3/3/16 Surgery - Last minute questions

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post. I have been lurking about for a month now trying to make a decision if VSG is the solution for me. I have battled my weight my entire life and have had success with Atkins and Medifast but always put the weight back on. Turned 50 this year and am at my highest weight ever. Been such a long struggle. I just want it to be a little easier to lose the weight and have some chance of keeping it off. We have two children who are 10 and 12 and would like to be able to have a picture taken with them and not be ashamed of how I look. The years are passing so quickly and I want my thinner self to be able to spend it with the kids/husband and record some memories. I avoid having my picture taken at all costs because I hate how I look. I have also developed high blood pressure due to the weight and heart problems run in my family. I know I need to get the weight off. I would need to be 15 pounds heavier to get insurance to pay for it so am a self pay.

I have cleared all my presurgery tests and am scheduled for 3/3/16. I only have to do the liquid diet for 2 days prior to the surgery so that is a blessing. I start the liquids 3/1!

Some questions that would be great to get your feedback on:

Will I stive fight hungery after the surgery? The doctor told me I wouldn't have any hunger, but I have read a bunch of posts that people are still starving after the surgery. This probably is scaring me the most.

I have 75-80 pounds to lose. Based on your experience how much should I expect to lose in the first three months? I know everyone is different, but trying to get my expectations in line to avoid disappointment. Yes shoud stay out of the failed WLS forum!

Did anyone else keep their surgery a secret from their friends and family? I have only told my husband and he keeps asking me if I am sure I want to do this. He has never battled his weight so I think it is hard for him to understand the struggle, but he is supportive. I am feeling if friends, family and coworkers knew, I would be judged as "taking the easy way out". Not that having surgery is the easy way out. But pretty sure everyone would encourage me to just start another diet.

Just trying to do a reality check and make sure I have as much info as possible from others who have experienced VSG first hand. Would really appreciate any words of wisdom you can send my way. I am excited, but scared. Wondering if anyone else experienced these feelings pre VSG.

Hi Lucy,

I am 51 and also struggled with my weight all of my adult life. I had my VSG surgery 7 months ago and have no regrets...except wishing I had done it sooner!  

There are many more experienced folks than me on here, but I will share my experience in response to your questions. I did not struggle with hunger post-surgery at all. If anything, I had trouble meeting my daily 600 calorie requirement. When most of our stomach is removed, the hunger hormone (ghrelin) goes with it. My understanding is that that hormone eventually returns, but it's a nice reprieve getting started. I've heard from others that excessive acid can feel like hunger, so most people are encouraged to take an antacid post surgery. 

I weighed 232 at surgery, having lost 18 pounds beforehand. I lost a total of 47 pounds in the first 3 months after surgery (20, 15, 12).  As you said, everyone is different, and some of us have trackers in our signature line, so you can check those out too.

In addition to my husband, I told my mom, sisters and a couple of close friends (including one coworker). I explained my reasons for wanting and needing the surgery, especially the health benefits and recent research showing that sustained weightless once you are obese is quite rare without the surgery. We discussed folks having WLS and gaining back the weight, so they knew that it wasn't an easy way out, but a tool that would help me be successful, if I was committed.  I found them to be supportive. Not everyone necessarily agreed with my choice, but they all respected my decision. For everyone else who asked about my weightless, I told them my supervised weightless was high protein, low carb.

Being excited, but scared prior to the surgery is to be expected...I know I was!  The first month of liquids-only was tough. Not because I was hungry, but because I was sick of protein shakes! But, you get through it and time seems to move more quickly after that.  I was on these boards several times a day during that first month and it really helped. 

I wish you all the best Lucy.  Don't hesitate to message me with additional questions, if you like.

Thank you for sharing your experience Sparky50.  You have done wonderful!  Already so close to your goal weight.  It is very helpful to hear other people have gone through the process and done well.  I hope my experience is like yours.  Can't thank you enough for replying.    

Hi Lucy. I am 55 and had my surgery February 2nd. I had the lap band for ten years prior. I did very well with the band until it stopped working.

As far as telling people it's been hard. I told a few close friends but it's been hard because I am involved in a lot of things (book group, woman's club, etc.). Finally I told the people I didn't want to know that I got my gall bladder out.

I personally have had no hunger. And boy is that great. One day when I was on liquids my husband came in and asked how I could watch food shows when I couldn't eat? I watched that show for an hour and didn't once think of food.

best wishes on your surgery and keep us posted!

