I have been "thinking" about WLS for about 1 year. Last year I did a pretty restrictive diet and inbetween ate normally. I lost close to 40lbs without a whole lot of effort (gained the holiday 10, but that is almost officially off too). I am 35 and don't want to wait until I am 45.

I went into my surgical consult last month convinced to get the band. However, they seemed real keen on the VSG and saying without saying not so much on the band. So I have been reading both.

I am fat, but I have no health problems related to weight. My blood pressure is good (105-117/65-80 on average). My cholesterol is good, triglycerides are good, my HDL is good. My blood sugar is excellent and no diabetes in the family.

I am able to stick to a diet for awhile, but when I go off, I go off and then have big motivation problems getting back on. I do best on a high Protein, low carb diet so this sounds like a good match. My tendency is to be very black and white in my eating patterns. If I am not on a diet, then I am being "bad" and if I am at a restaraunt, then I order what I want to eat. I am trying again to reroute my mind into middle ground that yes I can have Cookies, but that doesn't mean because I had cookies, I need to eat chips to round out the badness. I can just have the cookies and still be good. So I am *working* hard on changing my thought patterns.

I was normal sized up until my early 20s when I was first put on birth control pills. I had a slight weight gain then. But then they changed my pills and I ballooned up. Combine rapid weight gain with a "damn I'm gross, eff it I'm eating Burger King morning, noon, and night!" attitude after I gained about 60lbs in about 6 months or so, I continued to pack on the pounds year after year. From my lowest weight of 118, my old "set point" of 125, to at my highest recorded of 252. OMG.

So basically, there are many elements of this surgery that I like. I like that after time you can still eat all of your favorite stuff, just a few bites instead of a full serving or two. I like that there is no foreign body to have to work around or ports to get infected or the nearly 100% chance the band will have to come out within the next 5-10 years.

What I don't like is the lack of long term data. What happens to me in 10, 20, 30 years? Will long term nutritional deficiences cause me problems? Is this surgery going to shorten my life? Because it can. There is absolutely no guarantee being fat will since we have some chunkers in my family who have lived to ripe old ages (although I would need to lose and keep off about another 30-40lbs in order to be where they were).

I also don't like that it is permanant and that if anything goes wrong with the staple line, or my stomach explodes, I am stuck in some sort of bypass situation which is something I DO NOT want. In fact that is my biggest fear. The other part of the permanent thing is the lack of control. I can't get my stomach back but a band can be removed. So I am still in the driver's seat.

I am also a bit scared of the rapid weight loss. I'd prefer to lose a steady 5-10lbs/month than huge 30lbs drops that I am seeing on the boards. Crazy, I know! But I am weird :tongue2:

The VBG was popular and people who were a few years out raved about it. But it is now considered a very dangerous surgery by the AMA according to the wiki. Liver and kidney failure were common with that one. Bypass patients seem to end up with heart attacks. I know it may sound dramatic but it is very real to me trying to make this decision.

Many of the people posting on this board had serious weight related health issues and mobility issues, so the choice is much easier to make, at least in my mind. Hands down, if I had diabetes, could barely walk, and/or was on a million pills a day to keep me alive, I would do it ini a heartbeat.

But was anyone healthy but fat and made this choice? What brought you to the decision?

Yes I am healthy in every aspect. The USCG has deemed EVERYONE with a BF% over 34 has to go through a series of tests that are very costly even with insurance. Plus all the sign offs from agility tests and so on.

I stay put at 300 lbs year round but these tests cost so much on a 2 year basis that its better financially for me to spend the 5000 dollars and get up to their par to stop the outflow of money towards these USCG tests. On average I spend 3000 dollars every 2 years. Its common sense for me to take the initiative.

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Captain, I totally understand the big and in shape problem. I was a swat officer for 10 years. I was always in the high 2's close to 300 but could still run and do my pt test to stay on the team. I was the slam guy so a little extra size never hurt. Then I moved to the reserve division and went to work doing what I went to school for. It was no time until I was way to big. It's all good now though. I will be back to size in no time. Then my gear will start to fit again...lol.

Hi MissMeow

I do not mean to repeat what the others have said, but I too could have written your original post not so long ago, except my weight started to pack on after I had my daughter when I was 19. I have bounced up and down the scale ever since. Many times I had lost 50-70 lbs, and slowly but surely the lbs came back plus some.

I started on my WSL journey seeking lapband, but my surgeon recommended VSG because of my age (I am 35 also). He said I am far too young to live with a device inside of me, and the longer it is in, the more chance I would have of something going wrong. I then started reading a lot of blogs and message boards for all surgeries, and the sleevers sounded FAR more happy then the banders.

I have also learned along the way that 'just fat' is a disease. It is not yet accepted that way by society, however, obeisity is a disease that can be treated. If my doctor told me that I have a disease that could potentially cut my life short by 20 years I would definately go under the knife if it would prolong my life and prevent other diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, etc.

So, I am having my surgery on 02-20-2012... Sometimes for quality of life, we have to have faith, and take educated chances. For a better quality of life with my kiddos, I am going for it!!

I hope you find some answers to help you make a decision. Everyone on this board is super willing to offer advice, and share thier experience. Good Luck

I can eat a lot more than 2-4oz. I actually eat enough to feel normal. There is nothing wrong with one small plate of food at a buffet.

