Hi,

I'm new to the forums and in the starting stages of obtaining a VSG. Just looking to see if there are any other men who were above 400 (or even close to 500) pounds before starting this journey and how life after surgery has been. Did you suffer any complications from surgery due to your size? Did your doctor make you do anything extra or warn you of any possible issues? Did you lose more rapidly than average patients? Did you lose any motivation when you had lost enough weight to lead a fairly "normal" life, even though you might still have a good amount of excess weight?

A little background...I'm 31, 5'10", and honestly can't bear how difficult my weight has made my life. Just this weekend my wife went alone to her sister's engagement dinner at a restaurant due to my fear the chairs wouldn't be supportive enough. (I typically avoid restaurant situations unless there's a booth with a table I can adjust, ideally half booth/half chairs.) I've avoided flying for a couple years, will only attend theatre or sporting events where I can be guaranteed an aisle seat, etc. It seems like in the last 60 or so pounds many social situations involving sitting have escalated from very uncomfortable to more or less unbearable. Healthwise, I have hypertension and am very likely will be diagnosed with sleep apnea once the results of my sleep study last week come in.

Look forward to hearing from any of you have started in similar situations.

I started at 413 made it to 232. Both options will work if you're willing to work!

Yea, I think the sleeve is the better option for me but my Surgeon is pushing the Bypass. Next week is my Pre-Op meeting so hopefully by than we can get on the same page.

My surgery weight was 470, I'm down to about 355 with the sleeve, I want to get down to 250. It can be done with the sleeve, but it may require more work.

This is very encouraging as I'm just at the point were I'm ready to do this HB you and Brian have some outstanding stats. Especially with the time you have both had. Considering today Is the 35th Birthday and I 3 weeks away from surgery I have to say I'm determinate more so now than ever after going thru a 6 mo program and jumping thru all the hoops.

I wish I did this 10 years ago... good for you bud.

This is very encouraging as I'm just at the point were I'm ready to do this HB you and Brian have some outstanding stats. Especially with the time you have both had. Considering today Is the 35th Birthday and I 3 weeks away from surgery I have to say I'm determinate more so now than ever after going thru a 6 mo program and jumping thru all the hoops.

I went through the 6 month thing also. Use it as a way to get acclimated to the program. I started at around 515 or so and got down to the surgery weight.

1 hour ago, DaAlchemist said:

HI All I'm bout a month away and Im still trying to figure out if I want the sleeve or Gastric Bypass looking at this forum I see that the sleeve guys have some huge losses What made you go with the Sleeve ?

I had the sleeve and my surgeon recommended the sleeve for me over other options. I'm 18 months post surgery. Surgical weight was 489 and I'm currently at 284. More importantly my health has responded and I feel great. Best of luck to you.

Aggietop

Thanks Aggie

On 9/19/2017 at 11:33 AM, DaAlchemist said:

HI All I'm bout a month away and Im still trying to figure out if I want the sleeve or Gastric Bypass looking at this forum I see that the sleeve guys have some huge losses What made you go with the Sleeve ?

The sleeve was less aggressive than the bypass and had better results than the lap band. I went from 470 pounds to 170 pounds.

Oh wow sgc thats amazing I just got off the phone with mt surgeon and he has agreed to do the sleeve which im very excited about

Best of luck, DaAlchemist. I had a similar experience with the gastric sleeve as the others. My surgeon and I thought it was the safer route at my starting weight. His expectation was that with the sleeve I would get down from 518 lbs to about 305 lbs. Instead, at nearly 2 years post-op I'm at 214 lbs. Best decision I ever made.

