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Thank you so much for the reply. I got the sleeve back in june 2019, I never felt real restriction, for the past 3 yrs I have been thinking its all in my head. I got an endoscopy done last week to find out I have a small hiatal hernia and my sleeve is " the body of my stomach is markedly enlarged". After I got these results back, it all made sense, my sleeve was not tight enough from the get go. I have mild gerd. Will my mild gerd and small hiatal hernia disqualify me for a resleeve? I was never able to reach goal weight the first time around and I have gained 17 lbs since reaching my lowest weight after the sleeve. I am 3 yrs out now. How much did you resleeve cost and who was your surgeon at mexicali? When did you get the sleeve reconstruction? Sent from my SM-N950U using BariatricPal mobile app

Thank you for the encouragement! I was 180 when I graduated highschool And it seems like every 10 lb I kept saying it's no big deal I'll lose it. Well, @ 370 and about 15 years later it's time to face reality and I need another tool in my metaphorical box . Would you say it's difficult to eat large amounts now with the Sleeve? I have a bad habit of night time binging . Sent from my Pixel 3 using BariatricPal mobile app

I also am working from home and I took 10 days off and wish I had taken more. Getting my fluids in was fine but I kept falling asleep at random times. I ended up just using my vacation time since I had a boatload of it. I didn't take FMLA since I never got a doctor's note. (they forgot)

@Meganatorthat's awesome!!! I've lost 80 total since March 2021, surgery was October and since then I have lost 66. 12# to goal for me, but I feel like you. See what my body does. Weight loss has slowed considerably but I'm feeling great. Not sure if size 10 pants will be where I get-it was a wish but 12s are fitting pretty well most of the time so that's good with me! Health is improved and hope to continue. Congratulations to you!

There is an entire section on this forum on this subject. Most that pay out of pocket go to Mexico... I am out of pocket as well but i did mine in Florida which cost me $19-20K

Congrats on your date. I see my surgeon in about 10 days and can't wait for my surgery date. I've been trying really hard to some weight off before that time and have lost 30lbs so far.

Hi Samantha, I have scheduled my surgery date for September 19, 2022 with Dr, Shillingford. I am nervous but glad its scheduled and will be done. What I worry about most is the pain afterwards and the inability to eat. I hate throwing up and fear that most. Please let me know how your surgery goes and I will for sure update you on my as well. We got this!!

Hello everyone, I am nervous but excited at the same time regarding finally making the move to schedule my date and start my new weight loss journey. I was wondering if anyone has had their VSG with Dr. Shillingford and if your surgery was done in Palm Beach Gardens. I am as I mentioned nervous but know it will all turn out fine. Also what pre-op items did you have do complete prior to surgery. Thanks in advance for answering my questions.

Ready made ones for me are Premier protein, they have ton's of flavors. But, before surgery I liked a few different flavors and after surgery I seem to only like the chocolate. They all have the same consistency and texture but the taste now taste chemically. Also, Fairlife shakes. I actually don't prefer the chocolate but everyone else raves about it. Strawberry is my favorite by far and the caramel is good mixed with 8oz of caffeine free black coffee. Fairlife are impossible to find around me now so I mainly drink the premier. Both 30g protein Powders, I feel like never mix properly and always taste gritty. I even have a real blender to mix them and still odd texture for me. I do however like the Unjury brand powder, it mixes very well. I prefer the convenience of the premade shakes though. I do like how you can get more creative with the powders though, so I keep it on hand to change things up a bit when needed. My favorite is sugar free lemonade mixed with strawberry Unjury powder. I use about 10 oz. of lemonade when I make them and it thins them out so it is like having a drink rather than a thicker shake. 20g protein per scoop

I chose the Loop DS (virgin surgery not revision) for myself because of what the surgeons themselves were saying about common issues with the original DS (diarrhea). That was the only reason I choose the Loop DS lol. I met my goal weight (even if I'm currently up 6 pounds due to meds I'm taking, but I WAS up 18 pounds and dropped 12 so... I guess I can deal with 6 pounds. I'll lose it eventually. Or try to.). If I had to do it all over again... I would probably do the traditional DS. Simply because you lose a tad bit more weight with the traditional (according to my surgeon. It's supposedly only a tiny bit, but still) and I wonder if I'd picked it if I would have been able to get closer to a 'normal' BMI. I'm still technically 'overweight' but I figure if I ever do skin removal I'll probably lose a good 10-20 pounds of loose skin and even if I'd STILL be 'overweight' at least I'd be in spitting distance of a 'normal' BMI (I have no idea why I'm putting it in quotations...😓 I can't stop myself 😅). Anyway, you go with your gut instincts. The surgery is for you and you're the one who has to live with it so trust in whatever you decide to do.

