Do any "extremely obese" men have input for me?

What's up DoG!

I started my process at 384 and I am 5'10" so maybe didn't have as much weight to lose as you did but my goal is pretty lean so I am looking to lose a little over 200 total. In 9 months I have lost 164lbs as of this morning (actually been here for a few days). I could not be happier with VSG as my tool to help me lose weight.

You have to keep in mind that it is just that a tool. It is not a magic bullet. You cannot think that just because you can eat fewer chip and less burger that you will somehow lose weight. You have to use it as your #1 weapon in your arsenal to lose weight. There are other tools you will need. You will need to learn about nutrition and a little bit about your physiology and biology. You will get some basic guidelines but everyone is different. You will want to find what works best for you. 

If you have emotional eating issues, I strongly suggest you get with a therapist sooner than later to deal with those issues. If you get the surgery and then try to deal with them, you will be torturing yourself. If you eat out of boredom, start thinking of what you can do to curb that boredom because those urges do not go away after surgery. I would also suggest making some small dietary changes now that you can deal with easily and adopt as long term strategies. For example if your typical meal is a pizza, make sure you order a salad with that pizza and eat the salad first. Eat all of it before a bite of pizza. After surgery you will eat all of you measured protein before you get the rest of your food, so establishing that pattern now is something I wish I had done. Start teaching yourself to not drink while you eat. This was a hard one for me because I did it all my life. Drink before and after but not during. Its not as hard as it sounds but it takes a while to get used to it, it would be really good if you were already there when you get your surgery.

Start working out now with weights. Even if you have a year before your surgery start building as much muscle as you can while you still have the body weight. You will lose a lot of muscle during the surgery process and the month or so it takes to get cleared for exercise. The more you build up now when it is easy and you have the body weight and food capacity for muscle growth the better your post-op will be. You see bigger muscles burn more calories. Your resting metabolic rate will be much higher if you have more muscle. Once you have the small stomach it is very difficult to add muscle because you are consuming so few calories. You don't have to go crazy, just some bench presses, some squats if you can handle it. 

As for your arthritis, find some good pain meds. You will need to exercise. Critical success factor. You will have to deal with the pain. I have arthritis in my hip and just about everything I do hurts it. I just deal with it. Sometimes if i it bad enough I take some Aleve but for the most part I just power through it. I have found some yoga moves that help, you might want to consider that when you start dropping weight. You will need some form of exercise. You will start with walking (I would suggest starting now, 15 mins in the am and 15 in the pm). But you will need something you can do for 60 mins and break a sweat. With the arthritis maybe some form of water exercises. You will need to find something that you can live with, but you will need something.

All in all I cannot tell you enough how happy I am with the surgery. But I would not be successful if I didn't stick to the plan, spend a ton of time on this board asking for advice and now giving advice. Let me be very clear about something. This is not easy. It still takes work. The only thing WLS does for us is level the playing field a little bit and if your head gets in the way your new stomach will let you know immediately. You still have to do the work.

As for your co-morbidities, they clear up quickly. I was off of my CPAP machine in less than 4 months. You lose weight in your face and neck first and your stomach, ass, and pelvis last. As big as you are (both height and weight), you will lose 100lbs in the first 3 months, maybe more. I would not be surprised if it were more. The first 100 come off easy, the 2nd 100 not quite as easy.

Sorry for being so long, I am sure there is much much more, please feel free to ask any specific questions you have.

I'm 6'2" and started at 340 lbs and I'm a guy. My sister had a DS about 12 years ago. When we talked about me getting something done she told me her only regret about DS was the malabsorption and smelly gas.

I didn't want to reroute my innards with DS or RNY (which is really gross leaving a dead stomach in you) and I hated the idea of a foreign substance like a band in my body. I met a friend, actually she is now my girlfriend, that had the sleeve and she took the time to explain the procedure to me. It seemed like a perfect option.

Once you have the surgery and you only eat 800 calories a day and less than 20 net carbs, my feeling is that you can lose down to a normal BMI if you stay on plan. You are the only one that can sabotage your efforts. I went off BP meds first day. Got off the CPAP in the first month. The surgery fixes so many problems and allows you to work a plan.

It might take you two years to get down to 210 lbs starting at such a high weight, but there isn't a reason I can think of to do anything else. I love my sleeve.

 

Yes, there are fewer men on here than women. I wasn't extremely obese, but was about 320 lbs. at 5-foot-9. I'm nearly a year out and have lost 130 lbs. and feel great. I'm still a bit short of my goal weight, but it's been an amazing transformation.

I feel so much better in so many ways. Less tired, less depressed, less aches and pain, really a new lease on life. My mild sleep apnea has gone away, and I sleep much better now than I did.

