trailtramper

I can't believe it, but it's been 4 years since my VSG. I rarely visit bariatricPal now, but found it enormously useful leading up to my surgery and during post opp. As I contemplated surgery, one of the things that kept me up at night was what would happen way down the road. As a give back to the community (and a little therapy for me) I've committed to posting annual updates. You can see my posts from previous years down below. Feel free to send a PM if you have any questions or comments.
Year 4 Update:
Highlights

• I often forget that I even had the surgery. This is probably is the biggest positive change from year 3 to 4. Don't get me wrong, when I'm stuffed after eating 4 chicken wings or a half a burger, I know why. But, I'm no longer obsessed with post surgery eating strategies or worried about people wondering what's going on with me. After 4 years, my old friends and family seem to have forgotten that I was the fat guy and my new friends and coworkers never knew me that way. More importantly, I have started to forget about myself as the overweight person.
• I'm basically a "normal eater" and have no problem with any foods whatsoever. Four years ago, as I contemplated the surgery, stories from newly post opp people scared the daylights out of me. Stuck foods, explosive diarrhea, allergies, blah, blah, blah. I had a tiny bit of that early on, but it dissipated quickly. Now, I can eat whatever I want without issue.
• The VSG constriction mechanics still work well. I still get full quickly, especially if I sequence Proteins first, veg's second and everything else after that. Yes, I can "eat around the sleeve" but that takes a lot of effort and can backfire. I literally just finished a spaghetti and meatball dinner with my family. I ate two golf ball-sized meat balls and about 4 bites of Pasta and am completely stuffed. It was a salad-plate sized portion. Pre surgery I would have eaten 2 dinner-plate sized portions and still wanted more. When I see big eaters go to town on huge portions, I just look on with amazement.
• I'm an active person now participating in racquet sports, golf, hiking, skiing, yoga and playing with my kids. I believe these activities would have been impossible, or at least extremely unlikely, without the VSG. Pre surgery, at age 39, I was already bowing out of most physical things. Adding 4 years and whatever weight I would have continued to pile on, things would be much worse. Being able to do fun physical activities vs. waiving from the sidelines is a huge benefit that I can't emphasize enough. Life is significantly better now.
• I had low to medium heartburn following the surgery and took a daily 20mg of omeprazole to manage it. My heart burn has actually decreased and now I only take omeprozole every 2nd or 3rd day. I don't need any other meds for cholesterol, blood pressure, etc..

Lowlights

• Weight management is NOT a given. This last year, I put on 10 pounds, which is definitely frustrating. What happened? For me it came down to snacking and drinking alcoholic beverages. VSG doesn't help with either of these bad habits whatsoever. popcorn, chips, candy, nuts, crackers and cocktails all go down just as easy as before. For the first year, eating was such a hassle that I naturally avoided this issue. That "benefit" is gone forever. Now, I have to watch it like everyone else. I weigh 205 today, down from 275 at my high. Had I not had surgery, I believe I would weigh over 300 today. BUT, I want to be 185 and that 20 lbs seems very daunting to loose.
• Everyone once in a while, I eat too fast or too much and need to throw it up. As soon as I swallow the last ill-advised bite, the physical reactions become obvious -- forehead sweat, runny nose, sneezing and, obviously, a feeling of full stomach / chest. Recognizing the symptoms, I have to make my way to a bathroom and bring up the excess. It's not physically painful or anything, but just a little embarrassing and disappointing to me. This probably occurs once every month or two.

As you can see, highlights far outweigh the lowlights. Overall, I'm thrilled with the results 4 years out. I really struggled with the decision to have surgery and delayed it for several years. At the time, it seemed like I was amputating a leg. I regret stressing out about it so much. Now I reason that I had an enlarged stomach that needed to be "right-sized." That's not medically true, but that's how I feel about what happened. In that context, I had a relatively minor procedure with a HUGE outcome.
I don't think about my VSG often and don't expect to post again until next year. I do want to give back and help others -- like so many on this site helped me. If you have questions or comments -- post publicly or PM me.
Familyguy.

Skipping meals is something I REALLY struggle with when I get busy. I have to start the day off right with breakfast. That helps. If I wait to long to eat my hunger signals don’t ever really get rolling. Staying up with meals requires preparation by having Snacks on hand and making a point of trying to eat at least 5-6 small meals a day. It can be really tough. If it’s a problem for you before surgery it may be a real challenge later. But you can do it!

Listen to your body, you might fancy trying a sandwich but your stomach might think otherwise and will let you know. I’m like everyone else in that I eat Protein, veg then a few carbs, but I do have a glass of wine now and again or a low calorie g&t. Only a small one and it takes a couple of hours to drink it [emoji23]. I struggle to eat more than 800 calories a day so I make sure it’s the things I really like but also doesn’t have many carbs. I don’t care if I never eat another sandwich if it means I can feel like I do now, I feel normal, I feel healthy and I feel proud and I pray each day that I will keep loosing. [emoji4]

Had my sleeve surgery today and am in a lot of pain.

Today is my day, waited to get called back now. Surgery @ 7:30 [emoji51]


Have a great day!
Amanda [emoji16]
HW 248 CW 241 SW ?
Surgery Date: 11/21/2017.
Goal weight 150’ish 🤞🏼

Tomorrow morning ! yes I'm nervous. More because I'm a self payer than anything else. Oh well here we go ! Good luck to everyone !

