bigbit

@@sgc, to give you one reference point, I had my surgery just over 6 months ago and I am down 115 pounds - about 20 of that was pre-surgical liquid diet. So your expectations align with my experience to date. I agree with VDB that I wish I had done this sooner. Too many years of suffering at 400+ pounds. I'm 2 pounds away from breaking into the 2's!

I started at 415, with an all-time high of 426. I had the surgery last November, a month before my 61st birthday. Right now I'm at 309. I can't report anything unusual to date; everything has been good with little pain and good progress. I empathize with all of your frustrations: the chairs in restaurants (especially booths), airplane seats, event seats, etc. Next Monday I'll be on my first airplane flight since taking off over 100 lbs. I'm anxious to see how things go. Obviously, the health improvements have been great. I can walk now without getting winded; climbing stairs is pain-free and easier; I can sit in a stadium seat with someone next to me, etc., etc. But I still have a ways to go, being slightly less than halfway to my goal. Blood pressure is way down, heart rate is down, all my blood numbers look great. For me, this was the right thing to do.