I have really been going back and forth as whether to post here or not. I guess I am sort of a "forum person" in my hobbies and areas of interest, but I have to be honest, I have avoided posting on this site or even looking at it for a couple of reasons. I found this site only a few days before my surgery but when I found it I found more negativity and frightened people then I found inspiration. Actually, I have gone here and gotten the (bleep) scared out of me by a few posters, every time I see their posts I get knots in my stomach. The main poster that does that to me has a screen name that starts with the letter "i". Everybody is terrified of leaks and all the negatives of this surgery and I just haven't been able to relate to many of the topics. Below I will share some of the basics of my journey so far.

First off, I am a 35 year old male who is 6 feet 3 inches tall. I wasn't fat my whole life, I actually weighed 218 when I was 19 years old. That was pretty close to a "perfect" weight for me. I got into a business where the guys I worked with partied, ate, and drank to excess. Over the years I ballooned to 445 lbs which is where I have been for the past 2-3 years. In 2010 I was considering the lap band but chickened out. I was back on in 2011 but chickened out again. In 2012 I HAD to make a decision because I was put on Metformin for borderline diabetes and Lisinopril for borderline blood pressure as well. That was it. I started again with the nutritionist appointments and made an appt. to see my surgeon who is located downtown Chicago a few miles from my house. My first appt. with him was in early October 2012 and he suggested a VSG instead of the lap band because of the large amount of weight I wanted to lose. I left thinking about it and did the rest of my pre op requirements such as upper GI, psyche, EKG, etc. I saw my surgeon again on November 14th, 2012 and we decided on the VSG (which I really didn't know a lot about). We set surgery for December 21st, 2012.

Because I am a big fella, my surgeon put me on a 28 day pre op liquid only diet (to shrink my liver and loosen my skin) which I started on November 23rd, 2012 (the day after Thanksgiving). The first few days were tough but I have very strong will power and stuck to it, following the requirements to the letter. I didn't cheat even once. Again, not even once. After about 12 days it was smooth sailing and I just plugged away and kept up the exercise plan that I had been doing for over a year which was just walking 1.5 miles, three times per week at my local YMCA. I didn't weigh myself even once the entire plan and weighed myself the morning of surgery. To my astonishment I lost a staggering 49 lbs!!!!I I couldn't even believe it, to be honest with you I began to sob like a little girl! I went from 445 to 396. I was just so shocked. My surgeon told me that I broke his practice record which was previously 45 lbs for a pre op diet. Again, I LOST 49 LBS IN 28 DAYS!!!

On the morning of December 21st, 2012 I was ready for surgery at a major hospital downtown Chicago. I arrived, valet parked, checked in, and was laying on the table prepped for surgery within 1 hour just waiting for the anesthesiologist. I was in surgery about an hour and a half later and the surgery took 2 1/2 hours. I am going to cut the details of my hospital stay down so readers aren't sitting here all day reading. Any questions just ask me. I wanted to leave the hospital the next evening but my surgeon said that he wouldn't allow me to break two records and that I should stay another night. Quick recap, I was checked into my room after surgery at 6pm Friday night and was discharged from the hospital at 11am Sunday morning, less then 48 hours after entering my room.

Upon arriving home I checked my weight, expecting to have lost a few lbs, and actually gained back 2 lbs due to all the fluids that were pumped into me. I was back up to 398. My recovery went ok I think, I was in a lot of pain along my largest incision which is about 3+ inches wide. I was on Tramadol which sucks. It took me 9 days to finish the 25 pills that I was prescribed since I was skipping doses. I was home on Sunday morning and by Wednesday morning I was off to the YMCA where I walked only one lap around the track. I limped around and talked to my friends there before going home. I was back at the YMCA on Friday and actually walked 5 laps (a half mile). I finally weighed myself on Friday, one week after surgery, and I was down from 398 to 391. I weighed myself again on Sunday afternoon and I lost another 4 lbs from Friday to Sunday, 9 lbs in 9 days, ending up at 387 lbs, 58 lbs down in 38 days.

So that's basically that. It's been over 10 days now since surgery and I am feeling like a million bucks. Here are the "scary" parts. I am using the term scary because after reading this site I would have thought I was going to die from this surgery. I HAVE NOT been nauseous even for one second since surgery. I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOT thrown up, or even gagged for that matter, not even once. I AM ABLE to drink 60ozs of Fluid per day. I just started puree on Saturday, 8 days out, and it's been perfect. I had 4 ozs of low fat cottage cheese (which I LOVE) today as well as only one Protein shake, a bowl of tomato Soup, and plenty of Water. I AM NOT hungry, EVER. I just eat to live, that's it. Today I feel the best that I have felt since surgery. Every day gets better. My goal is to lose 220 lbs, 100 in three months from the start of my pre op diet on November 23rd. I WILL do it.

