Introduction and VSG questions

Hi everyone!

This is my first post so I would like to begin by thanking you all for this useful forum. I have been researching it for a few months now and I have learnt a lot about the different WLS and what to expect post op as well as the diet and lifestyle changes I will have to make should I decide to go down the surgery path. First of all I feel I need to explain my case. I am 36 years old, I weight 242 pounds and my height is almost 6 foot. That gives me a BMI of 33. Like many of the people on this forum I have been battling with my weight for the last 20 years or so. I have tried almost every diet out there (Palaeo, Juicing, Atkins, HCG, Low Carbs, nutritionists, personal trainers, etc...) and I have always been very successful at losing my excess weight. The problem is that it always comes back as soon as I stop being super careful with my food intake. I am a fairly active person as I cycle to work everyday for a total of 1h plus I exercise at the gym once or twice a week depending on my schedule. However, exercise seems to be a small contribution to my weight loss, with the food being the major impact. My relationship with food is difficult to describe. I can sometimes be very strict with myself and then shift to periods where I really don't care and I'll eat anything that is available. I feel I am more hungry than most people around me and I can eat large quantities of rich foods in one sitting with no problem. I guess I am a bit of an emotional eater as well.

Anyway, WLS has been in my mind for a while. Today it is almost one year since I made the resolution that I was going to give dieting and fitness a one final chance and if that didn't work I would have the operation. And, yes, you guessed it, I lost the weight but work got busy last November and since then it has all come back and more. So I went to see a bariatric surgeon 2 weeks ago to investigate the different procedures and I was initially set on having a gastric balloon implanted. However, after discussions with the surgeon he indicated that given my past history of dieting he would not recommend this to me as after the balloon was removed I would most likely gain the weight again. He also told me that banding he was not recommending anymore for the reasons you all know and given by BMI and lifestyle VSG would be more appropriate than bypass if I ever decided to have WLS.

My problem, however, is the following. I do not have a very high BMI and I do not have any comorbidities. As I mentioned above I have a reasonably active lifestyle and my weight does not fully prevent me from doing any activities. I accept I will never be the best at any particular sport but I am ok with that. However, I am tired of gaining and losing weight, struggling to find clothes that fit, people making comments about my image and living permanently on either a diet or in a state of "I don't care if I am obese" anymore. The surgeon I saw was very friendly and he actually told me that in my case it is relatively difficult to make a decision as I am borderline and have no comorbidities. My biggest health problem is that I have large quantities of visceral fat and that increases the chances of heart attacks, blood clots, etc.. in the long run. I have 2 young kids who I want to see grow up and make me a grandparent.   Therefore, I just wanted to ask if anyone out there was in a similar situation as mine and decided to have the operation. How did it change your life? Was it worth it? I know the decision will be mine at the end of the day but most of the posts I see under the VSG forum belong to people who started with a higher BMI or comorbidities so I do not feel totally related to some of those experiences.

Anyway, many thanks for reading the long post above and keep up the good work you are all doing

Thanks

Phacops

I can relate to almost your entire post... I originally looked into WLS in 2007 or so, but my father told me no way in hell. I did Nutrisystem and lost a lot of weight (100 pounds). Gained it back :\ Lost it various other ways, gained it back... 

I recently came back around to consider having surgery and decided to move forward with it. Unfortunately, the surgery is not covered under my health insurance :\ So I am a self pay.. I have high blood pressure and I guess apnea (I do not use a CPAP). Aside from that, I just hate being fat. 

I'm doing self pay and while its a lot of money, I would rather have a payment for a few years and many years of healthy life than to live it out as I am currently... This is a great website to find information and life experiences from other people. Ultimately, however, the decision for surgery or not is yours entirely to make. Same with which surgery.. I saw the balloon but immediately dismissed it... I dont want something sitting in my tummy lol. Lapband I dismissed because it will come off eventually (surgically) and I'll just gain my weight back... VSG is permanent... so, I have to live with it, and may as well use it to its full advantage.

My only question that keeps popping up in my mind is elderly care. If I get old and have dementia or something, will I eat enough? drink enough? I guess I wont really care at that point lol

I was in the same boat, 33 BMI and not qualified for insurance.  So I kept up the yoyo of healthy lifestyle and then overeating.  Eventually I qualified for surgery.  I wish I had just paid for my surgery and not gone through the years of gaining and being miserable about my appearance.  The money I spent on new cars would have been better spent on surgery.

When you are slim, you just feel so much better and you get treated so much better.

In my case I had RNY in 2007.  I liked the malabsorption and it resulted in more and quicker weight loss.  I still have no hunger and it is relatively easy to stay at my goal.

Similar story for me - BMI under 35, sick of yo-yo dieting, wanted to be healthy long-term, etc.  I had VSG two years ago (self-pay) and have been thrilled with it! Definitely worth it.  Besides the external change of fitting into smaller sizes that I can't remember ever wearing, the main change in my life has been on the inside - the shame and self-consciousness are almost entirely gone (lifelong leftovers I suppose).  I used to start my day by telling myself "today I'll be good" and finish my day with "you're such a failure".  Not anymore!  I like what I look like now - not perfect, but pretty darn good. I'm resigned to the fact that carbs simply cannot be a part of my everyday life, but with the sleeve it's easier to manage this. 

Being a "lightweight", be aware that you may lose weight more slowly than some other folks on this board, so try really hard not to compare.  Just keep plugging away at it, and the pounds will come off.

Good luck with your decision!

http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/wls_lightweights/

The link above is for the Lightweights Forum.  They might have some additional information to help you.  Good luck!

Call your insurance company and ask what they require for surgery to be covered. Having your surgery paid for by insurance (maybe $1k - $2k out of pocket) versus self-pay ($20k+) can definitely be a deciding factor.

