newlifeat41

Aww. That is just so incredibly sweet. Thank you. People like you and everyone who was kind enough to chime in and give their advice are the reason why I joined this forum. The support is amazing!!

Yes this was my plan. Thank you for adding that I should include their medical backgrounds. I have done research on these particular doctors, Dr. Ponce de Leon and Dr. Frayre for months. I’ve read posts about them and reviews. I have honestly been trying to find something negative about them but as far as I’ve read I can’t find any bad reviews. Their office answers right away and I’ve called four times already. I’ve spoken with Dr. Frayre twice and Dr. Ponce is known for his expertise in this field. Other docs in Mexico call on him when dealing with difficult cases. I’m hoping all of this will be enough to convince him I’m in good hands. Thanks for the help. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Thanks. I know plenty who’ll say I am crazy which is why I’m keeping this surgery to myself. I’m only telling my husband and having a hard time getting up the courage to tell him! They don’t know how much it has affected me in so many ways. My confidence is so low. I can’t even look someone in the eyes when speaking to them b/c I feel so inadequate. I’m not sure if you felt like this preop. I feel depressed and hopeless. I do feel like this is my only solution but I do understand that it will take work on my part. I’m hoping that my desire to change myself will get me through the difficulties I know I will encounter. Reading all of your posts has made me feel so much more prepared for all the problems that could arise. I feel like I’m ready to do this. Now I just need to get my husband on board. Thanks for the vote of confidence.

Thanks once more for the advice. You are absolutely on point with having to work toward my goal even with this surgery. After the months of research I am prepared with the knowledge that others who’ve had the surgery have given me. I know that initially it may be easier to lose b/c of restriction and not all feel it right away, so it may not be easy even at first. I know that as time goes on the restriction will be less and the hunger will come back. I know that I will still have to exercise and watch what I eat but I am hoping gain control over my bad eating habits. I’m hoping to initially see good results and that will keep me motivated to keep working harder. I’d love to finally be on the losing side giving others advice about how to get through this. Wish me luck as I proceed. Many thanks and all my best to you.

I would have agreed with you 10 years ago when I hadn’t tried every diet in the book to lose this weight. The weight continues to creep up on me year after year. I have tried medication which of course is not without side effects for no real long term results. I truly do appreciate your advice and concern. You are absolutely right if I had not exhausted every other option to lose this weight. My late mother had diabetes, hbp, and degenerative heart disease all brought on by obesity. By the time she truly tried to make an effort to lose the weight it was so incredibly challenging for her. She didn’t care about how she looked but simply wanted to improve her health and save her life. She lived for 74 years but I can honestly say 10-15 of those years were spent with a very low quality of life. She could not do things that she truly loved to do like take long walks or even garden. Am I wrong for wanting to be proactive and possibly stop or at the very least delay these health conditions from coming on? I know that plenty will think I’m crazy to consider it but despite the risks that come with surgery I believe they don’t even come close to outweighing the benefits I can gain from this. Please don’t get me wrong. I truly think you are extremely kind to voice concern and reservations over this but we’ve all been down this depressing road. I want to live the rest of my life to the fullest and not regret 5 years from now that I didn’t do this sooner. Much love to you for giving me your honest opinion. Thanks for caring.

I wish you continued success. Being this far out post op (like almost 5 years!) is definitely an accomplishment in my book. I hope I have the same resolve you did. Maybe the fear you had will kick in for me and literally scare me into not cheating or eating sliders. I just know that I need to get my head straight and I was hoping that the sleeve would whip me into shape. I'm feeling more encouraged now knowing that not everyone went into this completely ready. I am slowly but surely getting there though. Thanks for your support. Really means a lot to me.

Thank you for that. Veterans like you are such an inspiration. I can’t tell you enough how amazing I think you are because of the fact that you are still posting and giving advice to people like me. You have had your WLS and have obviously been successful and are still on this forum giving great advice and encouragement. The reason I started this thread was to get an honest perspective from those who have already been through the process. I wanted to figure out if this WLS would help me break the pattern of emotional eating or is that something I have to fix beforehand. Is really wanting to be healthy and thin enough to make this successful? I know I have to conquer my food demons. My real question is did you conquer them before your RNY or did your surgery give you the strength to conquer them? I’m worried this could be another failed attempt at losing weight and I can’t try another procedure or surgery. From what you posted, I should go into this with a strong attitude and resolve and that what will make me successful. I hope you’re right and I appreciate the encouragement. I’m working on the mental part before committing but I’m getting there. Thanks so much.

That would be wonderful! Who is your surgeon in Mexico if you don’t mind me asking? Why did you feel your lap band wasn’t giving you good results? Was it because of poor restriction or minimal weight loss? I’ll be very interested in knowing how you do. I wish you success and an uneventful procedure. I hope to hear more about your procedure. Best of luck and keep us updated please.

So Shedo82773, you are saying that the WLS is what kind of forced you into good eating habits and consistent exercise? And don’t apologize for the long post, I really enjoyed reading it. Besides my initial post was way longer, lol. You did have the RNY which is the gold standard in WLS. It also quite a bit step which I think was very brave on your part. From what I’m reading here you made up your mind to do this and your determination to make it work was what carried you through. Congrats on a very impressive weight loss. You should be proud of this as well as taking that bold move to change your life. I’m so mentally worn out right now that I was looking for how to move forward. I can’t stay this way. I feel so uncomfortable in my own body but as others have pointed out, I can’t move forward without making a solid decision to change my eating habits for good or I will faced with another failed procedure. Thanks for the motivation!!

Thanks but I think you are giving me more credit than I deserve. I’m trying to get my head straight. How did you do it? How did you get to the right place to make sure you’re wls was a success. What was your motivation? Do tell please.

