surgeon told me the same thing... that if your BMI is over 50, then you might not get all the weight off with the VSG. However, I talked to my primary care doctor and he told me that it is true, but there are a lot of other issues (malnutritrian etc) with the GB. He said that he has about 20 patients that had the GB over 10 years ago and only 3 are still happy they did it. He has had to deal with a lot of problems that came up as a result of the GB. He said that the surgeon is going to recommend it because you do lose more weight, but after that year they are no longer involved, it is up to him (the primary care doctor) to pick up the pieces and treat the residual problems. That said, he strongly recommended the VSG. He also mentioned that since it is really the first part of the GB, if you are not satisfied with the weight loss on the VSG you can always go back and have the GB completed. I took that all in and not surprisingly, I am scheduled for the VSG on 8/22. Good luck... it is a hard decision.

I know this post was a year ago - so a good time to check in and ask how you are doing. I am scheduled for surgery at Parkwest w/Dr. Boyce 8/22.

hoping

Good luck - hope you get through it ok.

I have not yet had the surgery, so I am not talking from experience here... However, I went to 2 different seminars with 2 separate practices and both stated that it does not matter if you only eat minimal calories, that your body will fight against you and prevent you from losing weight after a month or so. It was described as a room with a window open and the air on - the air (your body) will continue to try and regulate your body (the room) to maintain your weight. Funny though, your body lets you gain, but not lose. I was told that this diet does a type of "reset" for about 1 1/2 years "golden period" and allows you to break past that set point. I was also told that it does effect your hormones and the research I have done on this seems to support it.... otherwise, why would so many people be cured from diabetes, pcos, metabolic syndrome, which are hormonal disorders. Also, just as a FYI my nutritionist told me that your body would not allow you to lose weight for long and not for long term if you were just on a restrictive calorie diet (which it sounds like you are on in a normal basis) without surgery. So anyway, I think that there is more to it than just restrictive. I would not be having this surgery if it was only restrictive. Hope what I have been told is right.... MLeena