My 5 year Anniversary of VSG!!!

Well I have not been on the OH forum very often lately, but at this 5 year point, I thought I would write a little blurb about how fantastic Dr. Pleatman is, and how thankful I am that he did my sleeve surgery 5 years ago.  I am thankful to OH, because that is how I found Dr. Pleatman... On the OH website.  I was a constant visitor to the OH website for a year or so, and have found it to be a great source of information and encouragement.  Most of my friends on OH have also gone on with their lives to the extent that they also do not post as much as they did in early days following surgery and weight loss.  After reaching goal weight, and stabilizing, I began to have room in my life for a lot of other activities.  All those other activities, sort of crowd out the time I spent on OH, but I wanted to say," I love Dr. Mark Pleatman, and I love my VSG!!!"  

Congratulations! It'll be 5 years for me in June of having the VSG. You're doing great. I feel the same way about OH.com as you do. When I started my journey I was told about this site by a dietitian and happy with OH.com since then. Most of my friends on here gone on with their lives.

Once again, congratulations. You're doing great.

Thanks for being a veteran who comes back and reports that you're still doing well this far out.  It's very encouraging to the rest of us relative newbies! 

Congratulations on 5 years!  What a wonderful milestone!

Thank you SO much for coming back and posting this wonderful blurb! I enjoy reading success stories. Sounds like your stomach is doing what its supposedly should be doing and still has restriction. Is it hard stabilizing? Congratulations on reaching your goal and stabilizing after 5 years. 

Thank you.  The stabilizing is the hardest part.  It took years for me, and now I am back to reinforcing the rules that I lived with during the weight loss period.  In my case, I ended up losing more weight than I wanted to toward the beginning of my second year after surgery, and so I fell into some bad habits of eating the wrong foods just because I could.   Fortunately, the restriction is still there, and the tool still works.  I just needed to stop eating so many simple carbs and get back to all healthy foods.  It makes me so much more energetic also, when I stay away from sugar, and eat a very balanced diet.  I have weighed between 134 and 137 for the past couple of years now, and am trying to stay in that area.  I have put forth the effort to lose weight again when I get up to 137 and drop a couple of lbs in order to stay in that window.  The restriction is there and the tool still works!!!  I can't say it enough, I love my sleeve.  Can't see ever regretting this decision.  Don't have to take any BP meds, and way fewer acid reflux meds.  Only occasionally.  

So thankful for Dr. Pleatman!!  I don't think I would have done the surgery if I had not found him on OH.  I went to his website and  He inspired me.  I sent him that first email, and he answered me right back, and it was on a Saturday!!  Wow, was I impressed!!

Sounds like you've got it. I just attended a class "Successful long-term weight control after weight loss surgery" and the NUT said its all about staying away from too many carbs and continue to make good food choices. Glad to hear that our restriction will always be there. You and I started at the same weight, 215. I had to lose 8 lbs before surgery and I'm now 12 weeks post op and down to 168. I'm in no hurry to lose my weight too fast and I too am very grateful for having the surgery. Thanks again for your post. Christine