alimac73

Milestone update #1: I hit 30 pounds lost so far today! I am still 29 days out from surgery so I hope to lose much more pre-op! I'm excited to know I can do this!!!

So, I got a call from the surgeon yesterday and he said the CT scan of my liver did not show any abnormalities! That is awesome news! I just need to make sure the pre-op diet is adhered to so I shrink my liver before surgery.

I'm so happy there is nothing wrong with my liver!!!

Overall, I'm happy. Was that always the case, nope.

I was banded back in 2011. I went with the band because I was afraid of the permanence of the bypass (the sleeve wasn't an option at this time for whatever reason, but I guess that's a good thing since it would have really sucked with the acid reflux) I lost 70 lbs or so, gained and lost floating around 300-310 for years. I got stuck on stuff often, and healthy stuff, hurt to eat. Leafy greens were physically painful.

I felt like a failure, I wasn't happy, I was quite depressed, no matter what I did, nothing worked. I stopped checking in with my surgeon, for years.

I finally dragged myself back to my surgeon to talk about my options... I confessed to being a failure and requested help. I was shocked to find out that, my situation was pretty common, that the band was over-hyped and under-performed on the whole. We discussed options and we decided to go with the bypass. 8 months or so later, after jumping through tons of insurance hoops I had my revision surgery on the 21st of March, 2018. The lapband was 100% encapsulated in scar tissue and took the team over 3 times longer to remove than it should have, very glad to have that thing out of me.

Today, I hit 239.9. I haven't been this low in well over a decade. I just wish I had done the bypass first, instead of letting fear sway me from the better choice.

Had my sleeve on March 5 I’ve lost 109 pounds so far I’m 6 pounds from my goal but as letsgetgoing2018 said this is just a tool you need to follow your Dr diet and work your ass off in the gym also you need to understand they operate on your stomach not you brain so at first you’ll still feel the hunger which is not really there just power through it and in no time you’ll be a whole new person

I am pre op and I feel like we often only see the good side of weight loss surgery.
I want to know... Was it worth it?
I want to be thin but I am scared if failure and side effects. Let me know! Whether your 6 months out or 5 years I want to hear!
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Being afraid is 100% natural. But the sleeve's mortality rate for "on the table" issues is amazingly low. In fact, ALL of the WLS now have super low "on the table" mortality rates. The numbers you might be looking at or hearing are usually skewed by old numbers, the surgeries have all advanced quite a lot even in the past 10 years.

As far as getting "too fat"... we all understand. It's not 100% your fault either and you shouldn't shoulder all the blame. It's a battlefield out there, horrible easy to access foods are all over. Advertising bombards our subconscious mind at every turn.

Let the past be the past. Stop dwelling on it and start moving forwards. The road ahead is going to need your undivided attention. You can't change the past, but you can control your future. So leave the past where it belongs, behind you. Now you get to start working on where you are going now.

Congrats on deciding to take back control of your life. The path laid out ahead of you is tough, and is going to require major changes to so much of your typical daily routine. It's going to get emotional. It's going to get stressful, it's going to be painful, it's going to be very hard. But. It's very worth it!

Remember, you are stronger than you give yourself credit for, be ready, post-op is an amazing journey!

I remember being pre-op and my favorite thing to do was look at progress photos and dream
I am 6 months, 10 days post op and I am down 128 pounds total. This isnt a very great pic since I have been sick, but i still took it because anything is better than my before!!