Hi Lucy- i am 60 years old and had VSG on Jan 25th.  So I am at 1 month postop.  I was also self-pay (not because of weight....but because of impatience, i suppose

i told very few people until after I had the surgery.  I feared some well-meaning person would tell me about some WLS  horror story and derail my commitment...but once it was done....too late for the horror stories.  I am now one month post op and although I have had no complication and already am very glad I did it....I can tell you this is not an easy way out.  I have lost and gained back probably a thousand pounds in my lifetime and I now realize why.  At some point a stressor would kick in and I would say "screw it" and go back to eating junk.  Right now I absolutely do not have that option.  Over time I may have the option again....but I will have had enough time practicing good habits that the option of returning to junk will seem foreign to me.  My new normal will be healthy food....right now my new normal is protein shakes and about an ounce of food 3 times per day.  First month: 28 lbs lost! 

     After my surgery I reached out to a handful of people to tell them about my surgery....and they were all supportive.  I am relatively sure they told other people (as people always do) and decided not to sweat that either.....what other people say about me is none of my business.  

Keep us posted as you near and go thru the surgery. 

congratulations on your journey. I'm 38 had VSG 12/28/15 and no I didn't feel hungry. But it was a weird feeling of I should be eating something. You know what I mean. I let friends and family know no secret over hear starting weight was 247 lbs Iast week Wednesday I was 222. You are correct everyone is different but my expectations are slow and steady. Small steps I hope to be under 200 around mayish. The first three months I am not sure I haven't made it that far yet. 

Hi,

Welcome to the forum.  I hope you'll find it as supportive and informative as I have. 

I did not feel hunger for month after surgery.  At times, the thought of food made me queasy and I had to force myself to eat.  Sometimes the hunger is excess acid and can be treated with meds.  sometimes it is head hunger, and we just need to work it thru.  But for me, hunger wasn't an issue for the first 6 to 9 months. 

The hunger did return, but never with the vengeance it had before surgery. 

I thought about keeping my surgery a secret after the first few reactions were bizarre.  But secrecy didn't sit well with me, so I found a way of telling people that worked.  I'd say: "I've been working with a medical team at Lahey clinic to deal with my obesity and I've decided to follow their recommendation and have weight loss surgery, as it is the only treatment that is successful."  People didn't second-guess me when I brought in the medical establishment!  hehehe 

I still got the comments about how many people fail to keep the weight off.  As if I didn't have the smarts to have researched it and considered the down side!  sigh

I just want to finish by saying how glad I am that I had the weight loss surgery.  I waited until I was 63 and very obese before having the surgery.  It has been so successful.  Before the surgery, I could lose weight, but I could never keep it off.  Now I've lost 225 pounds, and I'm at a normal weight and I feel great.  I've been maintaining for almost 2 years and I know I can do this.  The weight loss surgery doesn't make it easy but it does make it possible.

best of luck on our weight loss journey.

Carol

I had RNY and it was the easy way out for me.  For the first two years I had a lot of malabsorption and much of what I ate did not get absorbed.  It was a nice head start.  I have also never had hunger since surgery in 2007.  I told my family before surgery and my friends and co-workers after I lost all the weight and they asked how I did it.

The Post-Op planner on this site was very accurate for me.  VSG was not available to me in 2007 and my surgeon said I would have done as well with the sleeve as I did with the RNY.

My heart goes out to people struggling with weight who do not have the option of surgery.  Their chances of successfully maintaining their loss are so low and they blame themselves for failure.

Thank you, everyone, for your encouraging posts.  I have never felt the need to reach out to strangers before and have never posted anything on line.  Guess I am just a private person.   But this is a very big step for me and I am so glad to have written that first post.  To hear all your stories of success makes me feel more confident about my decision.  Appreciate having you all along on this journey with me.  

Welcome!  I am planned for the sleeve on March 29 as a revision from the band. When I had the band I told everyone. The down side was my supervisor at work asked me every week how much I lost. I started at 275 and my lowest was 200 (for about a minute). When the scale started going the other way, this supervisor kept asking me why I stopped losing weight. Like I planned to stop!

 I had to tell my supervisor (a much nicer person) this time as I have to bring in a note to be out for 2 weeks, and another note to return. I hate telling people how much I have lost. I know they mean well, but it is nobody's business. I know people are going to ask, but I am hoping that this time I will have the nerve to tell them to ask how I am feeling instead of asking for a number. This surgery wasn't my idea. A spine specialist didn't really give me a choice. After all the tests it turns out that my back is so bad that losing weight may not help. I am doing it anyway because even if it helps a little it will be huge. 

so I am not telling everyone, although I am sure most will find out.  Let us know how you decide to handle it. Good luck and please post often as I will be following you!