It can be life-changing procedure. You should talk to the nurse about all your options, including other surgeries, but there certainly have been men who've had amazing results with a gastric sleeve.

Good luck!

 

I asked my surgeon yesterday how big his largest patient was and he said over 800 lbs and he lost his weigh with the sleeve,

 my surgeon prefers to do the sleeve with very high bmi patients because it is a much safer surgery for them and it works just as good, also the other surgeries lose the malabsobstion after 18 months to 2 years and don't work as well

but the sleeve will work as long as you follow your plan

 there is less problems with malabsortion of needed nutriates , faster healing and a more normal lifestye , you will be able to eat almost any type of food , in smaller amounts , some you are better off not eating(high fat high carb)

I was a 54bmi which I guess seems small for an SMO (I was huge)

I have a couple suggestions.......

- Research and study the DS procedure also.

- If you choose the VSG, go to a surgeon that specializes in working with the SMO and has results that match your goals.

The VSG is NOT a standardized procedure and programs differ also. Many programs shoot for 50-60% EWL........which means if you have 300lbs. to lose there goals for you would be about a 150lbs. WL. It also means you can do better or worse......

Best case scenario for you would be to go to a surgeon that has a high success rate with the SMO that does both the VSG and the DS as the VSG is basically stage one of a DS

Hope this helps

frisco

This is totally doable my friend, I agree with Frisco in that you MUST do your research first!

I am 6 foot tall and was 340lbs before surgery.

Best of luck!

I started at 342, and in 7 months am down to 214...I absolutely love the sleeve. As Keith mentioned already, it's only a tool, and requires a level of discipline, and work. Good Luck.

Here's my take on things. I truly believe that most people can lose significant amounts of weight with any form of WLS, even the Band. The trick is keeping it off, long-term.

Some people can do that with restriction alone. Generally, these are folks who lost well when dieting pre-op, but just couldn't stick to a strict diet long-term because their big stomach made them just too hungry. They'd lose weight, slip back into eating to satisfy their hunger, and regain. These folks seem to still have a fairly 'normal' metabolism.

But other people---like me---seem to be 'super-absorbers'. In other words, we were either born with a very thrifty metabolism, one that was really, really good at storing energy, or acquired one by repeated yo-yo dieting. (Actually, I think for most of us it's both---we were born with the thrifty gene and the more we dieted, the more thrifty our bodies learned to be.) Those of us with the thrifty gene usually need more than just restriction. That's why I chose the full DS.

The DS has the same stomach as the Sleeve, plus an intestinal bypass that, unlike the RNY, causes permanent malabsorption of a significant per centage of the calories we eat---about 50% of protein, about 40% of complex carbs, and about 80% of fats. (Alas, nothing will cause you to malabsorb simple carbs, like sugar and flour.) Of course, it also causes us to permanently malabsorb a per centage of certain vitamins and minerals, so we do have to be pretty faithful about taking supplements.

For me, the DS has been a godsend. At 9.5 years out, I KNOW that without the malabsorption I'd be fat again. It's much, much easier for me to pop some pills four times a day than to give up bacon. (*grin*) As for stinky gas---mine was stinky BEFORE I had WLS, and it's no stinkier now, unless I over-indulge in simple carbs, which I shouldn't be doing anyway.

With so many insurance companies going to a 'one per lifetime' clause for WLS, having the Sleeve with the idea of 'adding' the Switch later isn't really a good idea---your insurance company may say "Nope, you already had your one shot. Suck it up!" Also, the DS is simply more effective when both the Sleeve and the Switch are done at the same time.

Consider all your options carefully, and choose wisely. Good luck to you!

6' 1" 555 lb 45 YO. Almost 250 lbs lost in less than 11 months.

"You can do it... You can do it all night looong"

I have had a rocky weight loss journey, FINALLY on the right track. I think the VSG and the DS are the only two intelligent choices in WLS. Have you considered the DS? It's long term results are amazing when done by a qualified doc. If you are not informed on the DS, please read at www.dsfacts.com and www.duodenalswitch.com. If you start leaning towards a DS, you want a doc who will do the Hess method, as it's the most successful.

Now about the VSG, I know many people who have had it as they did not want the malabsorption of the DS. Of the ones I personally know, none totally got to their original goal. One is very close and back working harder at it. The VSG takes a lot more long term work to keep it off. I know 3 VSG patients who have gained almost all their weight back for not following the rules.

No matter which you pick, there will be challenges. I would suggest going to a DS doc information presentation to learn more. I can also highly Recommend Dr Rabkin. I have no idea where you live at. There are others as well. I was recently revised after messed up previously surgery, which is a whole another story.

Pick wisely for you and best of luck.