I know I left out a bunch so fire away (or ask any questions that you want).

I am SO sorry that I have not checked in here for a bit, but thank you all SO much for the nice and supportive comments! For those of you that are still thinking about this surgery, STOP THINKING!!! Just do it! I have a BIG announceent to make, but I will "weight" (haha get it?) untill Saturday which is my three month anniversary from the start of my 28 day pre op liquid diet to do so! I will give a FULL update then! Thanks all!

Frank-I was so inspired after reading your story. You are gong to do great!

Frank-I want to let you know that this surgery truly does wonders. It really does work. I started out 360 pre op at my heaviest and 6 months later blood pressure has dropped from 154 / 110 to 100 / 70, my blood work is great, I stopped using the cpap shortly after surgery, food no longer controls me, I have dropped to my goal weight and can run for an hour and still have energy. And the list goes on. Who would have thought this would be possible? I would recommend this surgery to anyone.

Thanks from me too. Being new, I want to learn, but hate to hear about the bad experiences. This forum helps a lot, but I love reading the good stuff!

being anxious after surgery and coming on this forum and reading scary posts i was strongly advised too give this site a break by my husband and my mom. i am almost 5 weeks out and so far been a non eventful recovery...thank goodness congrats to you on a smooth recovery and great weight loss

Congrats Pottergirl.

Almost three years ago I had my sleeve done, and I had no issues. None. Easy, easy!!!

Enjoy the ride, it's wild but fun!!!

being anxious after surgery and coming on this forum and reading scary posts i was strongly advised too give this site a break by my husband and my mom. i am almost 5 weeks out and so far been a non eventful recovery...thank goodness congrats to you on a smooth recovery and great weight loss

Frank, I believe that toe pain is only a symptom if it's on the right side

And maybe you should chat with Liz, who I also worried...she did have a leak and reacted quickly because I'm such a horror. She's just now home from hospital and doing better thank god. I'm sorry you were so worried...and yet not at all sorry that Liz was given she got help quickly.

For the record, I've told people many times that their symptoms are NOT likely signs of a leak.

I'm very glad that your recovery has been exemplary and you haven't had any issues at all. I wish 100% of these surgeries was like that. I honestly do.

It must be difficult and of course scary for pre-sleevers to hear our journeys...but again, most surgeries have excellent outcomes. Iggychic - you have knowledge that has helped so many and no one should make you feel like you need to apologize for your posts. i thank you for standing firm on your medical advice. sharing situations such as what happened to you and i, are just as important as the predictive path of those who did not experience problems. so "cheers" to us all!! I am glad i chose to post my experiences and look forward to monday.."byebye" NJ tube and "hello" J tube!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

trish

*Update*

So it's been exactly three months from the time I started this what seems like long journey. I started my 28 day liquid pre op diet on 11/23/2012 and was sleeved on 12/21/2012. In that three month time span I have lost a staggering 101 pounds! Yes, that's right, ONE HUNDRED ONE POUNDS IN ONLY THREE MONTHS! That 101 pounds has decreased my BMI almost 13 points, decreased my jean size from 52 to 44, eliminated my need for Lisinopryl for high blood pressure, and Metformin for borderline diabetes, made me 10 times more physically active, and improved my attitude 1000%.

It's not been completely easy. People have asked me how I did it. All I can say is it took an unbelievable amount of determination and extremely rigid discipline. Discipline so tough that many people would have cracked. I'm not sitting there whining and obsessing about food and drink. When those thoughts pop in my head I just tune them out, it's that simple. I have "cheated" only three times since this all started. Here is my idea of cheating: There is a snack mix called Gardettos with these little 1" diameter brown garlic chips in it. I had ONE of those chips. ONE. My mother had a bag of those Snacks called Combos at her house. One day I had TWO of them. And a week ago today my mother was making Cookies with my son and I had HALF of ONE cookie. That's it. The way I see it is all I need is a small taste. Eating food creates instant gratification that lasts minutes. My success and all of the above mentioned benefits leave me with gratification that lasts 24 hours a day.

