18 years old and nervous about surgery

[emilycath 0]

I am turning 18 in April and I am scheduled to have surgery a few weeks after my birthday, do you think I have a more advantage or disadvantage because of my age? Am I more or less likely to have complications? I am 260 pounds at 5'7 and is 135 a realistic goal? And how long could this possibly take? My mom had the vertical sleeve a year from this month and have dropped from 300 to 180 in 12 months and she says the weight will just drop off of me. Also, will I have a lot of extra skin?

[LauraKitty 1]

Hello! Everyone is different but I think you have a better advantage then someone older than you and also your skin has a better chance of boucing back to normal because of the elasticity!

Be safe, take care!! :coolgleamA:

L

[Felicia 28]

I am 26 and my nutritionist told me even for my age I am totally at a better advantage. We are young, we can lose weight faster, and our skin has way more elasticity. Since we are younger we can also exercise harder, usually younger people have less injuries and problems too.

I am almost 5'8 and 240 pounds give or take a few, I would like to see myself at 145. I think I am a bigger boned person but since I have never been thin I'm not sure about that. I would say your goal seems realistic. Usually I have heard we will have the biggest loss in the 6-9 months after our surgery. This depends a whole lot on how much Fluid you are taking in, and how well you follow the post-op diet. I persinally will be following everything exactly and I plan on keeping my carbs super low. I want to get as thin as I can in the shortest amount of time, then I figure I can spend the rest of the year toning up and focusing on my problem areas.

The only disadvantage about our age I think would be that we our younger so we like to go out more. That will make it more difficult to follow the rules, but not impossible. I think it will be more of an emotional toll on us but other than that I think we have the upper hand. Good Luck! Don't be too scared I think you are going to do great. Just think you are 18 and getting this done you will have so many more "skinny" years ahead. Some people don't end up getting this until they are like in their 60's. There is nothing wrong with that but I'm sure they might say that they wished they had done it sooner.

Keep us posted!

[Lissa 2,631]

I think 135 and 5'7" is going to be too skinny. If you look at pics of some of the other sleevers, especially LilMissDiva, they are very thin at much higher weights than you might think. I believe she's 150 to 160 now. (Sorry if I'm overestimating your weight!)

Since you're 18, you do have a much better chance of not having lots of loose skin. It also helps that you don't have things like c-section scars to deal with for the long run. I think it's great that you are dealing with the weight issue now!

Good luck on your journey!