Hey everybody, just thought I'd go ahead and introduce myself since I stumbled on this snazzy intro section. My name is Angelo, I'm 26 years old and live in Atlanta, Georgia. I went in for my consultation today and had a few tests done and I think I'm going to move forward with the surgery at the beginning of June. I don't have insurance so I'll be paying for it straight up which I'm not thrilled about but if this works for me it will be more than worth it. I'm 5'9" and 280lbs, since high school I have always hovered around 200-220lbs but recently I've just lost control of my weight and decided it was time for me to do something more than pop a diet pill and skip a meal. I would be the happiest guy in the world if I could get down to 180lbs and after doing some research that actually looks like it could be an attainable goal with this surgery. Anyways, I'm super excited to be moving forward with this and came across your site while I was looking for info and thought this would be a great place to come to get advice and to share my experience.

I do have a couple of questions for anyone willing to answer though. I've always been a bigger guy but I've also always been pretty muscular as well, should I expect a substantial amount of muscle loss as a result of the weight loss? How long after the surgery did you feel 100% recovered without any pain or soreness? How hard was it for you to adjust your portion sizes? Do you really feel full and satisfied with less or is this program more so just a forced diet? How quickly did you start to see significant results?

I'm sorry if I rambled on there I'm just really excited and I've never had the opportunity to speak to people who have actually been through this before. Thank you all for any help or advice in advance!

Hi Angelo, I live in Conyers, GA and I had my surgery on 5/14/09. I'm 5'10" and I weighed 255 prior to my pre-op diet. I'm absolutely sure it's the best decision I have ever made. I am also self pay and I flew to Denver, CO and had my surgery with Dr. Kirshenbaum. He will do the surgery for $9950 (everything but travel expenses) and he's wonderful. The band is adjustable so you are satisfied with smaller meals and you stay full longer. It's much safer than gastric bypass too. You should browse around this website and you will learn much, much more. Good luck!

Thanks! I'm using a company called True Results, my actual surgeon is Dr. Christopher Hart and in total they are charging me $15,000 with included follow ups for one year after surgery. That's awesome that you're already 18lbs down in just a few days. How has the recovery been? Feeling good yet or still in a little pain? I'm supposed to hear from them tomorrow to schedule some x-rays and an upper gi test and then its on to scheduling my surgery. I can't wait! I got engaged about a month ago on a cruise in the Bahamas and we plan to get married in about a year. To think that this could actually work and I could seriously have lost this weight by then is just crazy to me. I mean, I've tried for this my whole life and now there's something out there that can help this become a reality. I'm just really excited.

Edited May 20, 200917 yr by atlambros83

Angelo, Dr. Hart did my surgery! He is fantastic. A bit soft spoken but willing to sit with you and answer all your questions. The staff is wonderful too. Dr. Orris is the medical director (non-surgical end) and Anitra is a wonderful physician's assistant. I am still so pleased with my choice of Dr. Hart and True Results!

I had surgery on Tuesday and went back to work on Friday. Got a little tired by the end of the day but was fine!

You shouldn't lose muscle .... you can start walking as much as you feel up to the day of surgery or the day after. You will get released for more aggressive exercise sometime after your 10 day post-op visit. That will keep muscle in place and tone it up. And that will assist your weight loss even more because muscle burns fat but fat doesn't.

If you are interested, True Results has a forum as well. Go to www.trueresults.com and click on COMMUNITY on the upper right had corner. It's not as busy a forum as this one but I've made friends there!

Dr Hart will be doing my surgery as well. I'm scheduled to be banded on the 26th of this month. i can't wait.

Angelo-

I had my surgery on 5-14-09. Since my preop diet I am down 23lbs. You are able to start walking and moving around a couple hours after surgery, infact you are expected to. I am still on the full liquid diet and on Thursday (can not wait!) can start the pureed. I have dropped 9lbs since surgery. The weight from what I understand people to say, tends to be quicker right after surgery while you are on the liquids and pureeds and then tends to slow a bit after that, but is still 1-2 lbs per week. You do feel fuller on much less. I was a person who did not remember what full feels like, now I do and it feels great. Good luck, Heather

Heather - I had my surgery on May 14th too! I cannot wait to start mushies next Thursday either. I've lost about 15 pounds since one week before surgery when I started my pre-op diet. I'm doing great exept for some port site pain. No regrets! :thumbup:

That's awesome guys, thank you for your input. I can't wait to get started myself. Hopefully things will go as well for me as they have for you and by the time I get married in June of 2010 I will have lost most if not all of this extra weight! I'll definitely be hanging around here and giving updates though.