Calling All Sixties!

[Wrinkle 37]

Greetings- 61 here. Sleeved March 11. I appreciate this thread and connecting with other 60's or close to 60s! Slow looser but was a low BMI.

[Its Janet B 9]

I am 66 and was sleeved last Thursday. I am doing well and have lost 8 lbs! I am so looking forward to the whey Protein isolate drinks tomorrow on my day 5. So glad to join this group of youngsters!

[SassyTink 78]

To Loseitsoon

I suffered with hives for over a year. Finally my internist told me to stop the tramadol that I was taking for my arthritic hip. By any chance do you take this supposediy benign drug? It is an opiad with bad side effects.

Just turned 60 in June but way back in January 2013 I decided to make this the year of me. I have gone through all of the pre-surgery testing, met with the surgeon, now awaiting the 6 month visit in November to schedule my surgery. Long arduous road, but well worth the journey. The best thing I did was find out I had severe sleep apnea. I love the C-Pap machine and feel 100% better!!

[AmyInOrlando 348]

I'll be 61 next month. I was sleeved on August 1st. I go back to work this afternoon. (I'm a Nurse) I sure hope I'm ready. I'm still on full liquids. Have no problem getting my 64 oz. of fluids on or 70 gms. of Protein. I had a hiatal hernia repair done along with my VSG. I've had some difficulty with shortness of breath with exertion. My Doc says it's because of the hiatal hernia repair. I'm looking forward to starting soft foods on Saturday. The first 10 days were really difficult for me, but I'm getting my strength back slowly. I used to be able to do the elliptical machine for an hour. I haven't exercised on a regular basis for more then a year. This morning I started with 5 minutes. My plan is to increase by 1 minute everyday. I'm also planning on swimming once my incisions are totally healed. Some of my steri-strips are still intact.

[martybella 3]

Im so happy to read other sleevers @ 60 having around the same (or close) to the weight lose as myself. I have been thinking that 58lbs wasnt as good a loss as others. My surgery was 1-31-13 being 7 months out I thought I would be at goal by now? Its been a slow last few months .. one stall after another. I tell myself 58 is a lot, but when you see others losing 90-100 lbs in the same time frame makes me wonder. not being able to exercise is part of it Im sure. Also loving ice cream.. Lol;

[jlbstep 26]

66 here. Sleeved nov 28' date=' 2012. Slow loser. Down only 67 lbs. having a hard time losing at this point. Only a pound in the last 5 weeks. Trying to get back to basics. Need to lose 41 more pounds badly. Want to hit this by my 1 yr anniversary. Sep is my 45th wedding anniversary and planning a big trip to Hawaii. Wish I could be close by then. Any suggestions from the older crowd would be greatly appreciated.[/quote']

How is your weight loss? I was sleeved on 2-19-13 and have lost 65 pounds and am less than 10 pounds from my goal. The nutritionist I saw before surgery told me that I needed to get in 100g of Protein daily until I reach my goal weight. When I do not get close, my weight loss slows down.

[TxCalico 69]

I WANT to do the sleeve, I've carried around 50+ excess pounds for 30 years, and I want to,be healthier as I grow older... but even tho I haven't lost the weight in all that time, I find myself saying "You should just watch what you eat and exercise more!" (even tho it doesn't seem to work)

I'm tall, so I try to tell myself I "carry it well", but I KNOW I'm fat (BMI 33) and i still remember how good I felt at normal weight -- and not hiding from cameras! My husband thinks I'm crazy for considering this at this point in my life; the dear man oves me as is.

Would love to hear from Sleevers age 60+ and/or those who weren't over 35 BMI when they started. Was it really worth it? and what was your family's reaction?

I'll shut up now. :-)

[Miss Mac 6,261]

61 until December 1. My pre-op surgeon visit is coming up September 18. Here's the thing about exercise - it does get more challenging as we get older. I will need to lose 100 pounds to get any range of motion or good form going, but here is what I am doing: I invested in a variety of exercise DVDs so that I could not get bored so easily. They have very different effort levels. I have one for bedfast people, several for chair work (chair salsa, chair tai chi, chair pilates, chair strength training, and my favorite Chair Boxing). In my collection are DVDs for Hula, Bollywood, Belly Dancing, African, and Salsa. I found a Richard Simmons Sweating to the Oldies boxed set on sale, and have done Zumba with my walker. Walk Your Belly Flat can be done with a walker. I just stand up, hang on, and try to keep up, sometimes at about half the pace. She has three 1 mile increments that take 15 minutes apiece and can be done standing in place, in your home. On any of these, 15 minutes is about all I've got. If I do 30 minutes of anything, then I can do nothing for the next 3 days - just exhausted. So do what you can and know your limits. Now, about that ice cream......what I have reduced myself to is Aldi's sugar free creamy popsicles - 14 calories apiece. Not the same, but compromises have to be made for the greater good. Here is the sleevers' mantra - Protein FIRST.

