My Gastric Sleeve - 3 years post op

[Kam Dhaliwal 2]

Hey everyone,

I don't know what made me write this but I just felt like telling everyone my story because when I was pre-op I scoured the forums for information a lot. My name is Kam, I'm 24, I have PCOS and I had my sleeve surgery when I was 21 here in London, UK. I was probably what you consider a 'lightweight', my BMI was 34, I weighed around 14 stone (196 pounds) at my heaviest. The surgery was the first operation I ever had, I was on no solid foods only clear liquid for 24 hours prior to the operation. I went in (I had it done on Friday the 13th eeek) at 6am, one hour later they sedated me and before I knew it I was in recovery. I had to stay 2 nights at the hospital, as I was self funded I had my own room and bathroom. I got very tearful and wanted my mum to stay with me but I think that was just because I was pretty young and I was overwhelmed. I had dis solvable stitches and then I was on Clear liquids for 2 weeks, liquids with chunks for 2 weeks, then pureed food for 2 weeks and then finally soft foods for 2 weeks. My appetite was still the same, I was always hungry so it was a constant struggle to not eat anything, I would chew food and then spit it back out. All in all though, I stayed in my house resting for around 5 days to a week and after that I was fine to leave the house and do stuff.

For the first year, I couldnt eat much at all. It would take me all day to finish a chicken breast. As time wore on it got better, I can now eat half a chicken breast with half a cup of veg in one sitting. 30 minutes later I'll go back and finish it off. My weight is stable, I do a lot of walking for work but no other exercise apart from that. I have slightly lax skin, I wouldn't say it's loose but just not as firm as other people my age but then again I have lost around 5 stone (70 pounds). The lowest my weight went to was 8 stone, but then it slowly crept back up and now I'm at a healthy 9.5 stone. If I watched my diet and ate more healthily and exercised more I could maintain 9 stone easily but it's just because I live at University and I eat with my friends a lot plus I love sugar (although I can't eat as much of it as I could). I do somtimes still vomit, if I eat too much or something is too sugary it definitely comes back up again.

That's my story, if you have any questions please please feel free to ask.

Love Kam