Justinh125

Given everything my surgeon said (as I was at 240lbs and 5'4",) I figured I might drop 20 or 30 lbs in my first year at most, but even that would be very good for me. My size was causing serious health problems. To my surprise, it did not happen that way. Instead, the pounds just started flying off like in the infomercials that air late at night/early morning. I ate (and still eat) whenever I'm hungry and enjoy every bite until I feel full and satisfied. Prior to VSG, no other diet plan did this. Everything else I'd tried before helped in the short-term, but eventually I'd get so "hungry" that I would have an emotional break-down of sorts, and start eating again. With this surgery, I still get hungry just like I used to. But I used to order a large pizza, sides, and at least one other entree when I'd order pizza. I had no regard to the financial or biological costs of eating all that food so rapidly. Today, I don't have to order all that unhealthy food when I'm hungry. The reason I LOVE the VSG solution is this: I NEVER feel deprived...When I am hungry, I eat. I cannot eat very much at once, but what I do eat makes me feel very satisfied, if not completely full. In other programs I've tried, I couldn't just go eat anytime I was hungry and proceed to eat until I was full. With VSG, I can do that. That's why I think I will have long-term success. Because I don't feel even slightly "deprived." I eat the stuff I want to eat, including (sometimes) really bad "junk food." Of course, I don't eat "junk" food every day, and I'm sure nobody's doctor would ever recommend eating high-calorie/low- nutrient food every day. Unless the "angry hunger" comes on at 5 months or something, I actually think this is going to work where everything else failed. What a blessing!!! -Jay

Here is before middle and after:

Not sure if y'all can see that or not...trying to post before vs. after...I swear !!!

So I've got a few suits I purchased from there, and they claim to do lifetime alterations. What I'm wondering is, how much can they shrink the waist of the pants? Because my waist is shrinking and soon I'm going to be like one of those teenagers that thinks it's "cool" to walk around carrying your pants with one hand...

It's profoundly unlikely that this would ever happen. You won't "blow a staple." In the beginning, with liquids, I didn't feel full or feel the "restrictions" the sleeve imposes. For me it changed as soon as I moved to pureed foods.

So this is right before surgery and then another from this most recent weekend. And yes, I know the suit is a little big for me now, but I haven't had a chance to have my suits altered yet...Still, there's about 40lb difference between the 2 photos. Apologies for the low resolution....better pics in the future...

I would say right away, go with chewables, but your results may vary based on what others say. I chew 2 multi-vitamins every day.

You will be fine. During the pre-surgery part, they will start an IV and pump plenty of fluids into you at that point, so you probably won't be thirsty or hungry.

Yep, happened to me today after lunch. I was driving to the county lockup to visit some clients and had just had some lunch, and scarfed it down too quick....I had to stop at a gas station to get sick. I still sometimes make those mistakes. It's a work in progress.

I'm sorry. I couldn't resist. And every year at Burning Man, I make a point to go to the "Girls Name Sara(h) Party" because I'm a big fan of girls named Sarah,

Well, I stay away from them because of the bread...too much carbs for me since I'm diabetic in remission. But I think it was his age more than the Subway that helped him not have loose skin. Also he walked a ton...he was a student at IU Bloomington when he did all that, and he walked all over their huge (but very beautiful) University campus while he was doing his "Subway diet" thing.

Girl, you are looking good!!! Keep up the good work. And please feel free to post more underwear pics if you are so inspired

I have NO IDEA how I ended up in this room, but he speaks the truth, big time. LOL...I look down and I'm like, "holy crap, what is that thing!?"

Am I the only one who thinks your boyfriend is a jerk for telling you that you smell? It was one of the things I was told NEVER to tell a woman under ANY circumstances.

Well, you're having major surgery, and it's non-reversible. I think that's pretty normal. After a while, you become used to the new way of eating as "normal" and then it doesn't occupy your thoughts as much, or at least not for me.

