WL Expectations and GERD

Ooooh hopefully, fingers crossed!

Thanks for the input.

Ditto what Liz said. I had a known hiatal hernia and gerd before vsg and was on ppi meds before vsg. Dr. fixed hernia during vsg. I stayed on PPIs for a few months after vsg and have not used them since. Thats been 8 years. I take a tums once in awhile . thats about it. Diane S

Thank you for your info.

I'm glad to see people being successful and successfully wrangling with GERD with their VSG.

I didn't have GERD before surgery so no help there.

But, raising my hand as someone who got to healthy BMI with VSG even with highest weight of 361. I am 5'4". You can see my monthly weight loss stats below.

Best wishes for you! You are asking good questions.

That's awesome. And definitely makes me hopeful, our stats aren't too far apart. If you don't mind sharing. What did exercise look like for you, once you got back on your feet? Right now, with my knees as they are and the muggy heat here in NE NC, all I can do is walk/speed walk. I average between 5k and 10k steps a day (some of which are an actual walk and others are just running around on the job). But I'm sure I'll need more than that eventually, otherwise I probably would have already lost this weight myself.

Thank you for the info and the well wishes!

I don't mind sharing. I am more likely to over-share :)

You have probably heard (and this is true as in evidence-based true) that activity doesn't help with weight loss but does help with keeping the weight off. It is good for other things early on, course, but I'm limiting this to affects on weight.

I have been many sizes in my life and a large part of it was spent as over-weight, but still able to be very active. For example, running 1/2 marathons as overweight. Losing the ability to be active as I grew larger and older was a very big deal. I gained weight (by the way) despite being pretty physically active.

So, a few true-isms that apply to me:

• In that first year right after surgery, the most important thing was calorie control ..... ie food. I used My Fitness Pal to log every single thing. I was pretty single minded about this and in hind sight I am still glad that I was not moderate on this point. (I'm aok with others finding a different path, of course) I approached it like it was a medical emergency. A golden opportunity not to be missed.
• I did try to move more (walking) right away (as my body allowed) but I NEVER (EVER!) added calories because of increased activity.
• I started Yoga (which I had never done before) about 6-7 months after surgery. I remember that by that time I felt pretty good physically tho my body was still bulky. I did private lessons to start. By the time of my 1 year surgiversary (and at a healthy BMI,) I was taking a group yoga class most days per week.

These days, I am very active in maintenance.....regular HIIT gym class, some yoga, long hikes, etc etc. Being ABLE ranks right up there with being able to easily shop for clothes.

I still don't automatically add back calories for activity. Instead, I monitor my scale weight and let general trends (up or down) tell me when to adjust calories.

Best wishes to you as well! Shel

That is fine with me. I'm loving all this new info and trying to absorb as much as I can before the time comes.

I will keep that in mind, about how you approached the calorie counting. I use an app for food already (Baritastic) so I'll just make sure I'm getting every last morsel.

And I like that you went to Yoga. I have told myself that once I get down to a weight where I'm more comfortable exercising in public, I'm going to take a "dance" class. Zumba or something. I'd love to do hula again, we had teacher from Hawaii in HS and I loved the after school sessions we had!

Thanks for the well wishes and for sharing!

I didn't have GERD prior to VSG, but developed a pretty severe case about 8-12 months post surgery. My acid was measured at 409% higher than normal, and as a result I was forced to convert to RNY. The sleeve is a closed, high pressure system that for many will exacerbate existing GERD. This is just my opinion, but knowing what I know now, I would not have VSG if I had pre-existing GERD. And I loved my sleeve. I got to 100% ewl with it.

Just my 2 cents.

Thank you for you input. Yours, and a few other comments, definitely have me reconsidering.

I had GERD prior to surgery and was taking 1 PPI per day. The GERD increased post surgery and last month (month 4 since VSG) the doctor added a 2nd dose per day. It helped a lot. I'm hopeful that as my weight loss progresses, I will be able to reduce the dosage and eventually eliminate the need for any PPIs.