Realistic goals

[BahaMs]

I am seriously thinking of getting the gastric sleeve and after finding the practice and the funding; I am having more questions still...

I am 47yo, 5'4" and weigh at my heaviest 191 and the lowest 176; I can never go past 176 even after training and starving myself.My BMI is 34 and I'm taking meds for HBP; so I was told I am a candidate After 40 my metabolism has slowed down and I have tried every diet, hcg, smart lipo (huge waste of money) so I am thinking this will be a long term solution. I would like to be anywhere between 130-145; is that a realistic goal with this surgery? I do not mean to insult anyone but for my height 176 is too much weight as its all in the middle and my family tends to be on the heavy side; I do not want more health problems later on.

I am hearing a lot about being very flatulent after the surgery; is that true for everyone or is about what they are eating or not eating?

Another concern of mine are the incisions; does everyone have to have 5 incisions and is scaring an issue?

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated!!! Thank you

[Christie13]

I will be 44 in September and am 4'11". At my highest I was 207. After the pre op diet I was down to 187 on surgery date. I am now 123. I will be 7 months post op on June 3rd. I also had high blood pressure. I can tell you that most likely you will get lower than the 130. I am still currently losing, albeit more slowly at this point. I think that I will most likely end up around the 110 mark even though my goal was 120. I don't think your goal is unrealistic but I would think that you will lose more than your goal....unless you are eating all of the slider foods such as fried foods, sweets, ice cream, cakes, cookies, chips, tons of carbs, etc. Those tend to slide through without you feeling the restriction. Proteins such as meats will make you feel the restriction.

[Christie13]

Sorry...did not finish the other questions. I have the 5 scars but they are barely noticeable now. I think after a year they will be practically invisible. My big scar isn't even that noticeable. (One is about 1/2 inch and the others are like the tip of a pencil. They looked bigger before but with the stomach shrinking they are smaller now. They are seriously hardly noticeable.) As for gas, in the beginning we get a lot of burps and sometimes farts too. Oddly enough, my farts did not smell like anything. Lack of food perhaps? LOL. But now I do not think I have any more gas then any normal person.

[BahaMs]

I wrote this at the same time you were answering my other questions. Thanks so much!!!


Christie, thank you for the feedback. I do not eat those foods normally now so I doubt I will pick up that as a habit. I do want to start training again so even if I am lower than 130lbs; I will be fine with that.

What about being gassy and farting (sorry for being vulgar) but I do not like the idea of that. Also what about the incisions; can you wear a bikini?

[Christie13]

Yup I still wear a bikini. My thighs are a bit saggy because I had HUGE thighs but still looks way better than when they were fat. I am attaching a pic up close of my scars. I even had to use the flash to see them better and a pic in a bikini but cropped my teen daughter out.

scars.png

bikini.png

[BahaMs]

Awesome!!! Thank you again.

Sharlene

[Kindle]

I was 45 when I had my VSG....48 now. I'm 5'5" and started at 238. The funny thing is 175 was always my barrier with preop dieting. Passing that wall postop was even better than reaching goal. Anyways, I got as low as 136 (for like a day), and at 3 1/2 years out I maintain between 138-142, so I think your goal of 130-145 is very doable.

Salad made me gassy (more bloated than flatulent) for the first 14 months or so, but no, I haven't noticed any increased farting .

As for scars, everyone is different with their healing. If I look very hard I can find 3 of the 5 scars but they are in no way visible to a casual observer. yes, I do wear bikinis, and despite the flabby, loose skin on my thighs, I'm a hot chick!

[Kindle]

Here is a picture of my scars.....the red ones are WLS scars (there are actually 2 more but I can't even find them) the blue ones are from a bad cut I got as a kid and from my belly ring ripping out accidentally (ouch!)

[BahaMs]

Kindle, thank you for the feedback. It is very helpful!!