This is far from an easy way out. I’ve never worked as hard with a diet as I did after my surgery. I changed what I eat & how I eat & did a lot of mental work to discover why I ate. I also did a lot of research into nutrition & discovered what worked for me & my body. We’ve all dieted & exercised in the past & successfully lost weight & like you we all put it back on too which is why we turned to surgery. We’re ridden that merry go round many times. For every person you find who says I followed this diet & lost weight & maintained you’ll find 1000s who tried it & failed. The diet industry is a multi billion dollar industry for a reason & there’s a reason the number of weight loss surgery procedures is increasing. By the way, exercising only contributes to 10-20% of the weight you have to lose (read somewhere recently that it’s really only 5-10% 🤷🏻‍♀️). We don’t say surgery is a tool for nothing. Just like buying a treadmill or a gym membership (for which you’d be congratulated), if you don’t use the treadmill or go to the gym nothing has changed & you won’t achieve anything. Same with the surgery, if you don’t use it you wont succeed. Many of the surgery benefits don’t last forever (like the lack of hunger, the restriction, etc.) which is why you have to take advantage of the time they do & establish new & better habits. Something we never did with other diets. You are making the decision to have surgery for excellent reasons: your health & your family. And you have years of weight loss/gain experience on which to base your decision. Sadly though, you may never convince your husband. Thinner people will never truely understand the challenges & anguish faced by those with weight issues. At least you’ll find plenty of support here. I wish you all the best. PS - Don’t be surprised if your husband & his family start sharing ‘horror surgery’ stories. It seems to be what happens next in plans to turn you off surgery. When they start with the friend of a friend of a friend, ask to speak to the one who had the surgery (they likely won’t exist or the story has been twisted) or share stories from here.

8 months in. More days that I feel good than bad. Weight loss slowed, probably due to summer vacations and not watching what I'm doing as well. Some days I feel like I "don't hit my limit "... in other words, I feel like I ate a lot today and the last few days. That scares me a little. I feel like I need a good reset. That said, I'm down about 125. My clothes are still feeling looser... to clarify, my new replacement pants are getting too loose. My ring is almost falling off. My arrhythmia... the reason for the surgery is nearly completely gone. So, good stuff. My bellybutton gets irritated and seems to weep... gross... I'm not sure why. Will be talking to the nurse tomorrow. Need to just refocus and reset though. I'd like to lose another 10 in the next month which will require me to get back on track... I'm in a wedding. I have 2 more vacations coming up, so I gotta be good. I should be able to get more activity in which will be a plus. Walking and hiking. Good luck everyone!

One of the nicest non scale victories I have experienced is that I am not sweating near as much as I have in the past. I walk outside during the work day to get a little extra exercise. In the past walking around in 90 degree weather would make me soaking wet in just a short 10 or 15 minutes. I am walking a good 20 minutes several times a day without sweating very much at all. I did not think it was possible.

Been 3 years out from my 2019 surgery, I lost originally 109 pounds weighed about 147 pounds and that was after my skin removal surgery. Then I peaked up back to 169 now currently and I am very comfortable at this weight. I don’t look like I’m dying since I was soo skinny looking because I’m super tall about 5”11. I do occasionally eat pizza and some rice here and there but I’m back to normal eating. I don’t have big plates but I don’t much often and if I do I weigh the snacks and use the calories to the T. It’s true what they say that you gain about 20 pounds or so after a few years but again I’m healthy and have managed my weight consistently around 169ish for the past two years now so I suggest people don’t beat yourself up because of it. Doesn’t help I’m over the whole 30 years old and your body starts to slow… that’s very very true. But even with it I’m okay. It was not always rainbows though… I do have days where I will experience dumping, and my nutritionist said that gaining the 20 pounds was better for me because after surgery for a whole year I had been in and out of the hospital for low blood pressure, fainting and my heart rate would drop below 50 bpm so since then I have yet (thank god) to be back in the hospital. So I would say it’s really a mind set for how you take this tool your given and use it to fit your life not anyone else’s. mentality it is a challenge because I wish the surgeries didn’t leave huge scars which I would show if anyone wanted to see how the fleur de lis surgery looks like. But in all I look at it as I can fit my clothes, look good in them and I feel amazing most days 😁 I hope I wasn’t too all over the board with my experience lol

^^^ agreed. My surgeon said that only about 10-15% of his patients make it to a normal BMI, and the research I've read seems to bear that out. Most successful people end up in the "overweight" or "class 1 obese" categories (which is like 30 lbs overweight - WAY better than being morbidly obese!!)