[K33 87]

I am 62, 5'3, weighed 214 at surgery on Aug 5th. I've released 16 # in 24 days Averaging 4# a week. Since I am still on purees, I won't expect more than 4# per week going forward w/o exercise

I'm still somewhat fatigued (like walking against a strong wind with 50# boots on.) Looking forward to 6th week when I've heard energy returns

[mrsjumbo 17]

Hi I am sixty and was sleeved in Mexico on 7/1/11. Reached my goal and have been maintaining for about 18 months. Only problem seems to be GERD and a much larger skin suit than I would like. Plus that whole face sinking thing...but lets face it...I am 60! The upside of being 60 is that, at this age, I would not be likely to wear a bathing suit without a cover up even if I had not "melted" from WLS , so there is not much of a lifestyle change there. I wish that I had had the surgery at 30! The real upside is that I can walk (amazing how much pressure that 125 extra lbs. put on those knee joints). And I don't have high BP. Glad to see there baby boomers who have deflated on this forum

[raven123 97]

I'm 66 and having surgery next month in Mexico. My BMI is 35. I realised that I have come to think of being over 200lbs as normal for me. That is not right. I can't get there and stay there without help. I've kept off 63lbs for 13 ears but wonderland has escaped me. I want to avoid diabetes and to have knees that don't hurt.

I want to get down on the floor and play games with my granddaughters. I want more energy!

I can't wait to have the surgery and start my new life.

[mrsjumbo 17]

Go for it Raven 123. Good luck and I bet you will be knee-comfortable soon! it may not work for everyone, but after having two MDs tell me that there was no way I would make strides without having my knees replaced, I found that, once I dropped to below 160, I could walk without the pain and below 130, there is a lot of clicking and weird stuff, but the pain is not there anymore

[SassyTink 78]

Newbie,

Is the left over skin really bad? I am a nervous wreck about that. I love to swim and want to be able to put on a swimsuit during the daylight hours and not always have to swim at night when it is dark!

Originally last April, when I made the decision to have bariatric surgery, I decided on the Gastric Band. My thoughts were it was irresponsible to cut off part of a healthy organ by having VGS. From April to August 2013, I was committed to the band. I had an appointment with the surgeon in August 2013 to discuss surgery dates and to discuss the band. Although he performs the band, and thinks it is a great tool, he gave me the pros and cons of the band in comparison to the VGS. I left his office convinced that the VGS was the way for me to go. So now, I am trying like crazy to learn everything I can about the sleeve.

My concern is the leaking. If you follow the instructions given by the Dr. what are the chances of a leak? Once the six months after the surgery has past is there any chance that a staple will not hold? This is my only concern. The rest of my life I don't want to worry about every twinge and having to worry that a staple was not holding.

This has been an absolutely wonderful year for me as far as getting my health in order. I turned 60 with the idea that it was the year of me. Since April I have been diagnosed with SEVERE sleep Apnea, Vitamin D and B12 deficient, pre-diabetic, 75lbs overweight and have arthritis in my hips. I was ready for a life change.

The first change was a C-Pap machine, which was a life changer. Secondly, I cut down on my sugar consumption and I am no longer pre-diabetic. Thirdly, I began a Vitamin regime and started to eat healthier. No diet, just careful. Lastly, I decided on Bariatric Surgery to get ME back. My husband could not have been kinder. He said that if the insurance turned me down that it was not going to stop us. We have money to pay for it. He felt it was important for me to have this surgery. Thank goodness he is so supportive.

I have been thin most of my life but began to get heavy over the last 10 years. It began when my family developed severe health issues. Little by little food became my comfort. My body seems to hold on to the calories the more stressed out I became. My daughter and my husband are both disabled, so the stress is still there, I just need to deal with it. Not with food.

I have my last appointment with the Dietician and Nurse Practitioner on November 5 2013, so my surgery will probably be around November 19.

This girl can't wait for November to finally get here!!!

[mrsjumbo 17]

^{wow! I'm really impressed by all the things you've been doing for yourself and your health. my guess is that either way, your surgery will help you feel a lot better in the long run. I went with the sleeve because I was worried about having to get all the post care on band fills and I had seen some research that suggested that the VGS would be more effective, even if more draconian. Don't be freaked out by the skin thing. I think it will depend upon where you carry your weight before the surgery, as well as how much you lose overall. For me, I was really huge in the thighs and so of course that's where I have the leftover skin. It's not like there are folds, but I must say, my thighs look like a deflated balloon. However, I didn't carry much weight in my upper body before ....and now my arms don't have any excess weight and don't have any of that "batwing" issue at all. so I wear a lot of sleeveless dresses and stay away from bathing suits If you have been swimming all along, my guess is your thighs are in pretty good shape and you won't have to worry too much. I find that wearing swim shorts is a good solution and an even better solution is to wear one of those triathlon bathing suits . it covers you from above the knees,all the way up to your shoulders....and works like a compression garment.... I actually find it a lot more comfortable in a bathing suit to swim in.... and although it does look like you must be a major kind of an athlete,, the fact is, no one is really going to care and you are going to feel comfortable......just try to pretend you are Diana Nyad!}

[SassyTink 78]

Newbie your weight loss is an inspiration. Thank you for your insight.