In fact, I just ate a 2 egg white omelet with half a slice of cheese and 2 pieces of turkey bacon. My plate was full and my tummy is too. And all that for only 137 calories. How can I complain?

missmeow, I could have written most of your posts word for word (except, dumping and nutritional deficiencies are largely by-products of the RnY, not the sleeve, so do a bit more research so you feel more comfortable), wasn't a miserable fat person, or a 'food or carb addict.' I'm post-op nearly a year now and haven't had a 'grieving' period for losing my BFF food, cos food plays pretty much the same role in my life as it always has...just less of it! I was always super healthy my whole life, and was thin a lot of my life too. I did get hypertension a few months before I finally decided to go for the WLS, and that was a shocker cos it doesn't run in my family. My own body and lifestyle had introduced a new health problem into the gene pool. I do think my weight was causing me issues at work, and some of those are resolving now -- c'est la vie! I'm not bothered when people are nicer to me now than they were before, human nature is what it is and I don't take it personally.

So yeah, a year post-op, I'm nearly to "goal" -- tho my goal is fairly ill-defined lol...I hate goals. And it's been dead easy. And I didn't start working out until a couple months ago, and now I do three times a week. I've lost 90 lbs in a year, which is fast by normal dieting standards maybe? But slow by WLS standards, which is exactly what I also wanted. I got to 1000 cals per day as fast as I could post-op, and I've been 1000-1500 per day throughout the past year. I am fiiiiine with being 'slow.' I tell you, it doesn't seem all that slow .

Anyhow, good luck! Any more questions, keep asking. :-) cheers

My sleeve was mostly cosmetic. Sure, I wanted to avoid future health problems- but I had NO comorbidities. Whatsoever. I'm 27 and want to feel sexy like a 27 year old!!! So I got surgery

i went to the doc and they took a ton of test and all of the came perfect, and he said no way this is yours, you are to fat to be this healthy, well i was and i am, thank's god! and that's what made me realise i needed to do something, because i don't want to get sick, my grandma has diabeties, kidnies malfunction, hearth conditions and is on dialises, just to name a few conditions and this is because she never did anything about it, so i really know what it's like and i don't want to be there, so i decided i will do this, i let me tell you, the hardest thing is to decide, then everything including the surgery is so easy, yes easy!

My recovery is going super fast and i can allready see results, so i hope this helps you in making the best desition in your life!

Good luck!

I'm 35, and 345 lbs and have NO health issues. My reason for doing this (I'm still pre-op)is to stay healthy. When I go the doctor and ask me the standard questions- have hbp, cholesterol etc my answer is no. They seem perplexed. They're very surprised that I am so big and don't have any health issues. So that's my goal with the sleeve. To stay healthy. I've done my research. Band is not for me. Gastric bypass not for me. I'm in insurance approval mode now, hoping to get my date soon!!!!

idk what you exactly mean but it was dangerous for my age as 16, i had no health problems, i weighted about 320 lbs, now i weight about 250 lbs in 3 months

No health issues, but I sure felt out of shape, always sweaty, sick of not being able to wear a skirt or short shorts, not looking good in any clothing, etc.

I was fat but healthy as far as blood pressure and cholesterol etc. I worked out 5 days a week but just ate too much! I also had the lap-band for 5 years which was no longer working for me. Before the lap-band I did have occasional high bp, but was not medicated for it.

I'm healthy, no co-morbidities, and i have been fat since childhood. I'm very active, dance, hike and camp, and am really pretty fit. I really can't lose weight without heroic efforts, and I opted for surgery because it'll allow my intake to match my slyggish metabolism without being starving all of the time. For me it is preventative. 3 out of 4 of my grandparents had diabetes. Both grandfathers had heart attacks. My mother have been on cholesterol meds since her mid 30s and she also had apnea. It's coming... it just hasn;t caught up to me yet.

Yes!! I'm very healthy. My cholesterol is a little high (I think that's genetic), but my PCP told me my HDL/LDL ratio is excellent and that is what is more important. My blood pressure has always been on the lower side. I've had a weight problem since probably the 2nd grade. Both my parents and my brother have diabetes. Everyone in my family is overweight/obese. So I'm already genetically doomed. The only times I've been successful at losing weight is when I was eating next to nothing and working out everyday. I am also black and white with my eating habits. I'm either strictly following a diet, and then when I'm not losing, I quit and head to the nearest Chic-fil-A. I'm doing this because I don't want to be healthy and fat anymore. I want to be healthy and FIT.

Don't get sleeved until you have the facts and information you need.

I did not have "serious" problems I found out I had Gerd, and Gallstones. I was having knee and hip pain and a family history of diabetes and heart attacks. All my maternal (women) family members were big obese women and I was headed down the same path. I was 233 on surgery day and tired of yo-yo dieting. I was never a binge eater, I DID eat wrong and drink plenty of regular Pepsi though.

Google the heck out of gastrectomy studies, VSG etc. The information is out there but you do have to look for it. I found plenty before surgery and it calmed my fears. Nothing 10 yrs out because the surgery was not routinely done 10 years ago. It started as a stand alone procedure in 2002.

My grandmother had a partial gastrectomy in the 80's for stomach cancer. She passed but she had a multitude of health issues. Most gastrectomy patients need to stay on top of Vitamins and b-12. Other than that the surgery does not shorten your lifespan.

I am almost 9 months out and lower than my goal of 145 (142 today). I have never spit up, I threw up 1x when trying to swallow a thick Calcium pill, I do not dump BUT at first sweets made me feel sick. I avoid anything too sweet as I have lost my craving for it.

The "permanence" of the sleeve is what we want. No one on here wants to lose all this weight and have our old stomach back so we can gain more weight. The older sleeves were done much larger and those people did not maintain the loss-they had serious regain. The more modern sleeves do expand slightly and you can eat more at 6 months then in the early months. Sleeves don't explode and choose a competent Dr with a lot of experience and a low rate of complications. Also getting a lapband removed almost always damages the delicate stomach tissue and those people end up getting RNY, VSG or the DS because the weight will come back.

check out pubmed.com

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21128003