Gastric sleeve with a low BMI

Ok so I am new to this forum and have have gotten a lot of information from other post.  I am scheduled for surgery December 17th and I am scared to death!!!  I have a BMI of 30.5 and have roughly 50 lbs that need to come off.  I have struggled with my weight for most of my life.  I don't ever remember a time I wasn't concerned with my weight and trying to lose something.  I am so sick of worrying about my weight and trying anything to lose it.  I have lost the healthy and unhealthy way and it always comes back.  I have 3 different family member who have traveled to MX to have the sleeve done and have mostly had good results.  They all had more to lose than I do.  Some concerns I have are: will I lose to much weight, is only having 50lbs to lose worth the surgery, will I be able to maintain the after diet and getting all my protein and liquids in?  I know I sound like a sissy, but I am leaving 3 kids and a husband at home to travel to MX and will ******vous wreck!!!!!  Help me feel better in knowing I have made the right decision.

My BMI was 41 and I went to Mexico too. I had more to lose, but personally I think that even if I only had 50 pounds to lose I would have made the same choice. In reality, at one point I only had 50 to lose. With each diet attempt, I gained more.

Only you can decide if it's worth it for your situation, but if you decide to stay with it, theoretically there's no reason you can't lose all the excess weight and maintain that loss. You will have to use all the same diligence to do it that those is us who were heavier used, but if you're willing to do these things, you can get there. If you just use the power of the sleeve, you'll likely end up over time with 25-35 pounds lost.  

All the best to you!

Only you can decide whether having sleeve surgery is right for you. No one can or should make the decision for you.

For me, the decision was a no-brainer: get the surgery or die. But then again, I'm in my 60s, had a BMI of 52, suffered from many life-threatening comorbidities, and could barely walk anymore. 

For someone like you, with a young family, and with much less weight to lose, I can see why you're nervous. The only thing I know for sure about obesity is that it gets worse as you get older, and the health problems that develop as a result of obesity also get worse as you get older.

If you decide to go ahead with your surgery, good luck and good health!

psychoticparrot

I was low BMI (relatively speaking) and had all the same concerns you do.  

I was 196 on May 19 when I had my procedure.  I'm 153.6 today about 6 months later.  This isn't the easy way out, but it's worth it.  Just make sure you know what to expect.  The first few days were really disturbing for me; I kept thinking I'd never be able to eat more than  a spoonful again.  Here I am 6 months later eating a "lean cuisine" sized meal and feeling nice and full.

You will see that it's a lot of work to stay on diet, same is it was before the surgery, but go do it! You'll be happy in the long run if your experience is like me, though there can be ups and downs.

What is your weight now? Your body will go through a lot of changes. When do you start your liquid drinks?

I weight 195 now and I'm 5'6"...I only have to do the preop diet for 3 days prior to surgery which is on the 17th of this month.  

When I was in Mexico with my husband there was someone there getting the sleeve that had 50 pounds to lose. She said that nothing she did or tried worked. So there she was. 

I do not think you will lose too much. There is no malabsorption with the sleeve so if you had to you could drink and consume a large amount of calories if you wanted to stop losing weight.  

I could have written your post!  I am a mom of 3 young kids with a BMI of 29 when I started out.  I wanted to lose 50 lbs.  I have always struggled with my weight and was ready to give up when I found out about the sleeve.  Obviously, with a lower BMI and no comorbidities, I had to be self pay, and I couldn't afford anything in the States.  So on 11/26/15 (Thanksgiving!) I had the sleeve done.  I was so so nervous about making this decision.  I am only 7 days post op.  Here are a few of my thoughts:

•  I have been very active all year, that mixed with only needing 50 lbs to lose and no other health issues, my recovery has been pretty amazing.  
• I never see this opinion from people on these boards who went to Mexico, but I remember thinking in the clinic post-op that if I had a serious complication, I would surely die.  They just are equipped for that sort of thing.  I speak semi-fluent Spanish and used it 100% of the time I was in the clinic, because the nurses knew very, very minimal English.  I don't know how people who speak no Spanish do it, maybe a translation app?  
• I was really, really sick with nausea the day of surgery and the next.  I could not stop vomiting.  That part was horrible.  I remember thinking, "What the crap did I just do to myself?"  I still have moments like that, but they are getting less and less.  I think this is normal, as I am still in the recovery stage.  Head hunger is very, very real.  I have no appetite.
• I am so blessed that nothing bad happened to me, but with the experience I had in Mexico and being realistic about it, if I had known then what I know now, I would have saved up and done self pay in the states.  Mexico was just risky.  
• Before the 2 week pre-op diet I was 190 lbs (I am 5'8.5").  It has been 3 weeks since I started and I weigh 173.5 lbs now.  Truly, it is amazing to see my body morph so very quickly!  It's wonderful, I will admit.  I feel a renewed sense of hope that I can get to my goal weight of 140 lbs, or at least within 5 lbs of it.  This is huge.
• I was away from my family for 5 days, 4 nights.  That was really hard.  
• If I could do it over again in Mexico (although I wouldn't) I would not go through Dr. Ramos Kelly, but Dr. Corvala.  He operates in a real hospital, only costs about $1000 more (~$5800 I think), no pre-op diet, and 2 nights in Angeles Hospital and that's it.  He wouldn't do mine, because I was under 30 BMI.  I would have had to gain 10 lbs.  
• Feel free to ask me any questions! 

Hi I was curious to know did you have control to stop the weightloss now? I want to have the sleeve but worried I would loose to much weight my bmi is 33 

I can answer this question for you. Stopping weight loss when you want to has nothing to do with your starting weight. The only temporary factor is the initial swelling and tightness of the sleeve in the early months.

When you reach the weight you want to be, you increase your calories to the number it takes to keep you around that number. More protein, fat and carbs all around, with an emphasis on fat calories being super easy to add. Nuts, full fat cheese, gravy, etc. add a lot of calories with no volume. Or some people add another 'meal'. Remember, gaining and losing weight is basically about the number calories you take in. 

Hope that helps.