[azladyrider]

I started at 182 and got to 98 in 6 months (5 years out - I am 59 years old and now at 107 which is still under what I thought was my goal weight) as for the scars I have keloids so I scar badly - never gave a shit when it all started when I was 13 (um 47 years ago) and still don't give a shit. But keep in mind that with your skin color you might keloid - I know that sounds funky coming from a white lady lol but I am dark skinned for a caucasian and all of my friends say I am darker in the winter with no sun then they are all summer with constant sun. I've got friends both black and white that never has an issue with keloids and then bam some new surgery they had all of a sudden they scarred badly. If you know what keloids are then I apologize for bringing it up (some people have never heard of that scarring condition) and if you don't know they there are two types of scars similar in appearance - keloids and hypertrophic. Keloids should never be attempted to excise - they'll grow back 3 times larger (trust me been there done that) and can be treated with steroid injections (OMFG the pain! I've had the shots while I was awake and said forget this noise so now whenever I go under I ask the surgeon to give me some shots while I am asleep) but anyway - hypertrophic scars can be removed usually with good success. But as others pointed out the incisions are to tiny they are barely seen. Mine are pretty prominent so I won't bother to post pictures of my roadmaps. But I wear an itsy bitsy bikini and don't care what the scars look like.

[RehabNurse]

But keep in mind that with your skin color you might keloid - I know that sounds funky coming from a white lady lol but I am dark skinned for a caucasian and all of my friends say I am darker in the winter with no sun then they are all summer with constant sun.

I concur. I am black and my five incisions have the darkened, raised keloid scarring.

With regards to the five incisions, some surgeons utilize the single-incision method (one small cut) for the sleeve. However, I do not know of any doctors in Mexico who use the single-incision method. They're all in the States.

[BahaMs]

Thank you for the info. I do not keloid but its good to know that is something I need to address with the doctor. I do scar easily and have to use Nadinola cream to lighten the scars quickly. This is such a great venue for learning so much. I am 99% sure I need to have this surgery.

Ok ladies what about the boobs? I am a 36DD but I had a breast reduction in 2004 and was happy with a small C but when the weight went up; so did my girls. I would be happy to say Bye girls!!!

[RehabNurse]

Ok ladies what about the boobs? I am a 36DD but I had a breast reduction in 2004 and was happy with a small C but when the weight went up; so did my girls. I would be happy to say Bye girls!!!

I wore a 38D bra size on the day I was sleeved. By the time I reached my goal weight I was wearing a 32B bra.

So, yes, my tits and back size have shrunken considerably. They look like socks with a tennis ball inside each one. However, as unsightly as they look, I have no plans on getting a boob job because these smaller breasts actually give me more freedom.

[BahaMs]

They look like socks with a tennis ball inside each one. However, as unsightly as they look, I have no plans on getting a boob job because these smaller breasts actually give me more freedom.[/QUOTE]

I love it!! I hear you.

[hollandm2]

Hey Shaaz. Im only 38 days out so I can't speak to long term weight goals, but initially I think you would weigh less than that if you are following your surgeon and nutritionist diet.

I can give you some medical insight. I have been a nurse for over 10 years working in the ICU, pre/post op, and am currently in nurse practitioner school. Major health determinants of health risk other than your current lifestyle are your genetics and race. These are the most easy to evaluate.

What is your family medical history, most importantly grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, and siblings? Are they obese or overweight, have high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, breathing problems? Where do you and your family carry weight in the stomach, booty, boobs (are you shaped like pears or apples) If weight is around the abdomen and you are shaped like a PEAR that is a bad predictor of health problems to come. These questions will start to give you a genetic picture of things to come for you.

As an African American female (judging from your picture, sorry if I'm wrong) you have a higher predisposition and prevalence to disease processes than other races. You have a higher incidence of diabetes and high blood pressure which are both made worse by obesity.

The thing that confirmed my sleeve was the process above. The chance of my death (based on statistics) was greater with my preexisting conditions than with surgery and its possible complications. I based on my genetics, pear shaped body, and racial predispositions. I dont want to die from metabolic syndrome

Sorry if this is more info than you wanted, but I think it is important for people to evaluate and make sound decisions based on as much knowledge as they can.

Scars are a different story. Do you get keloid scarring? If you do make sure you talk to your surgeon about that. You will have 5 visible scars to some degree. The most important factor with scars is the surgeon or his assistant suturing ability. Talk to him about techniques they use to suture you back together. Make sure they use multiple layers of sutures. The ones that are visible are important, but the ones underneath are even more important. Insist on having sutures versus skin glue alone. If they use both that is okay, you just don't want glue alone. Avoid sun on the scars and ask a dermatologist what they recommend for scar reduction once the incisions are healed.

I dont have any problems with gas but Im not eating a regular solid food diet yet.

Hope some of that info helps,
Michael

As a disclaimer this is not official medical advice, discuss anything with for Dr. or surgeon before making any medical decisions.