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This morning I hit a new all time low BMI for me since I started gaining weight after my kids were born. My BMI is now 29.8 so I’m am now just overweight and no longer obese! I have 13.2 pounds left to get to my original goal, but think I’ll drop a further 5 from there to defend a 5 pound range. I’ve got PS scheduled in January, so right on track to reach my goal in October and then maintain a couple months prior to surgery. Feels soooooo good!!! On another note, the closer I get to goal, the more people notice when I’ve dropped smaller amounts. Early on I’d get a lot of comments every 20 pounds or so. Now it’s about every 5.

I was diabetic taking Metformin every day....glucose and a1c totally normal now and no more metformin! I had sleep apnea....gone Cholesterol and Triglycerides elevated....normal now I still have some blood pressure issues but I've been able to cut my dosage in half.

Congrats! You'll reach your original goal before you know it! 😊 I, myself, have low standards and just want to be in the overweight category as I've been obese since I was in elementary school. Right now I'm the smallest I've been in 19 YEARS as I was 14 the last time I was 235! It honestly blows my mind and the fact that I'm even in a smaller size than I was when I was 14 is even odder to me. (I was a size 20 in pants and a 2x in tops when I was this weight at 14, but now I'm an 18 in pants and an xL in tops). There's also the fact that I hadn't been under 300 pounds since I was 17! I'm grateful every day that I made the decision to have this surgery... I put it off for far too long!

OP - note that if you're a bypass patient, you'll probably be required to take calcium citrate instead of calcium carbonate (Viactive is carbonate)

nope. It varies by clinic, not by surgery. Our clinic has the sleevers and the bypassers on the exact same plan.

I'm three years out and prior to surgery, I had a BMI of 50. My surgeon recommended the sleeve because I was still young-ish then, e.g. early 30s and nutrient absorption is pretty important. My surgeon felt that the calcium/vitamin D malabsorption may lead to bone density issues later on in life (and after obesity, people generally don't have great bone density and are prone to fractures). Most of bariatric surgery is relatively new, so there aren't a ton of long term studies, so my surgeon is just guessing. And most people on the bypass seem to be pretty good about taking their vitamins (which is something you should do with the sleeve anyway). A couple of months after my sleeve I was diagnosed with a range of painful, chronic autoimmune diseases and I'm very thankful that I went with the sleeve because of the issues with drug absorption with the bypass (I have to take a ton of oral medications). Of course, I did not deal with GERD, which means that the bypass is right for many people. With the sleeve, I was able to take my BMI from 50 to 25. Due to aforementioned illnesses and medications, I did deal with some regain, which I am slowly working on. At the moment, my BMI is about 29. I have never felt like the sleeve wouldn't be enough to help me achieve success. All that to say, you can definitely have success with the sleeve or the bypass. As commented by others, a lot of it is going to come down to what your level of commitment, and your ability to change your lifestyle and deal with psychological issues. And you have to educate yourself. You can't drink a diet of only protein shakes forever. At some point, you have to learn how to eat real food in the real world, go to work, socialise and interact with food, people and life. If you haven't dealt with your "issues", you will have regain with either surgery. It can be a tough decision, but I honestly feel that you can find success with either surgery.

I was swimming at around 5 weeks when we took an overseas holiday. I kept my incisions out of the sun as UV can make scars darken.

I was told 4 weeks for a pool and 6 weeks for the lake.

The general consensus that I have seen, and my doc's policy as well, is no immersion until all of the incisions have healed closed, typically about three weeks. I had one that was still weeping some so it wound up being four weeks for me until all was sealed up. Getting wet, as in a shower, is usually fine, but no immersion. So, until then, it's just dangling feet in the water time. Once you do get in, take it slow, stretch things out and explore your range of motion to make sure nothing is hanging up before going for Olympic training.

Sorry you're feeling so awful. I felt terrible when I first woke up from surgery and had a lot of feelings of regret. I was lucky enough to be feeling much better by the next day, so I can only imagine how it would be to feel like that for 5 days. I'm not a doctor and I can't make any promises, but it is very, very unlikely you've messed up your body forever. You may take longer to heal than you hoped. You may have some complications that require additional treatment. But it is really rare to have serious complications, and even if you do, almost all complications can be fixed. I'm sure you picked a good surgeon who knows what he or she is doing. Have you contacted your surgeon's office? They want you to call if you're having problems. Maybe it will help to remember that you put a lot of thought into the decision to have this surgery. I'm sure you had good reasons for it. They say you shouldn't make decisions when you're in a heightened emotional state -- like being in a lot of pain, as you are now. Trust the decision you made when you were clear-headed and not clouded by pain. You'll get back to that point again and this awful time will just be a blip in your memory. I hope you feel better soon!