I am scheduled to be sleeved on July 23rd, 2012. I am SO excited, but recently read a bunch of stuff from people who have been sleeved for about 3-6 months on average that worries me. They are all talking about losing about 20-30 pounds total in that 3-6 months after being sleeved and that seems VERY low to me. I am hoping to lose far more than that in 6 months! Am I being too optimistic or are the people I read about just not doing something right? I can lose 20-30 pounds in 6 months without a sleeve and a life altering surgery. Please help - am I doing the right thing to lose weight, right?

I greatly appreciate all of you taking the time to respond. I have learned so much already! That is probably the thing I want to learn the most - how to eat the way I KNOW to eat to stay healthy. I know that the VSG is my tool to ensure that my portions are controlled. I lost 75 lbs on Atkins a few years and felt so good but between the plateau and the skin' date=' I gave up and ate my way back up to my max weight again. <img src='http://www.bariatricpal.com/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> I KNOW how to eat and I know now that I will have to eat that way forever to be successful. I am just grateful that I have the ability to have the VSG to keep me moving in the right direction. I can do this![/quote']

4 months- 67 lbs. - standing on my head. Love it love it love it.

If you make the right choices, you will lose the weight. I had some periods of very slow weight loss during my journey. I just kept going and I did make it to a normal weight. The sleeve has been one of the best decisions of my life. Best wishes!

Missileer - thanks for the video link. It was very informative!

My wife sent me this video that will be most helpful for you. It not only explains what will happen, but also an actual video of the operation and discussion by the doctors.

http://www.orlive.co...=displayPageNLM

This was a very informative video. Thanks so much for sharing.

I was only too glad to share it. It certainly was interesting from my perspective too, as I now understand what and how it was done.

I have seen one other video of the actual surgery, but your link was better. The piece of stomach that they actually remove is smaller than I thought it might look. I must stretch mine a lot! I am less nervous about surgery now and look forward to feeling better!

As others have said here already, your weight loss will be unique to you. I lost 17 pounds pre-op, and 21 pounds since surgery six weeks ago. The post-op loss could be considered slow by some, but the benefits of losing slower are important to me as I am over the age of 50. The slow weight loss is allowing my skin to snap back better so less extra skin so far.

The Sleeve is a tool and not an easy way out or a magic pill, but used correctly, it does work and keeps on working.

Stay positive!

I am scheduled to be sleeved on July 23rd, 2012. I am SO excited, but recently read a bunch of stuff from people who have been sleeved for about 3-6 months on average that worries me. They are all talking about losing about 20-30 pounds total in that 3-6 months after being sleeved and that seems VERY low to me. I am hoping to lose far more than that in 6 months! Am I being too optimistic or are the people I read about just not doing something right? I can lose 20-30 pounds in 6 months without a sleeve and a life altering surgery. Please help - am I doing the right thing to lose weight, right?

It's the best thing I've ever done. I lost 23 lbs the two months prior to surgery, and another 55'ish just a few days shy of five months. That is weight, God willing, that will be gone forever. I've lost 50 two other times in my life, and it took about the same amount of time, and I promptly gained it back. I've been maintaining since Dec 2010, that is a miracle!!! It's like nothing you've ever experienced before. Sit back and enjoy the journey, enjoy the ride!

I have lost 30 pounds in 2.5 months. You probably think that is considered slow but when have you ever lost that much so quickly? The goal is not to lose weight quickly, it is to keep it off. You will gain your weight back if your mind is on losing weight quickly rather than working on the issues that made you fat. By "you", I mean me too. I am happy losing one pound a week. Lifestyle changes will need time to gel. Good luck

Everyones story is different. My sugery was 4-30-12 and I was 355. As of this morning the scale said 263. In 4 mos. I lost 92 lbs. Just do what your Dr. Says to and pay attention to how your body feels and you should do fine. Good Luck. :-)

I have seen a few people only lose 25-30 lbs in 5-6 months but the majority of those people only had 60-70 lbs to lose to get to goal and it usually takes them 9 month to a year to lose it all (not always though--some of them lose it in the first 6 months). One lady I know had 80 lbs to lose and it took her almost the full 2 years after surgery to lose it all. If you look at the sleeve studies that are available online--they usually show best excess weight loss at 18 months post op. If you don't lose most of the weight in 6 months--that still leaves a good 12 more months for weight loss. It doesn't have to come off in 6 months--especially if you have less than 100 lbs to lose. There is a good 18 month window for weight loss. Even some gastric bypass people take over a year to lose most or all of the weight. It just really depends on how much you have to lose and how your metabolism is and also a big part of it is how compliant you are in the high protein diet. One big key I've seen is not drinking and eating at the same time. There is a video on youtube where a gentleman shows why you shouldn't eat and drink at the same time after weight loss surgery. It really DOES just flush the food down and you won't feel full as fast. Also if you feel hungry frequently make sure you try an acid reducer like Prilosec. Our tummies sometimes produce just as much acid as our regular stomachs and you can see how that might be a problem. Excess acid causes hunger and it also causes acid reflux.

I have been losing slowly (according to my own standards) and have had thoughts that I could have lost this much on my own. The difference, however, is that without the sleeve I would have reverted to former eating habits with the slow loss. So I'll take slow knowing that I can't go back to binging and unhealthy eating habits. One piece of advice that I took from this forum was to take measurements. I took them before surgery and monthly after. When that dangone scale is refusing to move and I see the inches falling off, it's all worth it.

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My wife sent me this video that will be most helpful for you. It not only explains what will happen, but also an actual video of the operation and discussion by the doctors.

http://www.orlive.com/halifaxhealth/videos/weighing-the-options-gastric-sleeve-surgery?view=displayPageNLM

watched the video, the stomach portion removed is huge! Someone said that it was small, no way.

I lost 75 lbs on Atkins a few years and felt so good but between the plateau and the skin, I gave up and ate my way back up to my max weight again.

Just be aware that the loose skin and plateaus are most likely going to happen. Possibly along with some additional issues (food mourning, hair loss, etc.) I don't mean to sound like a Debbie Downer, but just make sure you're ready for those types of obstacles too.