I wanted to update everyone on my mock trial of the liquid pre-op diet. I had been doing full liquids for a couple of weeks and eating solids on the weekends. I discovered a couple of things. 1) Adding protein to everything you put in your mouth helps with hunger. Water, soups, shakes, smoothies, etc. 2) After not eating solids and then eating solids, I would feel uncomfortable in my stomach, especially if I ate a large portion. I do believe the tummy shrinks a bit. 3) Once I started the clear-fluids-only diet, more weight started coming off faster. I started the clear-only yesterday, and last night was the very first time I was hungry before bed. I actually had to get up at 10 pm to drink another protein shake because I could not get to sleep. 4) Liquid protein is my friend Overall I'm so very glad I did this mock trial because I tried a bunch of different recipes and combinations of things and learned what I liked and what I didn't. Taking the time to do this has calmed my mind so I don't have to worry about going into these next few weeks before surgery. I'm down 10 pounds already in July, and I hit my goal weight I wanted prior to surgery. Now I actually have more time to get lower. So now, I'm going to set it for 10 more pounds before surgery since I'm going into the clear-liquids-only stage.

That's awesome! My husband decided to jump on board as well. He is doing the keto diet and he has lost almost 10 pounds. I think it is so incredible when your partner supports and helps you. Makes it so much easier. I have been making keto freezer meals for my family to have them ready while I'm recovering. I didn't want to have them bringing home stuff I couldn't eat

revisions always seem to be slower than virgin surgeries. That said, you can always lose more weight by cutting calories....I mean if you're willing to do that (I know I could lose more by cutting them, but evidently I'm not willing to do that because here I sit....still 10-ish lbs heavier than what I want to be...)

Today is surgery day for me. Luckily, I only had to work the pre-op diet for 16 days (14 days on limited food and 2 days liquid). Overall, the pre-op diet really wasn’t too terrible. Thankfully I already loved protein shakes lol. I’ve lost about 10 pounds so far prior to surgery. I’m not really that nervous about the procedure itself, more so the immediate aftermath. I’ll update when I can afterwards. For now though, I’ll see you all on the other side!

Well my BMI is only 35 and now I’ve lost weight my surgery is about at the end of the year. I know I can get off my weight even 10% but it comes back soon. So I’d like to hope surgery helps to remain weight loss as my body doesn’t feel so much hunger after MGB? Am I right?

I have PCOS and my periods were irregular. MY cycle was 6-8 weeks. After surgery, I had my period for like two weeks in the first month. Now I'm spotting but I I have minimal PMS symptoms. I'm about 10 weeks post op.

