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Hi all! I'm scheduled for VSG June 3 at Pompeii Surgical Center in Tijuana. This comes after years of fighting with Kaiser. My highest weight was 330...I'm 5'5". I just did my labs to get my A1C levels. They have to be below 7. (Current 6.5) Next I have to quit smoking. Which has been challenging. But I can't have nicotine or THC 30 days prior. So I'm trying to quit now. I struggle with vitamins they taste yucky to me...but each day has gotten better. I'm on barimelt but would be willing to try better tasting ones. I'm looking for "friends" who have walked this road.

I hope you will find that the sleeve is an extremely effective weight loss tool. I had my surgery at almost the same time as summerseeker and I have also lost well over 130lbs. Beyond my wildest dreams. I wish you all the luck in the world with your sleeve.

I had to do a 6 month weight loss program before my surgery, I gave up sweets, drank mainly water, and because I was insulin resistant, went on a medication called Wegovy. I lost 80 pounds pre surgery. But I knew I needed to lose more and I needed the lifestyle to be less of a choice and more a have to. Sugar was my bane - now if I were to eat sugar I risk dumping syndrome which sounds rather unpleasant. My pain was minimal, but I know mileage varies. Best of luck on your journey, whatever way you go.

I am a little over 3 months post-op. I have lost close to 60 pounds now. I would like to lose another 20 pounds, and am on track to do that. I sometimes worry that I will lose too much but I know I'm just being ridiculous. 😂 I feel good even though I am still having issues meeting protein and fluid goals. I think I am going to go back to having protein soups for lunch to help with that. I've been trying to up my calories but having a hard time going much over 600-700 a day. I have tried all kinds of meat and veggies at this point and have only had issues with some chicken thighs one time, when I ate too much, too fast and got the foamies. All of my rings, shoes, and clothes are too big. It is expensive to lose weight. Today, I had someone not recognize me, which was wild.

Congratulations! You look fabulous. I too seem to be falling into my old habits. Snacking snacking snacking. I am trying to snack on healthier foods, but I don't want to get back into the habit of always eating all the time. I've noticed I'm able to eat more food at a time, but I usually can stop at a reasonable amount during meals. My issue is between meals. I want to just pop things in my mouth every chance I get. I'm down 65 lbs and I'm so happy, but I am afraid I'll be back to my old weight in no time if I don't quit this snacking!

I am a old'ish woman who has managed 141pounds so far with the sleeve. I can do very minimal exercise beyond walking and housework and one day a week working in a charity shop. I have dodgy knees. Anything I have done then you can too. I was not given a weight goal but my team were overjoyed in January when I weighed in and they did the math. I was way over the 60% expected weight loss Its your journey to better health, don't take too much notice of others. That route can be unsettling. I keep changing my goal, just to see if its possible. I dont know if I can reach 180 but to be honest, I am super happy at 199. I look fabulous now in the mirror [without my glasses on] I am amazed how good my sleeve has worked for me.

Weight loss can vary from person to person, with some individuals experiencing rapid weight loss and others losing weight more slowly. It's important to recognize that weight loss is a gradual process, and it's normal for the rate of weight loss to slow down over time. If you have a significant amount of weight to lose, you may experience more noticeable weight loss in the beginning. However, as you continue on your weight loss journey, it's natural for the rate of weight loss to slow down. If you have any concerns about your weight loss, it's important to speak with your doctor. But if they haven't expressed any worries, then you should feel confident in celebrating your weight loss accomplishments. Remember, every pound lost is a step towards a healthier you.

How is everyone doing? I've been slipping back into some old bad habits, but trying to get back on track. I've been sitting at about an 85 lb loss for a few months and am pretty happy with where I am. I would like to kick it up a notch and start some weight training to feel stronger. Here's my progress so far. The first pic is 36 lbs down before surgery, 2nd photo is now at 85 lbs down.

Big Sue took the words out of my mouth. In general, I don't think the amount of weight you will lose is a major factor in determining which surgery to have. For me, it was gastric bypass because of GERD, which was already an issue for me before surgery. The bottom line is that you are going to lose a significant amount of weight with the sleeve, which will vastly improve your health and your quality of life. At this point, that's what you should focus on and not the fact that you "might" have lost more weight with a different surgery. People have very successful long-term outcomes with both sleeve and bypass.

Two bonuses of the surgery are a reset of your metabolic rate & of your body’s set point (the weight your body is happiest at). As others have said your pre surgery BMR will have no impact on your maintenance BMR. Before surgery, I’d struggle to lose a kilogram eating 800 calories & would gain weight eating 1200 calories. Now I eat about 1400/1500 calories to maintain my much lower post surgery weight. I am also an almost 58 year old woman, with a smaller frame, only 5’3” & not very active.