You might want to try cross posting your question on the lightweights forum. VSG or any wls may or may not work for you. I only say that because in the body of your post I didn't see any mention of therapy. The "living permanently on a diet or I don't care if I'm obese anymore" sounds more like a mental problem to me. While physically you won't be able to eat more, the reasons on why you turn to food/head stuff is another matter entirely. The swing of being super strict to the I don't care what I'm eating is something no surgery is going to help you with.

I don't want to dissuade you from surgery, just keep in mind the surgery is on our stomachs not our head. The head stuff is a pita, but it has to be dealt with too, otherwise you'll run into the same problem again albeit with a much smaller stomach.

Good luck in whatever you choose to do. 

Thank you all for your replies. First of all I must state that I am fortunate enough to be able to pay for the surgery myself, so this aspect is not a concern for me. It seems to be the focus of a lot of people on the forum but not for me...

ChrisTufano - Thanks for sharing your views, it is nice to find someone who has been through the same emotions and is of a similar age as me. Your concern about getting old is a real one but you have to remember that without the surgery you may never get there anyways...

White Dove- Thanks for your inspirational view - I guess better to do it now than wait to develop health problems. As I stated, self pay is not an issue for me. 

Luvmupuggies- Thanks for sharing your experience. I am not concerned at all about the weight coming off slowly. In fact I think it is a good thing to give my body and skin a chance to reshape properly. Besides, I don't have as many pounds to lose as some people in the forum. 75-80 pounds would put me in my more than ideal weight. 

T is Hagalicious - Thanks for the advice about the lightweight forum. I have cross posted it there and got some replies. Your comment about the therapy is also interesting. I was toying with the idea a year ago to go see a physiologist. Instead I chose a Nutritionist and a Personal trainer who acted as "my psychologists"... But that failed too. Perhaps I should go and talk to a real one although I live in Thailand and good English speaking ones are difficult to come by. Nevertheless, isn't the head stuff a common problem with all the WLS patients? How do people deal with that? I understand they will change my tummy and not my head but this is the same for everyone. My hope is that through having a smaller stomach I will be able to control my temptations better and stay committed to a health eating plan. I actually enjoy eating healthy and protein is one of my favorites, both fish and meat.

Anyway, thanks all once again, your views definitely help me understand the possible surgery outcomes better. I have another consultation with a different surgeon tomorrow just to see other hospitals and be able to compare.

Regards

Phacops

I did my therapy with a company that my insurance provided.  It was all over the phone.  That is something to look into.  They sent me books and literature and called me weekly for a one hour session with the therapist.

I went back to wanting to eat the wrong foods, but for me it was much easier to have will power when I was never hungry and could not eat much food anyway.

My strategy is to always have a substitute for the foods that I might crave.  I cook and bake my own low carb, high protein foods and buy foods like Quest Brownie protein bars and Quest BBQ protein chips.

I had surgery in 2007 and am still at my goal weight.

Hi everyone!

It has been a while since I wrote this post and I thought I'd give you an update of where I am. After my second VSG surgery consultation I decided to cool the surgery thoughts off for  while longer and think it through. At the same time I went for a full health check up with the idea that if everything came good then perhaps that would help me in making a decision against the surgery. Anyway, the check up was not too bad but I have slightly high colesterol and sugar levels, an enlarged and fatty liver and a couple of 1cm gallstones in my gallbladder. These are all as a result of my weight I was told. Doctor also said I am obese class II and need to lose a minimum of 90 lbs. By the check up time my BMI had risen to 36. Further, I have recently  been experiencing coxis pain after I spend long hours sitting in front of the computer or after riding my bike. This is very debilitating and I believe it is also related to my weight as well... On top of all the above I've recently realised that I just hate looking at myself in the mirror and end up avoiding doing so. Being overweight makes me unhappy and prevents me from doing certain activities as I feel I will get hot and sweaty and don't want people seeing me like that.

Anyway, as a result of the above I have made the decision to go ahead with the VSG surgery and 2 days ago I paid a 10% deposit to lock the dates (20th Jan) and I also booked 2 weeks off work. It was a bittersweet moment with very mixed emotions. On the one hand I was happy I was taking control of the situation and trying to fix my problem but on the other hand I felt defeated. I have lost the weight battle I have been fighting for over 20 years. I cried. Such a drastic decision I am taking, removing 80% of my stomach... I am scared too and I really hope this works and it is worth the physical pain I will be experiencing. Of course I am going to give it my 100% and have already bought 3 VSG books to learn as much as I can with regards to the op, foods and new lifestyle I will be having. I live in Thailand where I don't have the luxury of having support groups or good therapists.

Anyway, because of my health screening my surgeon has recommended to remove my gallbladder at the same time. His reasoning is that I will develop more stones after I lose the weight and we better take it out now just in case it creates problems down the line (he said 50% of his patients develop them). He has offered to remove it for free and included in the cost of the VSG surgery which is nice but I am having concerns about removing it. People say you can live without it but there are side effects which can happen. Also I feel it is wrong to remove a perfectly functioning organ that gives me no pain? What are your thoughts on this? 

I have found that in China it is possible to have a laparoscopic operation to remove your stones without removing the gallbladder and many Westerners have gone there to successfully remove then. Some people claim the stones never came back but other say they did after a few years. Since I am convinced my stones developed as a result of my weight loss and gain over the past years I was thinking that perhaps I would have VSG, loose the weight and then go to China to remove the stones? Hopefully they won't appear again and I will have kept my GB.

Anyway, that is all I got for now. Until the surgery date I will keep reading and watching youtube videos which I find incredibly helpful.  Thanks all for reading the above.

All the best
Phacops