Hello (+ seeking some advice/opinions)

Thanks so much for your candid thoughts! I really appreciate it! I doubt I'll ever be a person who would prefer a carrot stick to... well, anything, lol. Would you say that you're happy now, post-surgery? Are you glad you did it?

A couple of thoughts: I thought a lot about removing most of an otherwise healthy organ. Then I realized my stomach in its original form was not healthy for me. It enabled me to eat in a way that was unhealthy for me. So I chose to "correct" this unhealthy condition like one would do with any other unhealthy condition. Effectively, I "downsized" to what I needed. Take your time in deciding. I have never regretted this in 8 years. GL Diane S

Yeah, that thought makes complete sense to me! Thanks for your thoughts, that helps!

In no particular order -

I'm 56 (was 55 when I had my surgery) and a BMI of 50. (272 pounds at 5'3"). I was squeezing into size 22 clothes. I have sever arthritis in the knees with bad knee pain, asthma, etc. I had my sleeve done in August 2016. I'm 16 months post op and down about 107 pounds (depends on the day).

I still love to cook and eat. Yes, the first few months were hard, but well worth it. Being able to be active again has been such a huge blessing. My asthma has gotten so much easier to control.

As for the skin, it depends on so many things - the younger you are, the easier it is for your skin to bounce back. I can live with the saggies I have, but have been considering plastics (did a consult) but haven't decided. I'm so excited by how I look now in size 8 pants and medium tops that I'm starting to thinK I'd like to look crazy hot naked, too. But, TBH, my hubby of 20 years loved me through thick and thin (literally) and he's said its up to me.

Before you take six months to diet on your own, look into what your insurance requirements are - they may require six months of supervised weight loss. You can always back out. As I understand in certain areas of Canada, there are wait times to get bariatric surgery, so it may be worth looking into.

Certainly a diet on your own won't hurt, but let's be honest. None of us would have had the surgery if we could have taken the weight off and kept it off by diet alone.

This is the best thing I've ever done (short of having my two children and meeting my husband) and I wish I'd done it 20 years sooner.

Best of luck on your journey.

Hi! Thanks for your thoughts! It really does help! So: as it turns out, I currently live in Québec City but am moving to Winnipeg in July, which is where I want to have the surgery. It turns out that at the one hospital that does it for free (under our health care), you need a BMI of under 55, so I'll need to lose some weight first, anyway. I have six months to see what I can do! And then, if I'm accepted into the program, then I believe they'll be monitoring my diet and exercise.

I've honestly never tried a serious diet before. I'm really not looking forward to it, but what can you do? :P I might as well see what I can accomplish in the coming six months, right?

I have had the RNY surgery. My Dr advised it because my BMI was over 50. He told me that the sleeve would not allow me to lose all that I needed to lose. I've been very happy with the surgery. Yes, my arms sag. But I'm able to camouflage it with clothing. I've lost over 100 pounds since the surgery in late June.

Nice! Congratulations on your loss! And thanks for your response - it does help! :)

Hi SA:

I live in Bennington, Vermont and on Nov. 13 had my sleeve surgery at Saratoga Hospital (they specialize in gastric surgery), and I have never been happier about doing anything for myself before, as this! I had thought about it for over ten years, during which time my insurance did not cover. Now they do, and I was way too obese to go on living that way. In the first 3 weeks (only being on liquids of course) I lost 33 pounds - 33 POUNDS! And gained more energy than I had in my 20s (I'm now 60), with every pound dropped. I saw my surgeon at 3 weeks., post-op and wanted to hug him but knew that was NOT acceptable behavior, so I just shook his hand and told him how very VERY happy I was with what he had done. My life is totally changed, and although I know it is still a marathon, with challenges to continually hold/change my habits of eating, I wouldn't change it for anything.

I found that due to a horrible place in which I was living for less than a month (and I have since moved, to a place I LOVE), my stress level was HIGH, and I found myself eating more often, it was still only about 1/2 cup at a time, and giving my stomach time to digest (about an hour), I would eat another 1/2 cup of something that was on my list of 'ok' foods. Even with 'ok' foods, my stomach was 'telling me' it was too much. I never had pain, just discomfort and lots of burping. So I finally stopped eating so much, and my stomach is most happy!

I saw my primary care doctor on Dec. 19, and she verified I was still down those 33 pounds, and she adjusted one of my meds, downward. (Oh, I also have been able to stop taking 3 Rxs that I'd been on for at least 3 years, and no longer need twice-daily doses of Tylenol due to knee pain. Just a few days after the surgery, my knee pain disappeared!)

It is now Jan. 8, and I have only lost one additional pound, but my life stressors have slowed down and I am not as stressed as during last month. I'm hopeful of getting a part-time job, just down the street from me, which will keep me busy and on the move. As well as planning to join a fitness center to continue to 'move' some of these other pounds off of me.

I do have some jiggly skin under my arms, but I'd rather see that than have it tight and fat. My belly, on the other hand, is already 'sagging' so that is the one part of me I'd be wanting to have tightened up, in time. I am hardly made of money, but I have hopes there will be a way to pay for it when the time comes. To have my jeans/slacks looser is something I haven't experienced in years.

If I've gone on too much, my apologies. I'm just so excited at all I have to look forward to, including much-improved health. I can't tell you to go for it, but I can tell you I don't regret it for one second. All the best to you, no matter the path you choose.

You didn't go on too long at all! Hearing about other people's experiences really is helping me. I'm still processing the whole thing and it's a big thing to work through, so thanks for being willing to share!

Stress is so awful, isn't it? I have way too much of it in my life at the moment, but I recently made the decision to move back to my home city in six months, where I have my family and a lot of friends and support, so that alone should help, plus I'm going to take a couple of months off to figure out what I want to do next, career-wise, etc. My issue with stress is that I stop sleeping and eating. I'm a bit of a workaholic, live from one cup of (black) coffee to another, and then my already-slow metabolism just grinds to a halt. And then I'm sleeping like, 3-4 hours per night, my brain buzzing through all the sh*t I have to get through the next day, etc, and then I read articles that say that stress and lack of sleep cause weight gain and just want to cry! I have two jobs that are both totally stressful sometimes, and where I'm living now, everyone speaks French, which I'm pretty fluent in, but of course I still miss things, and it's honestly easier to be by myself than have to socialize in a second language, you know? So then I end up feeling like I'm alone with no support and then I have these jobs where I have to work with difficult people and it all just piles up and piles up.

I don't think I'll ever be in a position to afford plastic surgery. I'm just grateful that I live in a place where there's good, free health care, because otherwise I'd never be able to do this one!