scootergirl

I was 54 when I had the surgery. I needed to lose half of my body weight to get to a proper BMI! I found that, though I have had great success, I was losing more slowly than other sleevers. Further investigation showed me that the fast losers were usually younger than me. As a mature fellow, you may find your weight comes off more slowly than some young thing but you will have success. You may also find that even with the loss of only a small portion of the total you want to lose you will feel like a new person. The improvement in how you feel, may for you like it has for me, make the number on the scale far less important.

I found that even my favorite pre-surgery foods were not appealing right after surgery. Now that I am ~9 months out I find that I can eat/drink anything I want if the portion is small. This is a gift in that I feel no deprivation but a curse in that my brain still loves foods which are not on the post-surgery program and my sleeve lets me go for them. I wish I knew how to re-wire my thinking. It would help me as well.

The biggest change I have notice in myself is that I get physically uncomfortable when I see folks eating typical sized portions of food. (which were often small portions for my old self!). Even my husband can send me running from the table 'cause he eats a lot of food (and often goes for seconds). My new stomach cramps and aches as I see pre-surgery amounts of food in front of non-surgery friends/family. I will confess to also finding myself gettin' a little righteous that everyone seems to eat more than they need to. Hey, wasn't I one of them only a few months ago?

Ha! Who would ever have guess that getting "vein-y" would be a victory.

Getting back into my life at full speed. That was not a little thing but it had escaped me only a little at a time (I gained a lot of weight but over a long time). I didn't realize how quickly it would return. I love having energy at the end of the day, bending over without cutting off the blood supply to my head, fitting into exercise shoes and clothes, walking so fast and so far that neither my husband nor my child can keep up with me. There have been so many small delights that have come into my life thanks to my sleeve and the weight loss it has helped me with.

I had six incisions and two of them were larger and very tender. They took longer to heal. I am happy to report that at ~9 months out they have healed and are nearly invisible. Not that I am ready to show them off to anyone. Still have a bit of tummy to lose.

Take your measurements and photos of your shape. It may not be fun nor pretty but you will be so happy to see the amazing changes in your body and, with luck, you wont have a chance to see the current you ever again! I never took before photos and I am kicking myself now. I have changed shape but cant fully appreciate the scope of it. Good luck.

You've lost 200 pounds!?! Wow. I am so inspired. I have been stuck at the same weight for nearly three months. Your post has given me a new enthusiasm. Thanks for sharing your fantastic success.

Love my sleeve and the new life it has given me. My only regret is that I waited so many years before considering it. The years of excess weight did a number on my skin. As the weight comes off the loose skin left behind is no fun. It is a constant reminder of the unfortunate state I used to be in. I would not trade my sagging skin to be heavy again but it seems that younger folks seem to have more "snap" in their skin and less "waddle" after weight loss. I wish I had younger skin to go with my sleeve.

I was recently diagnosed with diverticulosis. Never had a bout of diverticulitis but have had a "cranky gut" most of my life. I have spent way too many hours in the bathroom with cramps and diarrhea. Since my sleeve surgery my guts are much "happier". I rarely have lower GI distress and almost never have diarrhea. It has been an unexpected gift of surgery. I don't know (but do suspect) that my reduced variety of foods (few carbs and only a little fruit/veg) has been as big a help as anything else. I also think the small portion size has helped. Good luck.

I agree with Miss Havelock. I can eat/drink anything I care to as long as I am careful about quantity. There is nothing I miss.

Hang in there. I was sure I needed a knee replacement prior to my sleeve. By the time I was down ~30 pounds my knee was starting to feel much better. I am now down nearly 80 pounds and exercise like crazy. My knee feels great. I no longer worry about needing to repair it. You may have similar good fortune. PS. it may not be advised but I will periodically take ibuprofen if I over do and have too much soreness. Check with your doc. good luck

Drat. I wish I had my sleeve one year earlier. I got my first bout of a-fib 8 months before my surgery.

Please do not despair! It gets better. Recovery feels different to each of us. I was more sore than I expected but less hungry. Within a few weeks my lack of hunger turned on me. Turns out it was my allergies. If you have had trouble with post nasal drip in your past, consider trying an allergy med to help your "hunger" It may just be untreated allergies. Mine was.

Girl, you make 316 look really beautiful. I can't wait to see your photos when you get (close) to your goal weight. Keep up the good work!

I have found myself in a 3 month stall starting at ~6 months. I know (from reading the advice of others) that I need to get back to basics....following all the recommendations and not letting myself slip into old bad habits. I have been really good about exercising and am confident that combining it with good eating habits and tracking my foods will jump start my weight loss again.

From following this site for the past ~10 months, I think whether one loses hair is variable. Some lose, some don't. For myself, I felt that the Biotin started after surgery was very helpful. My hair loss seemed to improve over the rate I had gotten used to before surgery. I was hopeful that I would not suffer much hair loss post surgery. I was wrong. At about five months out I found my hair was coming out like crazy. I wondered how could still have any left on my head. Now at ~10 months out things have stabilized. I still lose hair like crazy but I don't feel like I am getting "more bald" with each passing day. If even my significant hair loss is the trade-off for my weight loss....I'll take it. I feel like a new person - just one with less fat (and less hair!).

Oh my goodness (OMG). I had a wonderful non-scale victory (NSV) this past week. I flew on an airline for the first time since surgery. Last flight was one year ago and I suffered mucho embarrassment when I required a seat belt extender for each leg of my flight. Once, I had to request it while sitting next to my tall, ex-model coworker whose eyes nearly popped out of her head when she realized that I could not buckle my seat belt without the extender. This flight I had seat belt room-to-spare on every plane and every different style belt. Yippee! This has been the best NSV yet. I feel like a "normal" person again. I hadn't even realized that I previously did not!

Thanks, cherbear! I know you are right.

I think most of us were nervous before we had our psych check. I believe the psych evaluation is really only to be sure we go into surgery with realistic expectations and no serious complicating mental issues. As long as you have given thought to your reasons for the surgery, your adjustment to your new, smaller sized life, and have no significant eating disorders/mental health disorders I think you will be fine. All of us are a tad nuts (LOL) and we wouldn't need the surgery if we had a peaceful relationship with food. Your psych person will be aware of this. Breathe, talk yourself through your imagined conversation with your psych person, and I know you will be fine.

Same thing happened to me. I tried everything I could think of....extra Fluid, daily prunes, special teas. Nothing helped. I am now a daily-dose-of-Miralax gal. All is well. Check with your surgeon/doctor and find out if they will OK it for you. My insurance even pays for it since they wrote it out as a prescription.

Doh! I meant to say that the comments above were regarding "Evolving"'s photos

OMG! You look so beautiful. We started at ~ the same weight. You are about 40 pounds ahead of me and a thousand miles ahead of me in self confidence. You radiate happiness in your photos. I want to catch up to you. Thanks for posting. Keep up the awesome and inspiring work.

Late breaking news.....back in August (at ~1 month post surgery) I stated that I thought my Vitamins (esp biotin) were very helpful at preventing hair loss. Now that I am ~7 months post-surgery my story has changed. My hair is coming out like crazy. It has gotten so thin that my scalp shows through. I have even doubled my intake of my beloved Biotin. I see no improvement. I post this update not to be negative but so folks will know what can happen and be prepared. I would never go back to my pre-surgery days even if I face my post-surgery days as a (nearly) bald women!

susysleever- I don't know if you are serious or joking but you described me to a T!