Question for the vets

Hi there,

I haven't had surgery yet, but I have a BMI of around 55, and have about 170lbs to lose to get to my goal weight (top of normal BMI range). I am 30 and have been obese for my entire adult life (and teen life while we're at it!). My question is, once I lose the excess weight, are there any lasting health effects that I will continue to deal with even at a normal weight, as a consequence for being overweight for many years?

Anything like less cartilage in my joints or something? Lasting effects to my heart or lungs?

At the moment I have sore feet after walking or standing for even short periods of time, and I am pretty sure I now have type 2 diabetes - I tested my blood sugar the other week after dinner on a friends meter and it was 155 uh oh. Since then I've paid more attention to how I feel after eating high carb things and noticed I do feel rubbish for a while. I have gestational diabetes a few years back and didn't check to see whether it went away after I had given birth, I just assumed it had. Also my mum has type 2 diabetes.

Those are currently my only two health related concerns. I hope that once I have the surgery and lose weight my diabetes and sore feet will go - but will there be anything else I might suffer from going forward in the rest of my hopefully slim healthy life?

You could have some joint issues, I suppose. But even slim people have health issues. Sleep apnea is an example.
As a post op, vitamin deficiency can happen so you want to stay on top of your vitamins and labs.
I highly recommend you go and have a fasting blood sugar test. It is unwise to self diagnose, and you want your doctor to know about this too.

if you damaged your heart it will still be damaged , the weight should not effect your lungs , joints may improve depending on how much damage

 depending which surgery  you may develop vitamin and mineral deficiencies, , mostly with the ds or rny if you don't take the right supplements and get labs done as instructed 

If you don't eat enough protein (as instructed on your plan ) around 68-80 or more gm you can eat your muscles and organs

you need to see a doctor to check for diabetes, it is one of the biggest killers  , any of the surgeries will help

 you need to test for sugar 2 hours after eating or better in the morning before eating

 you should start measuring and tracking all you food on myfitnesspal.com , try for 1200 cal, 80 gm protein 

 and drink at least 65 oz (8 cups) liquid

Yes, it is possible that the a "permanent" physical damages to our body, but at age 30, the chances of that are much less than if you were much older (as some of us were before we were able to have surgery).  The most likely type of permanent issue is arthritis.  (If you place your hands over your kneecaps and you can already feel "crunching" when you bend and unbend the knee, you have some significant permanent arthritis damage. That doesn't mean that you don't have any if you cannot feel the "crunching"... Just that it may not be severe.)

I would encourage you not to worry about permanent damage.  (That is NOT to say you shouldn't be concerned about your current blood sugar levels, though!)   Number one, there isn't anything you can do about any permanent damage that you have already caused.  Number two, worrying is a waste of energy when it is over something you cannot control.  Number three, medical issues as we age are inevitable.  The best thing you can do is get the weight off and get as healthy as you can to reduce the chances of developing significant health problems down the road.

Lora