Well, where do I start? I hadn't even heard of VSG before meeting up with an old acquaintance back in June who had lost about 60kgs after the procedure. I'd read a bit about bypass and banding, but didn't much like the sound of either of those so was really interested to find out there was an alternative. The more I read, the more confident I felt that this could be the one for me. I've bitten the bullet and made an appointment to see a surgeon in 6 days' time, and have made tentative enquiries about increasing my mortgage to pay for the operation (I don't have insurance). The op costs about $20,000 here in New Zealand, but I figure that it's my life and health that I'm talling about here so am willing to pay the price. After all, many people spend that on upgrading to a fancier car....... I know what is more important to me than that!

So anyway, I've just returned from a month's holiday where I've lost 5kgs and I have a cupboard full of Optifast shakes to help get me into good pre-op condition. Starting weight was 95kgs, now 90kgs and aiming for 55kgs. I used to be about 12kgs lighter than my goal, but that was 25 years ago, so am not going to aim for scrawny, just for a healthy weight.

Let's hope I can work this ticker thingy....

Well I heard from the nurse today and the surgeon has had an accident so has a few weeks off work..... that delays my initial consultation until January 13th - so 4 weeks from today instead of 5 days time. I've asked them to pencil me in for the first available operation slot after that, so if all goes well I'll be sleeved on March 1st. Apparently he likes his patients to do 2-3 weeks of Optifast immediately prior to surgery, so I've decided to replace 2 meals per day with Optifast meanwhile(the 3rd meal will be tofu and veges), and then onto replacing 3 meals as he requires it. Hopefully I'll can get another 10kgs off by operation day - here's hoping!!

Sounds like you have the right attitude. Committing to trying the pre op before you have to is a step in the right direction, not to mention the bonus of weigh loss. Sorry your appointment got pushed back.

Thought I'd resurrect my journey.....

It's now 2 months later and just over a week until surgery day. My appointment with the surgeon went well - as I'm smaller than a lot of his patients he said I'd be "a piece of cake to sleeve" and I only need to do one week of pre-op shakes. When I said I wanted to lose another 5kgs before surgery he told me not to stress too much about that because it would certainly come off afterwards anyway. Despite that I'm down another 7+kgs down (16lbs) so am feeling pretty pleased about that. Aiming for a few more pounds in the coming week.

Roll on March 2nd (the day AFTER the op!)