Most of us have been where you are now. Hair loss is common with weight loss (& during pregnancy & stressful periods too) . Your natural hair loss cycle has been accelerated as a stress reaction to the surgery, weight loss, hormonal changes, etc. The hair you are losing you would have lost anyway but over a longer time period. That hair is dead so you can’t save it. Your new hair is still growing though at it’s usual rate. Supplements won’t help your dead hair but may make your new growth stronger. Yes, three months is generally how long it lasts +/-. Hair grows slowly & you don’t usually notice your new growth coming in but a couple of months after you stop losing your new hair may be long enough for you to start to notice it (short fluffy strands)

It does seem a lot of calories if you’re still trying to lose. But if it is what your team advised based on your body & needs, activity levels, etc. that’s fine. You may be in maintenance. With a BMI of 27 & at your goal, this may be at your new set point (the weight your body is happiest at & is easiest to maintain). To lose more weight you’ll have to be more active & consume fewer calories but to stay at the lower weight you will have to continue to do more & eat less than you do now. My restriction kicks in more quickly if I eat food that is too dry, coarse or dense or if I eat too quickly. If a food is dense, like certain meats, it will feel heavy in your tummy & feel like you’re full more quickly setting off your restriction. Sometimes I feel it but can’t work out why - just a quirk of my tummy.

Stalls will break when your body is ready. You can’t really force it to happen. If it broke when you did that before it is more likely because your body was ready to start to lose again & not because of dietary restriction or increased activity. Stalls are an important part of your weight loss as it is when your body resets itself in response to your weight loss to date (metabolism, hunger & satiety hormones, etc.). Stick to your plan & don’t stress your body more.

I think the best NSV for me was being able to use a normal size towel and not have the gap. I have since gained almost all of my weight back after 2 kids, a blown ACL and Esophagus issues the last couple of years. I am going back in to tomorrow to have my band filled a little bit more. Crossing my fingers, I can find the green zone and get back to losing. It has definitely gotten harder to lose the weight as I have aged. When I was 20 it was just falling off.

I'm one year and 2 months out from MGB. I had my surgery in Egypt (self paid) end of January 2022. Starting weight 149 kg, current weight 78.8 kg (this morning). This forum has been a huge help for me since I did the surgery without any proper research which is not something that I'd usually do but I was really frustrated and fed up with trying to lose weight and not getting any lasting results. I'm not currently following any specific diet and I eat whatever I want (in very small quantities) - please don't tell my doctor haha. I eat my protein first, followed by vegetables and salad and then carbs if I'm still not full. I take 1/2 teaspoon of sugar with my morning coffee. Of course, I had to follow the program that was given to me after the surgery. I had a long stall for the past 3 months or so but luckily I'm losing again since I started fasting (the fasting month started 14 days ago). My current target is 70 kg (I'm 170 cm tall) and I can't wait to lose the last 9 kgs. I got a mountain bike when I was 120 kg and have been riding it around my house which helped with the weight loss. The longest distance for me was 8 km. It has been raining almost every night here and I've not been able to use the bike for almost 3 months or so.Hopefully the weather will improve soon. I'm working in a remote town and there is a small gym here. I'm to check it out next month. Here is a photo of me around 2013 that I found while organizing my laptop folders vs me this morning. Needless to say, life is getting better and better overall and I can't wait to try all the things that I've not been able to do because of my weight.

I've been wanting to write down what I eat, but it's hard because sometimes I can't eat it all. I know what you mean about measuring and not measuring tho. I usually weigh my food. Sometimes it's too much, sometimes it's not enough. But I don't go back for more and I don't want to get more. Ooo I used to like cream if wheat. I had it the second time after surgery the other day, the first bite was good, then after that it tasted like how swamp water smells lol. I hate protein shakes and I can't stand yogurts anymore which sucks because I like yogurt. Broccoli tonight tasted weird. I don't like vitamin waters anymore, I don't like snapple or gatorade anymore(eventho I got grape the other day). It's funny you say you don't like coffee anymore and I'm craving coffee haha. Starbucks coffee. I'm not a huge coffee drinker, but I do like it once in awhile. I see the dietician tomorrow and I'm asking if it's okay to have coffee and tea. I get to move onto the soft solid diet tomorrow and I hope she can give me some meal ideas and what ounces I should be having. I'm pretty happy with my weight loss so far and ever since surgery I've been pretty happy. I've lost 27 pounds so far.

