Goodness I cannot believe that my 15 year surgery anniversary will be in October!

A friend of mine is considering weight loss surgery so I went looking for this forum again and thought I would do a quick update!

I had a VSG in Mexico (Mexicali) in October of 2010. I had zero complications and went from a surgery weight of 276 down to about 125ish. Size 24 to size 0. I had plastics in 2013ish (breast, arms, and tummy). I gained up to about 150/160 and stayed there for many years. Over the past 6 to 7 years I have gained weight thanks to nursing school and the pandemic ? but I'm happy with where I am!

I am currently at 170 and in a size 8. (Lots of weight/skin in leg area). My surgery continues to be the best thing that I ever did for myself. The only drawback is that I have GERD, and cannot skip a day without Omeprazole.

My labs are fantastic. I can eat pretty a normal size meal but still have some restriction if I go over that. I'll try to remember to come back incase anyone has questions but really I don't think about the surgery or food much anymore ?

4 hours ago, SouthernSleever said:

I'm happy with where I am!

This is the most important thing of all!

Well done.

I like that the surgery seems to have dampened or eliminated your food noise. <3

Is a 30% increase of lowest weight normal? I’m pre surgery so I’m trying to gauge where I could be at. This person losing 151 lbs is amazing. Just trying to gauge where I might end up in 8-10 years if I work the plan

33 minutes ago, MrBeeswax said:

Is a 30% increase of lowest weight normal? I’m pre surgery so I’m trying to gauge where I could be at. This person losing 151 lbs is amazing. Just trying to gauge where I might end up in 8-10 years if I work the plan

There are no limits to what you can lose, nor is there anything that says you will regain any specific amount, or frankly that you will regain anything at all. I think we do ourselves a HUGE disservice (and bariatric doctors are bad about this), by thinking in terms of what's "normal" or "average". Keep in mind that averages are determined by people that regained everything, as well as those the are clinically underweight.

I would strongly urge you to stop thinking about what you can expect, and start thinking about what you want.

Okay, but I’m asking because if I don’t have to do a surgery I won’t. I’m thinking ten years from now. When I’m 56 will I be back here now. At 275 my weight loss on zepbound has slowed. That’s ~45 lbs drop. But I don’t want to go through surgery to only get to 250 because if I gain 20 lbs in 10 years I’ll be back here.

@MrBeeswax I'd say the same thing, there are no limits here.

I've looked through a number of scientific papers on weight regain and insufficient weight loss after bariatric surgery and about the only thing you'd find if you do the same is that the data is all over the place. I've seen numbers from as low at 10%, all the way up to 80% of patients regain some weight.

The reason for that is there's very little consensus on defining what weight regain even means. If, for example, I lose too much weight, then gain back a bit, some studies would include me the the weight regain numbers. I'd say that's a healthy thing to have happened. I suspect @SouthernSleever fits into that category, though I obviously don't know for sure.

One other thing you'll find in those studies is that a lot of the patients that regain a lot of weight or failed to lose enough weight tend to be "non-adherent", meaning it's their behaviors, not the tool that's the real issue. We say this a lot here on this board, but it's worth repeating: Bariatric surgery does not fix your head. If you're not willing to commit to learning how to eat better and move more, then you too may be one of those that "fails" bariatric surgery.

I would strongly urge you to keep that in mind if you do pursue surgery. You absolutely can reach a healthy weight, but surgery is not a miracle cure. I takes a ton of hard work and commitment to be successful.

On 4/30/2025 at 2:07 PM, MrBeeswax said:

Okay, but I’m asking because if I don’t have to do a surgery I won’t. I’m thinking ten years from now. When I’m 56 will I be back here now. At 275 my weight loss on Zepbound has slowed. That’s ~45 lbs drop. But I don’t want to go through surgery to only get to 250 because if I gain 20 lbs in 10 years I’ll be back here.

The effects of surgery appear to be more durable than meds. So if you take Zepbound and stop, most people regain most to all of the weight over a relatively short period of time because nothing about your body has changed once the meds are gone. It's like your blood pressure going back up after stopping blood pressure meds. If you get surgery, it's permanently altering your physiology, so it keeps working for you long after the surgery is done. You don't go back to having a larger stomach or your intestines being rerouted in the case of a bypass. Your hunger and capacity do increase, so if you don't make lasting changes, yes, you can overeat and make poor choices over time that can lead to weight regain. It's a tool, not a cure. Some doctors will say that a bypass is more durable and "stronger" than a sleeve in terms of how much weight you can lose and how easy it is to keep off over time. The combination of surgery now plus adding GLP-1s sometime in the future (if you need them) seems to be an approach that more doctors are looking at for longterm maintenance. Of course, this assumes nutrition and exercise guidance is being followed.

the experience of one person is no way indicative of what YOU will experience. only way to know for sure how YOU will end up is to go through it yourself. there is no future-reading here, unfortunately.

all i can say for sure is that if you make an honest effort to lose weight after wls, you will. and if you make an honest effort to keep the weight off in the following years, you *most likely* will.

its easy to lose the weight...its exponentially harder to keep it all off. the vast majority of wls folks will regain SOME amount of weight after reaching their lowest point. exactly how much more is up to you and your habits, as well as your genetics, age, health, etc., etc.,...

good luck! ❤️

most people do have a rebound after hitting their lowest weight. Ten to twenty lbs is pretty common - but like others have said, some people don't gain back any at all and some regain everything. If you commit to keeping your eating under control for the rest of your life, though (not that you can never have an occasional splurge - but keeping things in control at least most of the time), it's very doubtful you're going to gain a ton of it back. It's definitely a life-long effort.

A couple things related to my weight gain - when I gained weight it was due to eating fast food/junk food during nursing school and then the pandemic (people sending goodies to hospitals) and the stress of the job. I also had two traumatizing relationships in that mix - what was 30lbs would have been 60lbs pre-wls

When I was gaining weight, I wasn't stepping on the scale. So now, I do this often to keep me accountable. You are going to regain some, your stomach is tiny and then the swelling goes down and you can eat more (and you should)!

I feel like wls is the only way I could have kept this off. The best thing is that the food noise is gone!

I would redo the surgery once a year, every year, if I had to. That's how important is been to me.

Thank you for this! You're making me think of looking into it again, especially since I've been struggling again. Thank you for sharing your journey with us!

I'm curious - what is Omeprazole?

It's something that has been on my mind as well, but I don't know much about it. Is it a prescription?

Omeprazole is a PPI (protein pump inhibitor) used to treat reflux and excess acid production. The most common brand name is Prilosec.

Esomeprazol is another slightly different PPI. Nexium is the most common brand name. Does the same thing.

In Australia a script is needed for a 20mg or higher dose. 10mg can be bought over the counter. Not sure if it’s the same in the States. It is often prescribed first the first months after surgery as your body has learnt it doesn’t need as much acid to break down the smaller amount of food you eat in your smaller tummy. Some will continue it if needed. I take Nexium every day for reflux. I took it randomly before surgery. Plus I now don’t have a gall bladder to regulate the acid entering the stomach.

Actually I have been having a long interaction with someone on social media about weight regain today (why I got sucked into the conversation I don’t know). I explained to them that just as obesity is a very nuanced disease so too is regain. Simply put too many factors can influence if you regain or how much you might regain. Medications, health issues, poor food choices, less activity, aging, the crap life throws at you, complacency in general, etc. Surgery isn’t a cure. Maintenance is and will always be something you will have to work at.