Hi,

For about 3 months I have been working through the process of getting bariatric surgurey. I have struggled with my weight my whole life. I have never been thin...well maybe when I was 5 yo. I am at an age where it will start to matter. I am not diabetic, thank God, but have high blood pressure and cholesterol etc. I want to stick around and have many more care shows to go to. I am going in on Thursday at 6:00am. My starting stats 6' 1" tall and 377 lbs.

I have been on a liquid diet for a week now. This really sucks....only Protein shakes, crystal light and sugar free popsicles.....its hard. My energy has come back though and I am feeling better. Wednesday I can have no food other than gatorade...I have not taken this decision lightly and it will change my life for the better. Eventually I will be able to eat whatever I want, but in a very small quantity is all. Hey I will save money!

I am still very nervous and those thoughts keep coming up in my head. Like having the angel and the devil on my shoulders....

Do you really want to do this? There is no going back!!! <--Devil

You have always failed to stick with this, use this as a tool to keep it off <--Angel

You know how it goes. But I am almost having to disasociate from it all. I have been through a surgurey before and honestly being put under is kind of scary...It weird when they say ok starting counting back from 10.....10.....9...Hey where the hell am I? You wake up with no concept of time even if days have passed. Not looking forward to that part but it is like jumping off a ledge...You just do it.

I have a really good support system at home. No kids so it makes things easier. I am supper committed and ready for this. I can't wait to get this weight off and feel like what it means to not be "The Fat Guy"...

I have lost 16 lbs in a week and my goal is 20lbs by Thursday morning. I am pretty sure I will hit that. So not to bad to lose 20 lbs in 10 days...I know that will never keep up though...

I am making You Tube videos that I will post, and I read these forums everyday which has really helped me in the pre-op and post-op....

Hi Sleever4Life,

Yes I can relate. I started gaining weight at about age 6. By 9 years old I had an endocrinologist (probably the first kid to have one in my grade school!) and I was on full thyroid replacement. I have been heavy always.

I am just sleeved, 3 days ago. Put away the fear and stress if you can. I felt like taking the best care of myself before surgery -- taking my Vitamins, getting enough sleep, not stressing out over a decision that I had already made -- might help recovery. Surgery always sucks, even at the best facilities. But I can honestly say -- even during the worst of the post-surgery -- I have NOT felt that this was a mistake. Now at 3 days out I am feeling better every day. In fact, post surgery it is amazing how much difference 12 hours and 24 hours can make in how you feel. I went from a pathetic miserable wretch to eating veggie broth and asking when I could take a shower within one day! Once I was home and could sleep in my own bed I started getting real rest and I can see the progress in how I feel.

Oh, and I did the 2 week all liquid pre op diet too -- mine sounds just like yours. It is so difficult. But you are almost done with it.

I wish you all the best.

MsC

Hi Sleever4life.

Your situation is very similar to where I was 4 months ago. (6'1" 448lbs, HBP and Cholesterol, probably a bit older than you are, fed up with being fat)

Life after VSG will NOT always be easy, but the results are worth it. (I am down a little over 100lbs)

You can do this!

You can always turn here to Vertical Sleeve Talk with concerns and questions. Best support group around.

FM

you will do fine, I am 43 YO and also weighed in around your weight before surgery. I have had a great experience(see signature) and I bet you will also.. Good luck !

I think all the posts on this site have really helped me wrap my mind around this. Like how to prepare for the surgurey. Gas X strips...Gummie Vitamins....how to prepare when home. I finally told my close buddies today. I waited because I was really ashamed, and its not a normal subject to talk about. But I feel having that support and encouragement is needed. They are all thin and always have been, so I know it is hard for them to understand, but a few of them have quit other habbits like smoking etc which I know is just as much of a struggle.

One of the things that had a real impact for me was last year when I went to Manila in the Phillipines. I have traveled all over the world for work. When I was in Manila I was about 370. To put this in perspective the average guy in Manila is 5'2" and about 130lbs. So on the way to my office building I had to walk down between several other buildings. These buildings were all under construction. When I would walk through in the morning the construction guys would actually stop what they were doing and stare as I walked by! And I am not sloppy fat....Meaning I don't wobble, or walk funny. I appear more as a football player, but I knew why they were staring....It was very painful and embarrasing. I was at a meeting at an outside restaraunt that night and a cute lady came up and started chatting up our group. She looked at me and said I should go on the biggest looser!!! Apparently that is a popular show there...In front of everyone!! I was mortified...I laughed it off....But that was when I started researchign this and went to my PCP....

On a funny note when I was in Bangalore, India, having a large belly in that country meant you were RICH!!! I never got funny looks there and was treated well. Some of the street people would stare, or if I was walking by there would actually pat my belly and smile...and say "Rich Man, Rich Man".....Other countries I have been to were different depending on how Westernized they were. In Singapore, I was ignored, in Tokyo, I was normal, in France I was a "Fat American Pig" or something like that....In Italy I was Italian!

I just want to be normal. Thin. Fat acceptance in the USA is much different outside of it. But if you think people accept it or like it your kidding yourself. Now I am not huge into vanity, but traveling outside the USA I really noticed it becuase it is not an accepted thing like it is here...or at least people don't say anything...

I want to be healthy...but I am not going to lie and state the looks part of it isn't just as important. I think my weight has held me back in that solcial aspect in a lot of ways....

I was in your shoes just last week... had surgery last Tuesday. I had all the fear, dread etc. that you're feeling about surgery, but I have to say, other than an hour or 2 after surgery, it has been amazingly easy on me. Just like everything else in life, the anticipation is almost always worse than the action. This is the best thing I have ever done for me, and I am now looking forward, for the first time in a long time, to the rest of my life. Welcome aboard.

WELCOME!!! It's sure truth that we need more guys around here. Either that or they need to break outta their shells and post a whole lot more!

Also, I for one have gotten ill advised comments from others regarding my weight here and there. Not a lot or all the time, but when I did they really hurt me. People really don't think before they speak. Soon enough though, those comments and glares will stop... and be replaced by "WOW YOU'VE LOST SOOO MUCH WEIGHT OMG OMG OMG!!!!! HOW DID YOU DO IT... WOW YOU LOOK FABULOUS I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE IT WOOOOWWWWWW!!!!!!!" LOL!!! These are equally as uncomfortable, at least for me. I really can't wait until the day comes when my being fat was a distant memory and ALL the comments stop.

Well wishes on your journey!!! I'm sure you're gonna rockem, sockem regardless!

I am sure your right...And wouldn't you know it I have been through those things 100 times before and it turns out fine. Just doesn't make it any easier till you experince it first hand. But it does help. I am going to write in permanent marker on my chest...Sleeve!!!! I don't want to go in and get a band or anything.....

Ms. Diva have read a lot of your postings in here and appreciate the wisdom and experince you bring...I will try and post more on the guy side...Not speaking for them, just adding perspective on my own experince and I think I am pretty typical...