Hello - Glad to start this journey

[Debalina1965]

Hi - my name is Debbie and I'm 57 years old and after decades of yo-yo dieting, I said enough is enough. My husband and I are retiring early at 63 and we are going to move to Mexico and will be financially stable to enjoy life. This prompted my thinking to I want to be the best Me I can be and the way to get my health under control is to get the gastric sleeve. My surgery is scheduled for 6/16/23 and I'm in the process of all the doctor appointments. I know the sleeve is one of the tools in my health journey. I did do keto an exercised for 2 years and got down to 189 - right before Covid shut everything down and the weight came back with a vengeance. I've met with the Nutritionist and got clearance from the psychologist - and my doctor said they were the most important part. That now he can submit to my insurance. I'm excited to do this and now even more excited that I found this forum! I look forward to making friends and getting advice and support.

 

[dianeseattle]

Welcome, Debbie. It sounds like you already got it goin' on!

you can find even more advice using the Search function here. It's really kinda fun to go back through the years and track the progress WLS has made in the last 20 years. A lot of people reached goals only to fall back, as many people do. It's really common--maybe even more common than success.

I'm 16 years out from my RYGB and even though I've had a few slips, I've maintained a healthy weight and exercise practice most of that time. The surgery was so hard (I had major surgery with an open procedure, no sleeve surgery available) I never went backward. But even if I'd been able to have laparoscopic surgery, I would still feel the nightmarish sensations I had every hour of the day from being morbidly obese.

This forum is the best internet support group I've ever encountered, on any topic. The hundreds of people I've enountered here are the most honest, attractive souls.

You don't sound like you need any advice, and congratulations on all your success and motivation. If you have any questions, please ask! You'll find a lot of others who are ready to respond to you. And please jump in and share when you see a post that speaks to you.

 

[Dee Burke]

Welcome, Debbie. It sounds like you already got it goin' on!

you can find even more advice using the Search function here. It's really kinda fun to go back through the years and track the progress WLS has made in the last 20 years. A lot of people reached goals only to fall back, as many people do. It's really common--maybe even more common than success.

I'm 16 years out from my RYGB and even though I've had a few slips, I've maintained a healthy weight and exercise practice most of that time. The surgery was so hard (I had major surgery with an open procedure, no sleeve surgery available) I never went backward. But even if I'd been able to have laparoscopic surgery, I would still feel the nightmarish sensations I had every hour of the day from being morbidly obese.

This forum is the best internet support group I've ever encountered, on any topic. The hundreds of people I've enountered here are the most honest, attractive souls.

You don't sound like you need any advice, and congratulations on all your success and motivation. If you have any questions, please ask! You'll find a lot of others who are ready to respond to you. And please jump in and share when you see a post that speaks to you.

I am 72 and after removal of my Thyroid ten years ago I can get 30 of the 110lbs gained but then regain. Its affected me so bad physically with limiting movement; trying to find clothing/bras/etc. Got to say having bypass scares me. I have GERD so no sleeve. Throwing a clot worries me the most.

 

[dianeseattle]

I had Graves Disease in 1985 and after 11 months
of agony, exhaustion, double vision, a rash from my ankles to my knees, I had my
thyroid gland irradiated and immediately began to gain about
100 pounds. I could barely get off the couch, let alone exercise, and my eyes were
bugging out of their sockets (Marty Feldman had Graves too,
which gave him permanent buggy eyes). I'm also 72 and have had several surgeries
for various reasons since surgery. I'm about to have another surgery to seal fissures
in my vitreous matter that fill the inside of my eyeball. To me, that's more scary
than anything else so far.

After having open surgery to reduce the size of my stomach, I started losing until I achieved a weight loss of 115 pounds. Aside from the recovery time from the surgery itself, my biggest problem was finding smaller clothes. I remember hitting a point of no return after 11 months where I began to feel okay in my body, even though I still had problems related to my obesity.

Why are you afraid of throwing a clot? Do you have some medical condition where that's a genuine risk? Tell your doctor about your fears. After surgery, you can take blood thinners in some cases, but you may not need them. I didn't and I don't know of anyone who ever threw a clot.

Bypass surgery is effective and has been successfuly performed thousands of times with no complications. Fear is normal, but look at the statistics. It works miracles for most patients. I remember being given tranquilizers after surgery so I could calm down. But think of it as a tonsilectomy, which kids have all the time. The only thing to fear is fear itself (thank you, Winston Churchill).

Share your fears with your doctor. Study millions of successful outcomes with no complications all over the Internet. Aside from your fear of throwing a clot, you really don't need to worry. Mark Twain said worry is like paying a debt you don't owe.

 

[KimsingstoMolly]

Hi - my name is Debbie and I'm 57 years old and after decades of yo-yo dieting, I said enough is enough. My husband and I are retiring early at 63 and we are going to move to Mexico and will be financially stable to enjoy life. This prompted my thinking to I want to be the best Me I can be and the way to get my health under control is to get the gastric sleeve. My surgery is scheduled for 6/16/23 and I'm in the process of all the doctor appointments. I know the sleeve is one of the tools in my health journey. I did do keto an exercised for 2 years and got down to 189 - right before Covid shut everything down and the weight came back with a vengeance. I've met with the Nutritionist and got clearance from the psychologist - and my doctor said they were the most important part. That now he can submit to my insurance. I'm excited to do this and now even more excited that I found this forum! I look forward to making friends and getting advice and support.

How are you feeling? I hope your procedure went well.

 

[dianeseattle]

I can tell from your post you're a planner. Planning is the MOST important thing.

Mexican food generally contains lard which is a bad fat, but so silky that it disappears into any food you cook or bake. Since you're moving to Mexico, you have amazing opportunities to grow veggies and fruit or buy them at local markets, which is great. But you might want to find restaurants and groceries that use vegetable shortening and oils. That way you can plan what you eat better.

I'm not sure if Mexico has a food manufacturing standard, but you might want to look into that. And surely you can get the best fish in the largest variety, so I hope you like fish.

You probably already know this stuff, but I just thought I'd mention that you may not find fats as strictly controlled as they are on this side of the border. Are you moving near the gulf or Baja? these areas will certainly be your best locales to find the kind of foods that will empower you to get really good food with less fats in them.

just a thought.

ps. LUCKY YOU!