I will say this though, I am not your average sleever. As many have followed my progress you will remember that I had a very easy experience with surgery and recovery. It has only gotten better. I was sleeved a little over two months ago and in that time I have NOT thrown up, been nauseous, "slimed," "dumped," or any of the other things I have read about here. I have regular BM's every single day, have absolutely NO food intolerance's, and now drink 85 ozs. of Water per day. One of the "scary" things I have noticed is that I can eat faster and it almost feels like I have NO sleeve at all. The "restriction" feeling seems like it's going away. I obviously haven't "pushed it" by over eating (which would have stretched my stomach) with a 101 lb loss in such a short time. It feels like nothing ever happened, like I never had surgery. I think that's good and bad in a way as well. Good because I feel like a normal person, bad because I am going to REALLY have to watch what I am eating and how much going foreword. I called my surgeons office yesterday and they were amazed, I guess I'm one for the books. Please understand, I am not bragging here, I am just sharing my experience. For people out there considering this operation or waiting to be sleeved, this is NOT a silver bullet, it's just ONE tool. My experience is NOT everybody's, consider this "best case scenario." There are a lot of people that have it tougher and don't have these results. You just have to be DETERMINED and work HARD at it. No BS. None of that chewing food and spitting it out nonsense. No sitting there whining about not being able to eat. No being lazy, you HAVE TO exercise regularly (I walk two miles three to four times a week plus other physical activity). You have to ask yourself, do I want to be fat or do I want to be thin? In my case I asked myself, do you want to live or do you want to die? The choice was easy because I have a three and a half year old son and a wife that I love. I wanted to be here, plain and simple. If you sacrifice and really put your mind to it you WILL succeed. I refuse to believe that someone (like me) who ate 4000-5000 calories per day and sat on their a$$ all the time can't lose weight if they all of the sudden dropped to 700 calories per day and started exercising. It's impossible unless there is some other underlying medical condition. I had this attitude even before I was sleeved and after as well, you can read my above comments of my ongoing progress for proof. I said here a couple months back that I WOULD lose 100 lbs in three months and I DID. As I said above, it takes unbelievable determination and extremely rigid discipline. You can do it.

Here are a couple of photos, one of my scale this morning. I will do full body before and after shots after my wife gets home and snaps a couple of pics for me.

Frank, thank you SOOO much for posting. I think I found my surgeon in New Lennox Hospital and I have an appointment next Friday. I mentioned this before that I have been banded for 10 years so I am def going to have to be checked out before any surgery takes place. I am inspired by you and I want to show your post to my husbnad who may want to do this after me. He has been watching his calories through Spark People and this week, he ate a piece of pie because he said he had calories left over for the day. I knew it was going to be a band one...mint pie so I let him eat it and he THEN looked at the calories and they were 500...wow! I knew it would be high but it made him realize that something that so easily slides down is really bad for you. I guess it is practice time for us. I wish you continued success. I have a 3.5year old boy too and all I want to do is be here for him as long as possible.

This is my type of success story I enjoy reading. Thanks for posting. My story has many of the same no BS, no whining, high determination undertones as your story. Congratulations and I know you will be a smashing success all the way to the end. By the way, your pictures are very telling on your success.

Awesome progress Frank. Your Story makes me want to move on with this process.

I stopped it after the consult and after my insurance said it would be covered. I just have a big fear of it and also a fear of not being there for my new son and wife.

What did you tell people when they ask about your weight loss? I would tall family but don't think I would tell co- workers... Also do you work out a ton now?

Hi Jack, I also had that fear. BIG TIME. Try to get over it and Just do it, Trust me, you will look back and say this was the best thing you ever did.

I have told all of my friends and most family, immediate at least. I just told others the truth about my weight loss. I told them that I am eating a ton less and excercising which is all true. Remember, the sleeve is just a tool to stop you from over eating, that's all.

My excercising consists of just walking 2 miles three to four days a week. That's all. I will start weight training in the near future.

Thank you everyone for taking time to post. It is so helpful to me to see everyone's thoughts and experiences. It's comforting to know we are not alone in this journey. Thank you

Just a small update, I am 112 lbs down now. The crazy part is that I just put on a pair of 42 jeans that fit PERFECT from OLD NAVY (not FatsosRus) that I haven't worn since early 2008! I'm melting! Overall stats, started liquid pre op diet on 11/23/2012, sleeved 12/21/2012. Starting weight 445, now 333. Original BMI 55.6, now 41.6. Was on Metformin for borderline diabetes and Linisopryl for high blood pressure, now OFF OF BOTH. Original jean size 52, now 42. Attitude before diet, SUCKED, now off the charts happy!

Just a small update' date=' I am 112 lbs down now. The crazy part is that I just put on a pair of 42 jeans that fit PERFECT from OLD NAVY (not FatsosRus) that I haven't worn since early 2008! I'm melting! Overall stats, started liquid pre op diet on 11/23/2012, sleeved 12/21/2012. Starting weight 445, now 333. Original BMI 55.6, now 41.6. Was on Metformin for borderline diabetes and Linisopryl for high blood pressure, now OFF OF BOTH. Original jean size 52, now 42. Attitude before diet, SUCKED, now off the charts happy![/quote']

You are doing so great. Keep it up!