As I research I go back and forth between trying once more to lose my 150 pounds by conventional diet or surgery. The dietary changes after surgery sound so hard I'm worried I won't be able to do it. Do you think it is easier to maintain a weight loss after surgery than it was to maintain one before? (I've lost and regained so often.) I'm so scared of dumping and vitamin deficiencies with gastric bypass. I have a mild form of GERD controlled by medicine but it makes me hesitant to try the sleeve. I'm an incredibly picky eater so worry about getting the protein in (no seafood, soft cheese, yogurt, tofu,ground or rare meat, etc). I'm 55 and starting to have real health consequences so losing weight is urgent. Advice please!

Keep researching. Read all the threads here you can get through.

There are so many angles to this.

Remember -- there aren't many (any?) people here who opted to lose weight without WLS. Pretty much everyone here has been a WLS patient.

My own story is I had VSG surgery at age 68. I've lost 100 pounds and am maintaining astonishingly well (at 17 months post-op). Lost from 235 pounds to 135 pounds. No complications at all, and I feel great and look great.

I had GERD pre-op and took Ranitidine for it. For the 4 months post-op my surgeon had me on a PPI (Protonix). Then I went back to Ranitidine and have been doing well on it. Of course, I follow the usual GERD eating instructions -- don't eat for 2 hours before bedtime, minimize the GERD-causing foods at night (tomato sauces, especially), etc. But I can't predict for anyone else what their GERD reaction to VSG will be.

Good luck to you in your decision and your actions thereafter.

P.S. I guess you know that if you don't have WLS and lose weight "conventionally," your long-term odds of keeping off most of the weight you lose are only 2%. Those are some tough numbers. Ugh. But WLS's long-term success odds are much better than that -- about 50% long-term success odds. That's pretty much why most of us decided to go the WLS route.

You gotta go for what you are comfortable .These are major operations.

Cut 85% of your stomach out or reroute your insides...these are extreme measures and you have to live with your decision .So be sure WLS is for you.

I had mild GERD controlled with Nexium prior to surgery. I had the sleeve and hiatal hernia repair. I was on Nexium for the 3 months after surgery and have had zero issues with reflux or heartburn. Talk to your surgeon and get the upper GI. If you have a hernia that may be causing or contributing to the GERD. Being overweight was also contributing to the GERD. Get rid of both of those contributors and no more GERD.

I frequently eat late and right before bed. My only concession is that the head of my bed is still raised. I also drink virtually no caffeine now and before surgery I used to drink a large unsweetened McDonald's iced tea, plus 2 diet Dr Pepper bottles plus another 16-20 ounces of iced tea a day. At most I will have a watered down child's sized iced tea a couple of times a week when I go out.

Check with a surgeon and see what options they think are good for you. Another one that isn't as widely available is a duodenal switch (DS).

I am like many other posters here. I have lost 60 pounds here, 80 pounds there, 40 pounds and gained it all back. I have found after the sleeve I am not hungry all the time, I get full quickly and it is easier to stay on track.