Thinking about VSG

weeziebeth

Hello all. My GI doc has been after me for a couple of years to 'consider' bariatric surgery. After this past year of not much success in what is really a mandatory weight loss situation, I finally agreed that having a consultation was a reasonable thing to do. Won't go into details about why I have been so reluctant-there are a number of reasons that range from the inane to 'yeah, ya need to think about that.'

Anyway, had a consultation a week ago-went in fairly open-minded and came away with enormous respect for the surgeon and the entire practice. We agreed on what I think is a reasonable plan and one that I'm sure is familiar to a lot of you. Starting on the 3 month medically supervised weight loss program and consider surgery over that course of time.

I found this site a few days ago and have been lurking and reading and have overall been very encouraged by your success stories, encouragement, and even the struggles. I hope you'll allow me to continue to draw encouragement (and provide some too) from you all over the next few months.

Mangopickle

My diary is open feel free to look at what I eat. I highly recommend going to post surgery support group. I go every month and plan to never quit going. I will always been in a recovery state. Just because I am now a size 8-10 doesn't mean I am " cured" of obesity. Good luck with your journey.

relentless2121

Welcome to the forum. It's always great to read posts from newcomers to the thread. I live in Canada and the surgery is fairly new as far as medical funding goes in my province. I go for my 6 month check in in August and could have surgery as early as September. I'm completing my 3rd of 4 "Craving Change" workshops this week. It's a workbook if you want to look it up.
There is a lot of support and encouragement on the site regardless of what stage you are at.
I look forward to reading your shares over the next few months and hopefully longer too.
Once again, WELCOME. :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou:

pattycakes726

Welcome and good luck! It took me years to consider weight loss surgery. Like a lot of folks, I considered it 'cheating' and thought I could succeed without it. It was only when I got into my 50's, developed high blood pressure and joint pain that I reconsidered surgery. Once I started to look at it as a tool and not a fix, I changed my attitude about it. I got the sleeve last July and I'm very happy with my decision. I'm just a few pounds from my goal weight and I am convinced I could not have achieved this without surgery. I completely agree with Mangopickle - obesity is never cured, only kept at bay - but the surgery can give you a fighting chance.

pawoodhull

Welcome! I too "thought about it" for about 10 years as I watched some family members and a neighbor have a different weight loss sugery, lose a ton and then regain most if not all of it back, and figured this would fail like every other thing I had tried so why bother. Then I hit my 50's and had high blood pressure and saw my cholesterol and sugar numbers inch up into the danger zone and my mobility was gone. At about the same time I discovered one of my friends at work had the sleeve and not only got the weight off, but is keeping it off, so I stopped thinking about it and really looked into it.

I had my sleeve about 3 years ago now. I started at 386, so had to lose 226 to get to my goal weight of 160. No I'm not to goal yet but I was told not to expect to get 226 pounds off in a year, that's a lot of weight. Also, we all lose at different rates. I lose slower than most and I often stall. Point is, don't look at me and get discouraged. The surgery worked! The surgery is a tool. Use the tool and you can get the weight off. Keep using it and you will keep the weight off. So I am continuing to use the tool and I am still losing. I will eventually get these last 66 pounds off.

My food diary/log is open to my friends. Feel free to send a friend request if you want. This is a great group with really good insight and suggestions.

Pat

weeziebeth

Thanks all! One of my primary stumbling blocks has been fear of failure-seeing others go through surgery and have varied results-losing much at the beginning and then gaining much back. Also, I have worked in critical care for more than 10 years and, while poor outcomes or problems are rare, those are the people I see. Being in the fishbowl environment of the ICU can really color your view.

It finally hit me that 50+% success rate with WLS was better than 2% done on your own. Also, even if I only lose 60% of excess weight, if I can keep it off long-term I'll still be miles ahead of where I've ever been before. Huh, the math's not too tricky there!

Sorry for the verbal vomit-just processing here. Many more issues to work through!

rpyle111

Don't apologize! We have all (I hope) gone through a lot of soul searching and thinking. My main internal resistance was that I knew from watching my sister and mother go through the surgery that I would have to radically alter what and how much I ate. My thinking was that if I can't do it on my own, how was the surgery going to help? Why not just eat like I had surgery? I didn't want to have the surgery and then regret it for the rest of my life!

With education, though, I realized I had underestimated the effect of the surgery on *wanting* to eat. I know there is a significant mental portion, but if the physical hunger isn't there as much, I am much more confident that I will be successful, and not hate every second of my post-surgery life.

Once I got my head around it, I have attacked the pre-surgery stuff with a zeal that has surprised not only myself, but my wife and family.

Let your processing continue, here or by yourself. It is important that you are fully engaged and ready!

Rob