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.

On Thursday, Im now three month post surgery and I'm now officially in the 300's at 398. I've lost 91 pounds and hopefully things will keep progressing. Plan to kick in the walking this month.

Aggietop

Edited May 8, 201610 yr by aggietop

This is my favorite thread on this site! We need to keep it going! Love the success stories from the Big Guys!

I started out at 456 lbs. before 4 weeks of the liquid (mostly) diet and am getting sleeved this Monday (May 9) at 420 lbs. The pre-opt diet was a bear but had to be done. I look forward to sharing my successes along the way!

Good job on the preop diet and best of luck on Monday. I didn't do the liquid diet preop but did a 2 week pre-op diet with very few carbs and felt like I had the flu for two weeks. Feeling great now post surgery.

This is my favorite thread on this site! We need to keep it going! Love the success stories from the Big Guys!

I agree- my favorite thread as well. Until I came across it I felt like (compared to) everyone else that had WLS was already skinny

This is my favorite thread on this site! We need to keep it going! Love the success stories from the Big Guys!

I agree- my favorite thread as well. Until I came across it I felt like (compared to) everyone else that had WLS was already skinny

I agree with both of you!

Congrats Everyone!!!

Those of you still in a holding pattern like me, Best of luck!!

Got all my required info in and it's being submitted to insurance today. It's really hitting home and I'm getting nervous. Not really nervous about my new stomach but about surviving surgery.

Got all my required info in and it's being submitted to insurance today. It's really hitting home and I'm getting nervous. Not really nervous about my new stomach but about surviving surgery.

SGC, what surgery are you having? I had gastric bypass a year ago, but like many big guys on this site, breezed through it with minimal hassle... and a year later, am dramatically healthier... surviving morbid obesity was the issue, not surviving surgery....

Got all my required info in and it's being submitted to insurance today. It's really hitting home and I'm getting nervous. Not really nervous about my new stomach but about surviving surgery.

SGC, what surgery are you having? I had gastric bypass a year ago, but like many big guys on this site, breezed through it with minimal hassle... and a year later, am dramatically healthier... surviving morbid obesity was the issue, not surviving surgery....

I am getting the sleeve. I focused more on dieting as if I had already had surgery and exercise 60 minutes a day and the weight is coming off fast. That then makes me second guess the surgery. I wanted to lose as much weight and build my cardio endurance as much as possible for the surgery. At the end of the day, I'm still hovering around 400 pounds. I have had surgery in the past to remove my gallbladder but I was younger and weighed 250 pounds at the time.

Very much an individual decision -- but we do have solid data that says low single digits of morbidly obese people ever maintain long term weight loss.... certainly true for me, as a 65 year old I wish I had done this when I went over 400 in my 40's. The WLS (posts on BP indicate both sleeve and bypass are effective -- most surgeons no longer do the band) is my helping friend that took out virtually all disease (diabetes, BP, edema, etc)....

Got the insurance approval today and set a surgery date. June 7th I meet with the nutritionist. June 13th I have an endoscopy. June 22nd is the surgery.

I'm currently down to 409. I've been averaging about 3 to 4 pounds a week. At this rate, I'll be easily under 400 for surgery. The liquid diet starts after the June 7th visit. I'm assuming I'll lose even more on that diet. Would be nice to be at about 380 at the time of surgery. Been getting my 60 minutes of cardio in a day. Was able to get off blood pressure pills and have noticed an improvement in my sleep apnea. That will hopefully reduce the risk of surgery.

They tell I should lose 100 pounds in the first 6 months after surgery. That should take me under 300. Haven't been under 300 since around 2009. If all goes well, I could be under 250 a year from now.

@@sgc Congrats - June 22nd will be here before you know it!

@@sgc, to give you one reference point, I had my surgery just over 6 months ago and I am down 115 pounds - about 20 of that was pre-surgical liquid diet. So your expectations align with my experience to date. I agree with VDB that I wish I had done this sooner. Too many years of suffering at 400+ pounds. I'm 2 pounds away from breaking into the 2's!

Congrats on the insurance approval, @sgc. I'm almost exactly 6 months out and your expectations fit well with my experience. Where you are ahead of the game is that you are already exercising and off of blood pressure medicine. I wasn't smart enough to do that beforehand. That should put you in good shape heading into surgery and have you well-prepared to be successful afterward.

I feel like an idiot that I did not do this sooner. I kept thinking that I was still going to have to exercise and eat healthy to lose weight even with the surgery, so why not just skip the surgery entirely? I wish that I had understood earlier how much the surgery would help me keep my head in the game to do those things. Keep up the good work!

Edited May 13, 201610 yr by Thucydides

@@sgc, to give you one reference point, I had my surgery just over 6 months ago and I am down 115 pounds - about 20 of that was pre-surgical liquid diet. So your expectations align with my experience to date. I agree with VDB that I wish I had done this sooner. Too many years of suffering at 400+ pounds. I'm 2 pounds away from breaking into the 2's!

Outstanding !!!!!!!

I have a question i started at 408 in February and today I'm 320. I don't notice much loss of fat in my belly. When did you all start to notice belly fat loss??