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 personally found losing weight to be the easy part... I think it will take years to overcome the mental aspect. I'm 17 months post-op and still feel weird getting into elevators.. basically anything in a social setting... constantly thinking... everyone is looking looking at me... the elephant in the room.. I lost 183 lbs and I think it just takes time to visualize and be comfortable in your new body. Believe me it will all be worth it. You don't even realize the depth of your depression until it's gone. Happiness is in your future my friend.

5 hours ago, sgc said:

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.

I remember my last trip to casual male .. the woman said this will probably be the last time we see you... it was such a strangely happy moment.

I personally found losing weight to be the easy part... I think it will take years to overcome the mental aspect. I'm 17 months post-op and still feel weird getting into elevators.. basically anything in a social setting... constantly thinking... everyone is looking looking at me... the elephant in the room.. I lost 183 lbs and I think it just takes time to visualize and be comfortable in your new body. Believe me it will all be worth it. You don't even realize the depth of your depression until it's gone. Happiness is in your future my friend.

Thanks.. It's nice to hear stories like yours. I am very ready for my own story.

That's one of the things I worry about considering that I've been a big guy for so long getting use to a new body would be hardest part I was telling my wife that the mental aspect is going to be the hardest for me

I said my best friend had the surgery years ago when it was not laparoscopic. She was cut open. But I saw her when she lost all of her weight. She had a rough time with the mental part. Like me she has been big all her life and then all of sudden she was normal. She lost herself for a while and it was hard to see it happen. But on the bright side she has a ton of advice for me. And my weight loss program requires visits to see a therapist before the surgery and I want to keep them up afterwards also. So I am hoping the mental part will not be as hard as I am thinking. But even if it is the tradeoff is worth it in my eyes.

Id have to agree with u on that

One thing that I am glad about is that I had read a fair amount about what to expect in terms of mental changes. Even then I still wasn't completely prepared for it. I've lost over 300 lbs now and weigh about 215 lbs. I'm going to a concert tonight and still worry about whether I will fit in the seat, because that is something that I always worried about. I'm still surprised when I try on regular clothes and they fit. For a good while, I was wearing clothes that were 2 sizes too big because it seemed unfathomable that I could ever get below a XXL. The biggest adjustment was in how others treated me as I become closer to normal in weight. For a long time, it really pissed me off as people become nicer to me. Clerks were more helpful in stores, strangers were friendlier in social situations, people at work treated me differently. It took a while for me to get my head around that.

For you guys getting ready for surgery, I wish you all the best. I wish that I could adequately describe to you how much it has improved my life. I've gone from routinely missing out on a lot of things to now doing almost anything that I want. Heck, I jog now! Willingly! At 5 am in the morning! I could have never seen that coming 3 years ago. Looking back, the surgery and recovery seem like a blink of the eye.

The weight keeps on dropping. Down to 245.8. I was 433 day of VSG July 2016. Total loss 442.2.

2 hours ago, SalOdyssey said:

The weight keeps on dropping. Down to 245.8. I was 433 day of VSG July 2016. Total loss 442.2.

truly unbelievable.

I was 400 lbs in January 23 the first time I went to the bariatric clinic. Between that and Sept 20th when I had my sleeve done I lost 92 lbs. it’s been a change that others see in me but I don’t see in myself yet. Now only a few days out of post op we’ll see how things go from here.

I’m 3 months post. Down 80lbs. And walking out of every pair of pants I own. Excited to be cleared now to do some weight training as I do feel my muscles have shrunk a bit in the weight loss.

Oh wow you guy are really knocking this out post op and here I was worried I had fought my surgeon on doing the sleeve over they bypass. I start the liquid Diet next Monday while my surgeon only requires a week I figure I do 2 to just train for what's coming afterward. Honestly it all feels like a whirlwind between prepping for taking off work, having the talk with my kids, thinking about what i'm going to tell everyone afterward. Right now only a told a hand full of people in my life Im not really ready to let everyone know that I'm going thru with this often time I get the whole your 6'6 you dont look that big or Classic you must play football line. How hard is it to put muscles back after such a rapid weight lost ?

@DaAlchemist Congratulations. How long do you have to be off work. I am going to be trying to figure that out in a few months.

Thanks, I'm taking 3 weeks but hoping I'm feeling at least 70% after 2 weeks. Looking here most took between 4-6 weeks but I have heard of some people going back in a week Im not sure what they do but I'm like how is that possible.

@zone_03 and @DaAlchemist Thanks guys.

Regarding work, I felt 100% by day 6. But definately depends on how your body heals, age, health status... For me I'm 32, 6'3, no pre-op health conditions except being large and in charge... I've read some guys with high blood pressure, diabetes... and so forth having post-op issues in recovery...

Also I've come to realize that the stories you read aren't the norm... You will read 9 bad stories to 1 good story. And these forums seem to be a spot for people to greave, complain or find out if "they are normal"...

Good luck on your journeys.

M