Last February 4, I had a vertical sleeve gastrectomy. Like many, I had tried and failed every diet I ever went on. My weight was at an all time high and my health was being affected. Despite the protests of many that I “wasn’t fat enough” or “should try to lose weight the old fashioned way”, I chose to self-pay and have weight loss surgery. I’ve surpassed even my wildest goal.

“Top 10” list of what I learned:

1) Weight loss surgery is no silver bullet. I thought I would lose weight quickly. I thought I wouldn’t be hungry along the way. I thought I could eat smaller portions of the same old food. Nope, nope and nope. The weight came off slowly and inconsistently…and sometimes it was frustrating. There were days that I WAS hungry! Dang it! Plus, some of my old favorites just didn’t sit well after the sleeve. If weight loss surgery is the “easy way out”, it sure as hell didn’t feel easy.

2) Be prepared to embarrass yourself. You cannot trust a fart. Yup, I said it. Underwear will fall down. And your old fat parts may end up looking like a shriveled prunes. Sexy. I’m tellin’ ya!

3) Just follow the diet dummy. They are doctors for a reason. They know what it takes for you to be successful. Just listen to them. When you try to do your own thing, you don’t get the “average” results. If you do what the doctors say, you get great results. Eat your Protein and veggies. Carbs aren’t your friend while you are losing weight.

4) You CAN hit your goal….how bad do you want it? Are you willing to stick with it through a 7-week stall? Are you willing to stay on the diet? Are you getting your Water and protein every day? Are you tracking your food? If you are willing to do the work, you will get the result.

5) Exercise is your friend. I firmly believe this helped me end up looking slim and fit vs. skinny and saggy.

6) Weigh yourself every day. My thought goes something like this….you avoid the scale when your fat because you don’t want to deal with the number. So, if you want a different result, you need to see your number every day. Lots of different opinions about this. But how else can you keep 20 lbs from sneaking back on? Weighing daily has been key to my success.

7) Track your food. MyFitnessPal is a wonderful FREE tool to track what you are eating. Again, I didn’t track when I was fat. This is a new habit to help me stay on track.

8) Start saving now for plastic surgery. Seriously. (See prune comment in #2)

9) Your spouse will rediscover your sexiness – own it baby.

10) How do you lose the last 10 lbs? All I will say is 5:2 diet. Research THAT!

How low carb were you? I'm 5 months and at 1000 calories, 75 carbs ( I just upped it due to still being light headed even though I get 8-10 glasses of water) 80-100 grams of protein. Just wondering how low carb you were.

Hoosier Girl, thanks for sharing your story and what you've learned!

Edited February 2, 201412 yr by JeanZ

Last February 4, I had a vertical sleeve gastrectomy. Like many, I had tried and failed every diet I ever went on. My weight was at an all time high and my health was being affected. Despite the protests of many that I “wasn’t fat enough” or “should try to lose weight the old fashioned way”, I chose to self-pay and have weight loss surgery. I’ve surpassed even my wildest goal.

“Top 10” list of what I learned:

1) Weight loss surgery is no silver bullet. I thought I would lose weight quickly. I thought I wouldn’t be hungry along the way. I thought I could eat smaller portions of the same old food. Nope, nope and nope. The weight came off slowly and inconsistently…and sometimes it was frustrating. There were days that I WAS hungry! Dang it! Plus, some of my old favorites just didn’t sit well after the sleeve. If weight loss surgery is the “easy way out”, it sure as hell didn’t feel easy.

2) Be prepared to embarrass yourself. You cannot trust a fart. Yup, I said it. Underwear will fall down. And your old fat parts may end up looking like a shriveled prunes. Sexy. I’m tellin’ ya!

3) Just follow the diet dummy. They are doctors for a reason. They know what it takes for you to be successful. Just listen to them. When you try to do your own thing, you don’t get the “average” results. If you do what the doctors say, you get great results. Eat your Protein and veggies. Carbs aren’t your friend while you are losing weight.

4) You CAN hit your goal….how bad do you want it? Are you willing to stick with it through a 7-week stall? Are you willing to stay on the diet? Are you getting your Water and protein every day? Are you tracking your food? If you are willing to do the work, you will get the result.

5) Exercise is your friend. I firmly believe this helped me end up looking slim and fit vs. skinny and saggy.

6) Weigh yourself every day. My thought goes something like this….you avoid the scale when your fat because you don’t want to deal with the number. So, if you want a different result, you need to see your number every day. Lots of different opinions about this. But how else can you keep 20 lbs from sneaking back on? Weighing daily has been key to my success.

7) Track your food. MyFitnessPal is a wonderful FREE tool to track what you are eating. Again, I didn’t track when I was fat. This is a new habit to help me stay on track.

8) Start saving now for plastic surgery. Seriously. (See prune comment in #2)

9) Your spouse will rediscover your sexiness – own it baby.

10) How do you lose the last 10 lbs? All I will say is 5:2 diet. Research THAT!

Congrats to u! I've got the last 18 to go and haven't lost a lb in 3 mths. I lose and gain the same 2 lbs - back and forth. Haven't even thought about the 5:2 diet. Maybe I'll give it a shot. Can't hurt.

WTG!

Way to go Hoosier girl!!!

Sincerely,

Illini boy

Sooooo true! I did the seven week stall too.. and everything else also! Except for the sharting. Never had that, but everything else is right on

Sooooo true! I did the seven week stall too.. and everything else also! Except for the sharting. Never had that, but everything else is right on

Grr.. sorry y'all I forgot about having patience when posting and DO NOT CLINK POST MORE THAN ONCE

How low carb were you? I'm 5 months and at 1000 calories, 75 carbs ( I just upped it due to still being light headed even though I get 8-10 glasses of water) 80-100 grams of protein. Just wondering how low carb you were.

I had to adjust carbs several times. If I was in a stall, I would check my carb intake on MyFitnessPal and try to cut it down under 50 if it was too high. It seemed that natural carbs caused me fewer issues than processed carbs. Good luck!

Congrats to u! I've got the last 18 to go and haven't lost a lb in 3 mths. I lose and gain the same 2 lbs - back and forth. Haven't even thought about the 5:2 diet. Maybe I'll give it a shot. Can't hurt. WTG!

I highly recommend the 5:2 Diet to get the last of the weight off or break thru a stall. Helped me get restriction too. Let me know how it goes!

Congratulations and thanks for the solid advice!!

Thanks for the recommendations

Thank you for sharing your success story!!! Great tips!

That's exactly what I have found. Thank you