After 35 years of battling weight I finally have an appointment with a surgeon on Thursday. I am more relived than excited at this stage. I am not 100% sure what to expect however you guys have given me a fair idea.

Has this operation not worked for many people?

The surgery works if you do. Some folks lose slower than others, but effort = results. Come to the surgery with your head in the game, and you will have success.

Congrats Big Aussie on making this first step, I have been battling 35yrs also losing and finding again hundreds of pounds, im very pre op but this will be my 3rd try..im very ready for this so hoping this will be my year..keep us posted on your decision..good luck!

One thing you'll hear a lot during your journey is that this is a tool, not a fix. It's entirely true. It will be what you make of it. You can use it to lose weight and get to your goals, or you can sabotage yourself. The sleeve doesn't fix food issues, it only restricts the amount (not type!) of food you can consume, so we still have to make good choices.

I don't have the stats off the top of my head, but VSG does have a decent success rate, even with limited data. VSG is a relatively new procedure, surgically speaking, and so there's less information on the long term effects for this particular type of surgery than others.

There are a lot of good, honest (sometimes brutally) posts about the day to day struggles we have dealing with our new lives and how our old ones are sometimes difficult to lay to rest.