Reporting back...I was sleeved on Friday ,11/17- spent 2 nights in the hospital (dr. protocol). Once I got to my room (around 12noon) I wasn't allowed to have any liquid (again dr. protocol). I was a miserable mess. Hungry and terrible air/gas pain that settled in my upper left shoulder/back. Once I started walking the pain subsided. Day 1, Saturday post op I was allowed to start my liquids. I increased my walking and almost all of the gas pain subsided. Here I am day 2 post op, Sunday) I am feeling great. I am home resting, drinkings fluids and getting up to walk around the house. I do have slight pain around the incision sites. Bending over is a no no,and getting up from a chair hurts too.
I hope everyone in the coming week and rest of November has a smooth surgery and recovery!

I'm struggling with this. I found out my surgery date (11/28) on Thursday and was told to start my pre-op diet the next day. I wasn't mentally prepared for that and I haven't been able to grocery shop. So I pretty much decided I would start Saturday and was doing great until dinner time in which case I blew it. So tomorrow I jump back in and try this again....I have come so far I will NOT fail now!

Congratulations you are going to do great! I am excited for you. Praying that you have a successful surgery and a fast and easy recovery.


Have a great day!
Amanda [emoji16]
HW 248 CW 241 SW ?
Surgery Date: 11/21/2017.
Goal weight 150’ish 🤞🏼

Thank you! I am ready!

Congrats!!! I’m on day 6 of 2(ish) week preop diet...full liquids. I’d love a piece of cheese or something right now! (As I eat my popsicle)
Good luck tomorrow! [emoji173]️

Dangit! I wish I would have read that before trying them. Scrambled eggs felt like rocks! My tastebuds haven't really changed. Im craving veggies though. I still like the same things. I know a lot of people are different though.


5' 5"
HW: 259
CW: 235
GOAL: Healthy and hard 140-ish?

The best time is when you will do it. As noted, with all of the conflicting research of varying quality, it's hard to tell what time is better, if any at all, or if that view will change over time. Further, what research there is on exercise is rarely focused on us - the obese and recovering obese, so there is another variable that throws everything into question. Exercising at a sub-optimal time is better than not exercising at the optimal time.
This is somewhat similar to my advice on Protein drinks - while whey isolate is generally considered to be the most available and absorbable form, the one that you will drink is better than the best thing out there that you won't drink (with the possible exception of GENEPRO, which only seems to be good for making expensive urine.)

I read that scrambled eggs are the last ones to try and hardest on the stomach. They say try poached and fried before scrambled.

6 days post op. Things are going well. I'm keeping my fluids and Protein down. Whenever I get a craving for "food" I either get a Popsicle or some Jello and "fake it". A couple of good things have come out of this.
1) I can now drink coffee black. I've been trying for several years to kick the Creamer habit, and it finally happened.
2) I don't know if any of you ladies have this issue, but I've always had a weak bladder. Since this surgery I don't have to "rush" anymore. I'm loving it.
I've lost all my surgery swelling/water weight and a couple of pounds more. but I'm not really paying much attention because I have plenty of time right now, and my recovery must come first. Also I had my first BM this morning. Everything went fine and I had no problems. I know it sounds like I'm having a easy breezy time of this, but I assure you my incision is still hurting and I walk around like a 90 yr old woman. I've been icing my side and that helps some.
How is everyone else doing?

I am on day 14. Yay! Surgery tomorrow.

Today’s the day! Super excited!

I have to use the chlorahexadine soap. My materials said it would provided, but it wasn’t. The hospital is too far to bother, so I bought some at Walgreens. They have a store brand. The hospital called today and said wash with it the night before and morning of like my instructions said. They then said to turn the Water off and let it dry on the belly for ten minutes before rinsing. That part was not in my instructions.

We all know Premier Protein is always the number one choice but honestly, I hate it [emoji854]
So far I like muscle milk light, which is 20g Protein with 100 calories.
I also like Atkins dark chocolate and slim fast high Protein Shakes.
What are your favorites?

If I cheat one time what does that do to my 14 day liquid only diet?

[mention=319018]GotProlactinoma[/mention] thanks! I'm not quite to the liquid diet stage yet. Just curious about the 6-month (or however long) process prior to getting a surgery date. If people were able to make changes and eat healthier consistently during that time.

What a journey! I don't feel like I'm at the finish line yet, but my life is 100x better. I go on walks with co-workers that I would have been afraid to take before for fear of passing out. I fit into a size 14 pant. And most of all, I don't hate myself for not having the willpower to lose weight. I'm 4.5 months out and highly recommend this surgery to anyone considering it. It's been a wonderful experience that I hope to benefit from for the rest of my life.
Hw 310
Sw 299
Cw 229
Gw 180

I think it was a total rip off. LOL I could have read the manual and then if I had ?'s I could have asked them. The reason I feel like it was a rip off as I went thru the class and my hubby went thru it with me. That was July 2, 2013. Then in Sept of 2013. We had to pay another $500 for him to go thru it. I also went thru it with him. It was exactly the same manual. Bummer deal if you ask me. Oh well, its all done now. They sure can't take it back, can they. LOL

Not necessarily. I still prefer the same tastes.

So my surgery (sleeve) is on nov 21st and liquid diet started on Monday. There hasn’t been a day that I went with out cheating [emoji20] it’s so hard when you still have to cook and prepare food for everyone in the house. I have 8 days to get it together! Boyfriend keeps coming home with take out like his tempting me on purpose [emoji20]