HappyQ

I had vertical sleeve surgery 9 months ago. I have read some of the posts about pain and gas right after surgery, but I did not experience any of that. I had the most caring staff at the hospital and was up moving right after surgery. They never had to come get me up because I was already out in the hall walking.

I am very happy with my success so far. I have lost 116 pounds and have gone from a size 30 to an 18. I am now encountering the slowdown in weight loss. I had expected that to happen sooner from stories of other people in my nutrition support group. I have about 35 more pounds to go to reach my goal and I realistically expect that to take another year or more.

I am trying to not focus as much on my weight on the scale and more on how great I am feeling, but that can be hard to do. As an overweight person for most of my adult life I feel like my success is tied to the number on that scale.

A year ago I could barely climb the 1 flight of stairs from the parking lot to my office at work. I went hiking for 2 hours on Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore a few weeks ago. That was a huge milestone for me to prove all of the hard work exercising is paying off.

The only issue I am experiencing so far is some constipation and intestinal gas which can sometimes be embarrassing.

My only regret is that I did not pursue the surgery sooner!