There is a lot of variation in amount of weight loss for all types of weight loss surgeries. The outcomes are not that different between sleeve and bypass, but it is true that on average, bypass patients lose more than sleeve patients. But again, that is an average and doesn’t mean that an individual patient will be better off with bypass than with sleeve. There are pros and cons to both surgeries, and your surgeon may have had specific reasons for recommending sleeve to you. This would have been a good thing to ask before you went through with the surgery. I guess the good news is that you can get a revision to bypass if necessary, but that is a long way off. If you follow your clinic’s instructions (which is the most important factor in your weight loss), you will achieve significant weight loss with the sleeve.

If you follow your plan, you will lose weight. You will get out of it what you put into it.

It's between the 6 and 12 week mark most people have regrets...I know I did. I felt like I was wasting away, not losing weight in a healthy way. It will get better, to a point where one day soon you'll realize you feel "normal" again, and you'll get a burst of energy from carrying around so much less.

I have lost nearly 60% of my body weight since 8/2021 with a sleeve, a total loss of 132 pounds on a 4'10" frame, and I could lose more if I had it to lose. It can be done. To be completely honest, my biggest problem at this point is keeping what I've got left ON. Additionally, I would focus on reaching a weight where you are happy and your health metrics have improved. That may be more or less than your doctor said. For whatever it's worth, my doctor said I should expect to land between 135 and 145 and here I am in "none-derland" at 99.

I take collagen and a hair-skin-nails supplement every morning. While I don't think it slowed down the hair loss, my hair was quite thin before that and it's grown back thick and curly, much healthier than it was before I lost weight.

Hi. I had VSG on 3/27. I weighed 335 at my first doctor visit and lost 19 pounds presurgery. Anyways, I have been reading on here and I'm worried that my doctor should have recommended bypass vs. sleeve since I have so much weight to lose. He set my goal at 170. That's nearly 150 pounds. I haven't found anyone in here that has lost that much with sleeve. Am I worrying needlessly?

First, your BMR is a bit of a guesstimate, but 2100 isn't unreasonable for a guy. Some calculators/formulas are way off because they simplify things by using body weight, while it is lean or muscle mass that is the important factor (all that extra fat we carry around does little to BMR, though whatever extra musculature we may have to carry around that extra fat does help. There are some tests that they can do (VOx, etc.) that can give a closer reading to your personal BMR, and many body composition scales give an OK estimate based upon their reading of your lean mass. The most important thing is at what caloric level is your weight stable - that gives the best clue as to where you stand metabolically. My BMR was probably around 2100 also, though my stability point by experience and tracking intake was in the 2600-2800 range (consume more consistently and I would gain, consume less overall and I would lose.) BMR represents our resting metabolism, while the extra burn if from exercise and daily activities; most calculators and tables (and ourselves) tend to over estimate the burn from exercise. After surgery, and you lose what you are going to lose, you will likely have lost some muscle mass, I lost around 10 lb) as you aren't carrying that extra 100, 200 or whatever pounds around with you 24/7, so your BMR will likely decline some, but not a lot (maybe down to 2000). This is why most programs emphasize getting in adequate protein, and doing some load bearing exercise, to minimize the loss of muscle mass, to keep our BMR up. If you can maintain a diet of 1100 calories (not at all difficult for the first year or so post op) that will yield a caloric deficit of around 1000 calories to your BMR (and likely more considering activity burn,) which will equate to an average loss of around 10 per month (more initially, and tapering off over time) - that's about what I did at 1100 calorie average, and my final few months before goal was a consistent 10lb per month loss; after goal and into maintenance, I settled into around 2100-2200 per day to maintain a stable weight. Some people, particularly the shorter ladies, may be stable at 11-1200 per day after all is done, so they will need to go much lower to lose their excess weight - this is why we see 6-800 calories as a common intake for the loss phase, and they will often lose more slowly because they have a lower caloric deficit (figure about a pound per month per 100 calories in deficit, on average.) In short, figure on 1000 calories or so while losing, and probably around 2000 or so, give or take, to maintain, as a quick guesstimate.

They told us about 400 to 600 first 3 months, then it will increase to 600-800, once we get to goal weight we will stay within 1200 calories Sent from my SM-S916U1 using BariatricPal mobile app

current BMR won't figure into your post-surgery intake as it's based partially on your current weight. They'll start you off pretty low for the first few months and then you'll likely gradually increase as the months go by. Final calorie range (once you hit maintenance) will depend on whatever your weight, activity level, etc are once you get there.