Hello everyone I am new to this site and I have a ton of questions, Let me tell you a little about myself I am 24 years old weigh 280 lbs and thinking about getting the sleeve gastrectomy. I live in New York City and the hospital I plan on having surgery is Columbia Presbyterian. I have seen my general doctor for the required 6 months in order to be approve by insurance, I have been tested for each and every exam for clearance, and I have had my pysch eval, so here begins my questions;

1. How long after submitting all these documents those it take to be approve for surgery and get a date?

2. In this group I hear everyone talking about the vertical sleeve so now I want to know what is the difference between the vertical and the sleeve gastrectomy

3. My biggest fear is once I start losing the weight I'll have all this excess skin, so my question is, is there anyway to avoid this? How soon can I begin exercising? and What has work for people here?

4. Will you ever stop losing weight? If so how?

I want to thank any and everyone who takes the time to read and answer some of these questions this group will be incredibly helpful to me and my process.

Hello, welcome to the site! I'm new myself but I can answer your questions.

1. It varies by insurance provider. I have BCBS of Texas which, I've heard, is very pro-WLS. I had to do all those same things (6 month with a doctor, psych eval, etc). I submitted everything to BCBS on December 19, 2011 and got my approval on December 29, 2011. Only 10 days! I was expecting a month at least. I certainly can't promise it will be that fast but if you've done all the requirements and the surgery is deemed medically necessary (which it was for me) then you should be fine.

2. I've heard this surgery called all kinds of different things. Sleeve Gastrectomy and Vertical Sleeve are the same thing. The proper name is Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy.

3. I'm worried about excess skin myself. You're young like me though which is good because that means our skin still has a lot of its elasticity in it. The best way to ensure no loose skin is to work out your triceps, which is the area I'm focusing on. I didn't start doing strength training until this week though. Prior to this I only walked for exercise. You have to give your body enough time to recover before you start attacking your muscles. Your doctor will give you more specifics but you can expect to wait at least 4 weeks.

4. I have yet to stop losing. I know that eventually I will hit a plateau, that's just normal and to be expected. I started at 387 and am currently at 347 and I've shown a loss every single week. Because I have so much to lose I shouldn't hit a plateau for awhile but it will vary for you depending on how much you need/want to lose. Eventually your body will get used to the drastic reduction of food intake and will adjust itself. When that happens you have to decrease your caloric intake and increase your exercise.

Good luck with your surgery! Like I said, I'm only 5 weeks post op but I can already tell you that its the best decision I ever made!

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions this is extremely helpful