Highly Considering the Gastric Sleeve but have many questions.

So I am a 41yo male and have been over weight for most of life including childhood. I was always chubby. When I got in my early 20 i dropped all the weight and and had a six pack and ran 10 miles 3 times a week. Around 28 I started to gain weight back and and hovered around 260. Now I am 41 and have ballooned up to 350. I have High blood pressure, diabetes and back pains along with naropathy along with a host of other problems.. I constantly feel like crap and have no energy. My job is very physically demanding and its taking a toll on me.

I am concidering weightloss surgury and from what ive been reading I think i want to go with the gastic sleeve. Im afaid that if i have the surgry that ill never be the same again. I worry about what it will feel like after the surgury. I wonder if you feel diffrent inside or if ill ever beable to enjoy food again. I love to cook ethnic food and share with friends aqnd family and i dont want that to change but i think that my obsession with food is not as important as my health.

So I guess what Im asking is if you could do it all over again would you do it and was it worth the sacrifices

I would have the surgery every year if I had to in order to maintain my weight loss and new life. Thankfully I don't have to! I don't feel like I made any real sacrifices. There are a few types of food (and drink) that don't really agree with me any more, but it's nothing I dwell on much. I feel completely normal and yes, I enjoy food. But I try very hard not to let food serve as entertainment or comfort. I like food but try not to obsess about it, and find other ways to share good times with friends and family.

You say you are afraid you'll never be the same again -- but in the preceding paragraph you said I have High blood pressure, diabetes and back pains along with naropathy along with a host of other problems.. I constantly feel like crap and have no energy.

Do you want to stay the same as that? I would guess not. I know didn't want to stay like I was when I was 350+ lbs with the associated health problems, no energy, nonexistent confidence, etc. I got the surgery, worked hard, continued to work hard, and am delighted to be in many ways a completely different person. I never want to be the "old me" again!

You will, indeed, never be the same again after surgery. But that's good, right? Since the same is feeling like crap, having no energy, neuropathy, high blood pressure, diabetes, and back pain.

I still enjoy food, I still love to cook and try new recipes enough of the time that I annoy my family since they know they'll never get to have something ever again after I make it once.

However, the surgery won't fix your obsession with food, it'll only change the size of your stomach. I highly recommend that you pursue therapy to help with the food obsession in conjunction with surgery.

Of all the procedures, I would say the sleeve will give you the most normalcy because all that occurs is your stomach gets smaller and you're satisfied (and full) faster. You can still enjoy spicy foods and much variety as you always have.

Now, that being said, many experience an aversion of sorts the first year. What I mean is that foods you LOVE are now "meh", and that can be frustrating. For me, it was for about 9 months, but I still have very few intense cravings like I once did. That part isn't necessarily bad, but if you ask me "what do you feel like eating" I won't have an answer. I enjoy what I eat now, but selecting something is always a challenge, so I let others go by their whims.

Short answer: yes yes yes.

Long answer: VSG was a part of several years of work that I've done to reduce my weight and get healthier. I had "dieted' in the past and never maintained the lifestyle. So, I overhauled my brain (therapy, diet) and then my body (VSG, exercise). All of these things have been pretty tough in their own ways. But I'm very secure that I'm doing what's best for my health and I wouldn't change a bit of it. I feel better mentally and physically in ways I couldn't have predicted. As sick as I felt, I didn't realize how sick I was.

Just picking apart the physical effect of VSG.... I'm 11 months out, I've lost 110lbs so far, about 5-10 lbs from my stretch goal. I have some residual GERD, I take Prilosec maybe 3 times a week. I can't physically overeat or I'm in terrible pain. If I eat too much sugar I feel like I have the flu. I eat mostly all protein because I'm usually not hungry enough for the veggies. I pretty much only drink water, and I drink 80-100 oz a day. LOL--If I had read this paragraph a year ago I would have said I was crazy, there's NO way I could live that way.

But I love my life more now. I don't care about the food, I am free of my obsession. Food does not have to be the way we bond or celebrate. I still enjoy food, in fact I'm ordering corned beef from a local deli for lunch today and I totally can't wait. But, I'll have what I can, I won't make myself sick. And I'll have tons left over for later (yay!)

I would als have the surgery once a year if that is what it too to lose/ maintain the loss.

I feel no different " inside" than I did before, just able to eat much less.

My only regret is not having done it much sooner.

I had to change career paths because of an auto-immune condition. Which is now in remission after surgery. That's not to say it won't ever come back, and my new career path is rewarding, so I don't necessarily regret the switch. But had I had the surgery 5 years earlier, I may not have ever had the auto-immune triggered in the first place and I'd be in my first choice career.

I am 13 months out, and my life is pretty "normal". I enjoy food, just a lot less of it, and healthier choices than I made 14 months ago. I go out to restaurants and enjoy dinners with friends.

I have developed a couple of intolerances. High sugar foods will make me very miserable. For some reason, I can eat small amounts of ice cream and drink milk, but milkshakes make me incredibly ill. I'm finding my prissy sleeve prefers skim milk to full fat. I'm not dairy intolerant, can still eat cheese and other dairy products, but full fat milk just doesn't sit very well.

Other than that, I pretty much eat what I want. I'm not quite to goal, so I try to keep my intake a little lower than maintenance, but I still lose weight (although pretty slowly) on about 1,200 kcal/day. Maintenance for me seems to be about 1,500-1,600 kcal a day depending on exercise.

So food-wise, I eat healthier now and a lot less volume and have found a small number of foods that don't agree.

Lifestyle-wise, there's no comparison. 14 months ago, I got winded and my pulse rate would get to 140s just walking from my car into the doctor's office. I couldn't walk around the block without feeling like I was going to die. I hated travel because I didn't seem to fit anywhere, especially in the seats on planes. I had no energy and was struggling just to get through work every day and then collapsed on the couch with a bag of chips or whatever I could grab. Because of my chronic illnesses, I'm not where I want to be physically, but I finished my first 5K a couple of weeks ago, have started slowly getting back to the gym (swimming) and don't worry about going to concerts or festivals because I know I can physically handle the walking and standing. I took a week long trip to CA earlier this year for business, and had a blast. Travel is a breeze now, and I even went out walking on the beach a couple of evenings.

I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

I still very much enjoy food after surgery. I don't, however, eat like a pig or guzzle massive quantities of crap food.

When you ask yourself what you'll miss, be honest... is it eating interesting, well-prepared foods, or is it shoveling things into your gullet? If the former, you've got no worries. If the latter, yeah that's out- seek counseling.

The process of surgery helped me uncover that I had Celiac disease and greatly improved my life. I also received some of the best medical care I'd ever had in my entire life in general. I am so much better now.

Being obese has far more sacrifices. I don't drink soda now? Bummer! I can literally walk and breathe, was able to finish grad school, am able to buy clothes in the store, fit places, buy shoes that aren't gigantic? I mean, no contest.

Being obese has the ultimate sacrifice - we pay with our health, short term and long term, and we pay with years of our lives.

The inconvenience of surgery is a no-brainier compared to that.

Food enjoyment is identical- you just do small portions...but the result in the same level of satisfaction. I eat a lot of ethnic food no problem. You can still eat around your sleeve, but it is a powerful tool if you are committed to using it.