Thank you. You are telling me what aNYCdb also expressed. I believe that you’re both right that I need to get my head in the game regardless of what procedure I have. All of us on this forum have struggled with these issues and we all had high hopes that the wls we choose would be the answer. I realize that this route is not the easy way out but I was hoping that when I got my ESG it would help me reach my goal without the never ending cycle of unsuccessful dieting. I guess what I’m hoping for is to put in the work but actually see results. I was thinking that the ESG was the wrong procedure and I should’ve gone for the gastric sleeve just like you now think the bypass was the way to go for you. Everyone is different and I just feel like sometimes I’m always fighting an uphill battle, even after the ESG. I was just thinking that the sleeve would help me fight at a more level battlefield.

Thanks again. What you are saying is absolutely what I needed to hear. I started this forum thinking I would get the usual, “yes go do it”, and “gastric sleeve will change your life”. You are telling me the truth that I don’t want to hear. You are so right— at the very least I should give this ESG tool another try. You’ve basically told me what I didn’t want to hear but I always knew in the back of my mind—I have to address my issues with food before trying another procedure. No amount of surgery will fix this if I don’t fix my head first. You are most kind to tell me the honest truth I didn’t want to hear. All my best to you.

Thank you for taking the time to read my entire post and respond. I felt it was important to mention that I had an ESG in order for some in this forum to see the whole picture of my struggle. Yes, according to the studies the ESG should produce similar results to the VSG. That did not happen for me. You may be right that it has to do with a failure within myself or the emotional eating issues I have. This is exactly why I posted. Perhaps some of you can see where I failed. The ESG did not produce the results I wanted at all. I followed the pre op, only two days of it btw, and the post op to the letter. I gave myself some extra time but I did not get any significant weight loss even if it were slow. I lost those ten pounds in first two weeks on liquids and then nothing. Is this where I failed do you think? I was on purée until 6 weeks post op. I quite honestly don’t feel any restriction which is key to weight loss. Keep in mind also that ESG does not take away the hunger hormone at all. I stuck with the plan even though I didn’t see even a slow weight loss for a good two and half months. At 3 months now post op I am frustrated and hopeless. Maybe you’re right and I have to deal with my head hunger before pursuing another procedure. Thanks for your input!!

Hello everyone. I'm writing to ask for much needed help and advice. I'm a 41 year old female with 4 boys. I weigh about 202 pounds and I'm 5'5" which puts me at a BMI of just over 33. My story is sadly what most of you have been through--- dieted all my life, tried every type of diet--extreme diets, fad diets, you name it. I've been on phentermine for appetite control on the highest dose for more than 10 years, since a few months after I had my youngest son, it has no effect anymore but I'm terrified to stop taking it for fear of gaining even more weight. I've been to numerous weight loss doctors who have prescribed different prescription pills and not one of them was able to get me to a weight I could maintain for very long. I even went so far as to get a new procedure done called the endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty where they suture your stomach going in through the mouth without any incisions. It was an outpatient procedure, I was home the same day and I really thought this was the answer to my weight problem. It was the only procedure I qualified for because my BMI was too low for any invasive WLS and I don't have any comorbidities. Sadly, it has been three months now and I have only lost a mere 10 pounds total. I'm soooo depressed and angry with myself for spending so much $, ($10,000 to be exact-- self pay) for a procedure that only produced minimal weight loss. What is wrong with me? Why can't I lose this damn weight? I exercise 4-5 a week for over an hour each time, sometimes I do intense cardio and sometimes I take an intense gym class. Of course my eating habits could be better but I've gone through weeks of extreme dieting to only lose 5-10 pounds after killing myself. My attitude after another failed diet is always, why suffer when I never get results. My normal eating pattern is not horrible as I don't eat pasta, bread, rice, or sugar (I limit myself to only 30 grams of carbs a day). I have a green smoothie for breakfast everyday, a salad for lunch, and a sensible dinner without carbs. This wouldn't bother me so much if I didn't care about my appearance. I hate the way I look. I'm avoiding social outings because I believe I'm so hideous. I'm depressed and although I know my issues run deeper than my weight, I believe that a big part of my depression is my weight. I want a solution to this, once and for all which is what led me to this forum. I have been researching getting a gastric sleeve done in Mexico and I think that I have finally decided on the right surgeon--- Dr. Ponce de Leon. He has agreed to perform it on me despite my previous endoscopic sleeve AND he believes he can do a single incision gastric sleeve as well which would be the best I could ask for. For those of you who are still kind enough to keep reading my long drawn out post, can you please help me to answer these questions: 1-- If you have used Dr. Ponce in Tijuana, Mexico please tell me about your experience with him. Is he as good as the reviews make him out to be? Is the fact that he doesn't speak English a big negative or does the translator suffice? 2- Is having gastric sleeve the answer to my weight problems? If there are any out there with a similar BMI and have had this WLS, what were your results? 3- Am I crazy to go to Mexico for this? I can't find a surgeon here who will touch me and I'm tired of false promises and wasting thousands without any meaningful weight loss. But is Mexico the way to go? 4- How do I convince my husband that this is the way to go? He thinks I don't need it and that Mexico is too risky and dangerous. I would really like a candid and honest opinion from those who have had the experience. I'm scared of going and not achieving any meaningful weight loss yet again. This is my final hope as I think a bypass is too extreme and I'm not ready to reroute my organs, I am ready though to have a big chunk of one removed, lol. This may sound weird but I'm not afraid of the actual surgery and the pain and the "dangerous" Mexico scenario but I am terrified of failing once again. Any help would be a godsend. Wishing those who have had the bravery and courage to do this, a continued successful journey!