Jared from Subway lost around 250lbs in one year, and had no excess skin, but he was in his early 20's. Age seems to be a huge factor. I saw him give a talk once...someone asked him about it, and he said "it just shrunk back into place." While I wasn't as large as him, I'm 32 and my skin will get loose for a couple of weeks and then snap back into place...so far so good.

I don't care if it IS the "easy way." As someone who also does the AA program due to a drinking problem, if there was an equivalent of VSG for alcoholism, I'd take that "easy way" in a matter of seconds, too. Probably even faster, because I would LOVE some kind of surgery or something that just magically made my alcohol cravings go away. The easier, the better. There are multiple solutions to obesity, and this is one of those solutions. The way I see it, if there's a different solution that's better for someone else, that's fine too. But this was the best solution for me. And I also wear glasses to drive and for distance viewing. I could also have surgery, or I could wear contacts, but the solution I went with was glasses. So I chose one of the medical solutions to help me see clearly, because I've found sight to be valuable.

How can any of you eat enough to constitute a "binge"? I swear I really can't fit that much food in one sitting...there's no room.

Holy s*^T!!! It's like witness protection program or something. Incredible!!! Great work!!!

Someone in another conversation asked me this, and I thought I'd just throw it out there for anyone in the pre-op stage. Remember, this is a surgery that a surgery that will permanently change one of the most important things we do as living beings (fueling up so we can provide nutrients to our organs to stay alive.) If you have this surgery, your life will never be the same, so I think it's entirely reasonable and normal to have questions, and I'd be suspicious of a surgeon that doesn't want to answer questions. This is not a small or trivial thing, and your surgeon and his/her team will presumably be well compensated either by you or your insurance or some combination of both. So as far as I am/was concerned, they owe it to you to answer all the questions you have for as long as you want. I would suggest asking about things like the pre-op diet, the typical results for that surgeon, the percentage of patients that have any complications of any kind at all, what kind of post-op care is included with the cost of surgery, typical recovery time, what size "bougie" the anesthesiologist uses, and what kind of diet they expect you to follow post-op... As my mother always reminds me, "it never hurts to ask."

For me, it is not, and was never about "will power." No amount of will power seemed to be sufficient to shut off the part of my brain that demanded that I eat as much as possible, as often as possible. For me, the surgery dd much more than just "force me" to adhere to a careful diet program. It forced me to learn to accept small portions and small meals as a "good amount" of food. After eating those small portions, I feel a sensation of fullness unlike anything I ever felt before the surgery. For me, that was the difference I needed to finally start to eat small meals instead of suffer and feel hungry all the time. There were times, historically, where I used to suffer because I would succeed at short-term weight loss, but would be hungry all the time, and it was really tough for me. That doesn't happen anymore with the sleeve. My favorite thing about the sleeve is this: when I'm hungry, I eat!!! I swear, I've already lost over 40lbs and I had surgery about 2 months ago. And my "secret" is that I eat when I'm hungry. Eating high-protein foods can still taste really good to me!!!! I like all kinds of things like chicken and fish (not fried) and I also enjoy some of those "veggie" options like Boca Burgers. So when I get hungry, I eat food. And then I'm not hungry anymore, but I know I get to eat again the next time I feel hungry. Never in my life could I have possibly imagined that I could experience true health in a way where I didn't have to feel hungry all the time. I assumed it was just my burden to deal with as a "big person." Not any more. That's why I am glad I had the surgery, and my only regret is that I didn't do it sooner!!!!

I lost more during week 3 than any other week. So don't worry so much about your pre-conceived notions about when it will happen. As long as you are doing the right thing, it will happen.

If I could have successfully lost a bunch of weight, I wouldn't have needed the surgery.

Plus, you could do what I do and not tell anybody why you keep shrinking or why you can only eat small portions of food at a time.

That sounds horrible. Try to find a doctor that can help her....this doesn't sound right at all.