Reaching goal before VSG

Has anyone reached their desired goal before VSG? If so, did you still proceed with VSG and why?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Unless someone's goal was unrealistically high, I doubt it. I don't think a reputable surgeon would do it (exception being a revision).

Agee, thanks for replying!

HI Liz,

I am new to the forum and just wanted to say congrats on reaching your goal! I would love some pointers since we are the same height and not too far from the same beginning weight( I am 35lbs heavier). Also, I wanted to ask a few questions about your plastic surgeries. Thank you!

Angela

It looks like your BMI is 40. When do you plan on having surgery? Many of us have had success losing weight without surgery, but then gain it back. Maintaining is easier after surgery.

If I could have lost the weight and kept it off without surgery, I would have done so, but over the years I lost and gained 100 pounds several times. I knew I needed weight loss surgery.

Yes. I still would like to go forward with surgery to maintaining. I agree with you 100%. Don't want to go through the yo-yo's again with dieting and exercise. Great advise!

I lost to my goal 3 times before I considered surgery. I could never keep it off. So when I regained the 4th time, I had the VSG realizing it was futile to keep doing the same thing only to fail every time. Maintenance is still hard with VSG, but it helps.

Great advise and thanks for replying. Good luck on your journey!

I lost about a third of my excess weight, around 50lb, while my wife was going through her WLS pre-op, post-op and maintenance by making the fundamental long term lifestyle changes (to the extent that I could - it has to be sustainable even if not "ideal") that we all know that we need to make to be successful and maintained that loss for several years, but couldn't make much more headway without going for the silly diets that we all know don't work long term. The matter that I could maintain the loss that I made drove me toward doing the sleeve to finish the job, rather than something stronger like the DS which has better regain resistance, which I would have done had I regained what I had lost.

This is sorta the point - the VSG, and the RNY as well long term, are good tools for losing weight while we make the adjustments that we need to make to keep it off long term, but many will regain with either of those procedures if the habits haven't been established to maintain the loss - it helps, but doesn't do the whole job. Long term, your meal capacity will be about half what it is today - enough to help you maintain a healthy weight after loss, but plenty to allow regain if you aren't careful.

This doc has a somewhat different perspective than the norm for bariatrics, but it is useful in understanding how much WLS can help you and how much you need to help it. There are several vids that are useful in his series, even if you don't buy into everything that he says (I don't), but I have evolved into dietary habits that are closer to his prescription than to the more normal bariatric progression, and that's been working well for the past seven years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKUJpkO5FyU