Hi guys! I read a guy saying this is his new favorite website. I have to agree I have been reading and reading and reading. And it gives me so much hope and encouragement. I am in month 3 of my medically supervised weight loss program and the group that goes with it. I hope to have surgery late November or early December. I have been through the weight loss program twice before. I lost a lot of preoperative weight but then the insurance denied me. So of course I gained it all back plus a bit more. So I know this time the insurance will definitely cover the surgery, you just have to do the 3 months of supervised weight loss. I started at 579lbs and now on the diet I am down to 525 in two and half months. I want to get to under 500lbs before surgery. The funny thing is I have no fear about the surgery I am just ready. I guess going through the process twice before and not getting it done has taken all the fear out of me. What I scared about is becoming normal. I know that sounds crazy but I have been overweight my entire life. It is such a part of who I am. I got used to being the person that always stuck out in a crowd. I was always the "big guy". It scares me but it's also something I want really bad. My best friend had the surgery many years ago and we had the discussion of just blending into a crowd. Not sticking out. I can not wait until people don't give me a second glance but I then have to figure out who I really am as a person. I know this journey is more than just surgery and weight loss it has a very big mental component to it. But it will be nice to have an outlet to express my thoughts around other people going through the same thing I am. I look forward to hearing from you guys. Plus my group at the hospital is all women I am the only guy. Thanks guys.

I just bought some 30" waist jeans today that fit. At one point, I wore a size 60. Also picked up a medium slim fit shirt, down from a 6xl.

4 hours ago, zone_03 said:

Hi guys! I read a guy saying this is his new favorite website. I have to agree I have been reading and reading and reading. And it gives me so much hope and encouragement. I am in month 3 of my medically supervised weight loss program and the group that goes with it. I hope to have surgery late November or early December. I have been through the weight loss program twice before. I lost a lot of preoperative weight but then the insurance denied me. So of course I gained it all back plus a bit more. So I know this time the insurance will definitely cover the surgery, you just have to do the 3 months of supervised weight loss. I started at 579lbs and now on the diet I am down to 525 in two and half months. I want to get to under 500lbs before surgery. The funny thing is I have no fear about the surgery I am just ready. I guess going through the process twice before and not getting it done has taken all the fear out of me. What I scared about is becoming normal. I know that sounds crazy but I have been overweight my entire life. It is such a part of who I am. I got used to being the person that always stuck out in a crowd. I was always the "big guy". It scares me but it's also something I want really bad. My best friend had the surgery many years ago and we had the discussion of just blending into a crowd. Not sticking out. I can not wait until people don't give me a second glance but I then have to figure out who I really am as a person. I know this journey is more than just surgery and weight loss it has a very big mental component to it. But it will be nice to have an outlet to express my thoughts around other people going through the same thing I am. I look forward to hearing from you guys. Plus my group at the hospital is all women I am the only guy. Thanks guys.

great post. welcome.

unfortunately, even in a forum designated for men with a sticky post telling women not to be here, they swarm here anyway like flies. so rude and disrespectful. and then they go “waaah, i didn’t know! “ - even girl members here for years with thousands of posts say this. funny, as men wouldn’t be caught dead in the Women’s Forum. somehow, we can keep all these tricky sub forums straight! pretty good for us big, dumb lugs!

anyway, good luck to you bro. you will figure everything out. bc i can tell you’re an intelligent dude and the weight loss happens slow enough to give you time to adjust mentally. it’s only women who b***h about “i’m losing weight too fast! “. imagine that, women finding something to complain about. even when it comes to this miraculous, life-saving surgery.

4 hours ago, sgc said:

I just bought some 30" waist jeans today that fit. At one point, I wore a size 60. Also picked up a medium slim fit shirt, down from a 6xl.

that’s amazing! that’s gotta feel weird as hell tho, huh?

9 hours ago, JohnnyCakes said:

that’s amazing! that’s gotta feel weird as hell tho, huh?

It's nice to be able to walk into any store and buy clothes. Honestly I found it slightly difficult to find jeans in a 30" waist. Seemed most were 36 or 38. I did go to the mall and just tried on some Calvin Klein slim fit shirts that fit nicely. They were too expensive. I was only there to try them on. My whole fashion sense has changed. I even bought new shoes, a new belt, some new eyeglass frames, and even new socks.

**Edit** I take that back. I cannot walk into any store and buy clothes. The clothes at Casual Male are too big now. No longer have to pay top dollar for bland clothes. It always bothered me that they sold so many shirts with horizontal stripes. Big people shouldn't be wearing horizontal stripes.

Edited September 22, 20178 yr by sgc