So, here's the backstory... in 2016 I was diagnosed with Trigeminal Neuralgia (it's a condition that causes chronic facial pain that is so horrific that it's recognized as one the most painful conditions known to mankind and has garnered the nickname 'Suicide's Disease') and I have both 'Typical' and 'Atypical' TN and I had a flare that lasted 10 months and I was in so much pain that I had many moments where I would think of ending my life to escape the horrific pain. My family was the only reason that I held out. I tried to take it day by day, but it was horrific. It's like being dropped into hell while still being alive. Having to live every moment where every tooth in my mouth hurt from the inside out and it feels like needles were digging into my jaw. And THEN I would get stabbed in the face by a scalding hot poker that twists and twists and twists and twists and then pulls out and repeats endlessly. I was in excruciating pain every second of every single day for 10 MONTHS! I felt like I was slowly going insane. I would get 'power naps' of like 5-15 minutes when I would get a miraculous break in the stabbing pain, even though the tooth and jaw pain stayed, because I was so exhausted. On average the power naps would maybe equal 1-2 hours of sleep a day. Though there were days I didn't sleep at all. AND I had to sleep sitting up because laying down was a trigger. But finally after 10 months I had something called an MVD (Microvascular Decompression) in May 2017 which is a type of brain surgery and that was the end of that particular flare and the pain. However, Trigeminal Neuralgia doesn't have a cure. The brain surgery was basically putting a patch on it and hoping that it held out for years. The brain surgery was for the left side of my face, but I have Trigeminal Neuralgia on BOTH sides (just the right rarely flare and if it did it was usually only 3-5 days TOPS and then it wouldn't bother me for MONTHS. One time it didn't flare for 22 months which is almost two YEARS. For reference, I was officially diagnosed in 2016, but I've had TN since 2010). In September 2021 I started getting eye twitches (on both sides) and then other facial twitches and I KNEW it was coming back because the twitches are symptoms of an oncoming flare. I remarked to my family members in absolute fear and panic that I felt that it was going to come back. It's been my biggest fear of it coming back. Then in April of this year it hit. The right side started to flare (with random ass flares on the left as well) and at first I could withstand the pain, but it got worse and then I was put on Gabapentin and I gained 18 friggin' pounds! I couldn't stop taking it because I was in so much pain that the meds were keeping me sane. However, I kept having to increase the dose because the pain was getting worse and worse. I ended up taking the max dose and then one night the pain was so bad that I was sobbing on my bed and the thoughts of just taking a handful of the pills hit me and it scared me. I went to the ER the next day and they were so busy that I had to wait three hours in the waiting room while I was sobbing in pain in a chair while strangers kept staring at me because I was curled up in a fetal position in a chair sobbing my eyes out because I was in so much pain and it's breezy in there and that was making it WORSE! I knew from experience that I had to do the research myself because the doctors don't know crap about Trigeminal Neuralgia because it's rare and they don't know how to treat it (it's usually treated by a neurologist. But there are none in my county that take my insurance). So I gave the doctor my list of medications and told her that Oxcarbazepine worked well with Gabapentin and so she gave me enough to last me until I could get into see my PCP. And miraculously it WORKED! I was able to slowly lower my dosage of Gabapentin by HALF (I was taking 3600mg which is max dose. Now I take 1800mg) and take 900mg of Oxcarbazepine. And because I was able to drop my dosage of Gabapentin I've been able to drop 12 of the 18 pounds I gained, but the last 6 pounds just will not come off! I'm still having a flare. I still feel the pain in my face, but it's muted (mostly. Don't stick me in a breezy room or the pain worsens. And sometimes eating sets it off and makes it worse. And sometimes lying down sets it off too. Also, cold or hot things will sometimes set it off. Yeah, eating is not fun. At all. Also, I don't sleep at night because it flares worse at night). I'm supposed to be going to have acupuncture for my Trigeminal Neuralgia next week and my hope is that it'll fully take the flare away. I also FINALLY get to see a neurologist in three weeks though I have to drive two hours away to see one because no one near me takes my insurance. I have a sneaking suspicion that the flare is actually caused by my Mast Cell Activation Syndrome because I've been having more and more issues with rashes lately (though when my face originally started to flare in April my MCAS was fine. May and June too were fine, but this month my rashes have gotten bad and so has my joint pain which is caused by osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia, which the fibromyalgia is suspected to be caused by the MCAS). To top it off I can't figure out why my face is so damn greasy. I mean I was using topical lidocaine on my face to help with pain management for my TN (in addition to the anticonvulsants, i.e the gabapentin and oxcarbazepine, I take over the counter stuff like Tylenol, Tumeric Curcumin, and Alpha Lipoic Acid to help with pain management) but I had an allergic reaction from overuse (I'm assuming) called Petechiae (which caused red spots on my eyelid) so I stopped using it, but my face has been super greasy every since. And I've been losing more hair lately almost like when I was in the weight loss phase of my surgery. I know it's one or both of the anticonvulsants, but I can't stop taking either one so I'm not sure what to do. So yeah. Just felt like venting my frustration. It's been a rough three months (almost four) and I just needed to unload. If you've read this far, thank you. If you have advice on the greasy face, hair loss, or how to lose the extra 6 pounds while taking two anticonvulsants that make it damn near impossible then please help! If you have any experience with Trigeminal Neuralgia or MCAS and have advice then please share that as well...

Every doctor has their own pre and post op food plan. My pre-op was 10 days on a clear liquid diet (strained fruit juices like apple, cranberry juice or white grape juice with no added sugar, jello, vegetable juices, and broth). It was sheer torture lol.

Ok I have to make a confession…I’m 28 days post op and I was the at movie theater yesterday and couldn’t resist their Nachos and cheese but I only had 10 chips with cheese dip. I felt guilty and skipped dinner and had a protein shake. Does anyone go through these issues that early or is it just me? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk