• Name: Hopeful in seattle
• Age: 53
• Surgery: Gastric Sleeve
• Surgery date: August 30th, 2013
• Testimonial date: December 30th, 2013
• Surgeon: Dr. Almanza

Hello!

Tomorrow will be the 4 month anniversary of my gastric sleeve surgery and I am so happy with the results! I've lost about 45 lbs., about 30 lbs. of it very quickly and then the next 15 a little slower, but I never thought that I could lose 45 lbs. in 4 months! I have so much more confidence and am not afraid to look in the mirror below the neck.

The surgery itself was very fast and uneventful. Of course, there was discomfort especially for the first week. But I went back to work a week later and did just fine. I didn't tell anybody at work and was worried that I would be extremely tired or not be able to perform very well, but I just made sure that I brought my protein powder to work and drank water frequently. Everything was fine.

There are two things that I did in the first few weeks that I would encourage you not to do. The first, is that I kept pushing myself to walk. Normally, a great thing to do, but while you're still healing, don't push yourself so much that you lose all your energy. Your body is going to lose weight no matter what. The 2nd thing that I did was to try to eat solid foods too soon. For the 1st 3 1/2 weeks, I drank protein drinks and no solid foods, but I started to feel so good that I wanted to try different things. I got a terrible stomach ache and felt awful. So don't rush into eating solids too soon.

It does take awhile to train your brain to know how much food to actually eat. The old cliche, your eyes are bigger than your stomach, is never truer than after gastric sleeve surgery. I remember very intensely the huge portions I used to eat, so I am still amazed by how little you have to eat to actually be full and have peak energy. I was afraid that I would feel hungry and want to eat all of the time, but I rarely feel hungry and have to remember that it's time to eat. I also kind of went through this "mourning" period while still on liquids. I was mourning the loss of food. There was a part of me that felt sad that I wouldn't be able to ever eat the foods that I loved again. Well, that's not true. I can have anything I want, just smaller portions.

I forgot to mention some of my stats. That's what I wanted to hear about before I had my surgery. I'm 53 years, 5'10" tall, and weighted 244 lbs. before surgery. I now weigh 198 lbs. as I head into the new year. This is a major milestone for me because it's been about 25 years since I've been under 200 lbs. I am so HAPPY! During this Xmas holiday I went to the dept store to get some new jeans and when I asked the lady about where to find the pants, she told me to go to the Missy's dept. - I was too small for the Women's dept!!! Now that's a milestone!

As I mentioned earlier, my confidence has improved so much. When I was getting dressed in the morning, I would just look at my face, I never wanted to look at my whole body. Now I'm able to linger at the mirror to see how nice I look. I'm pretty tall and have long legs, but carry most of my weight in my core. Now, I'm looking so much more proportional. I love it. I'm still working on my tummy, but shapers actually work now. When I wore a 2x or 3x shaper before, all it did was make my stomach rolls firmer, it didn't take them away. I look much smoother now!

Well, I'm really enjoying the journey and feel so much healthier. I think I wanted the surgery initially for looks, but now I'm so grateful to also have a change at true health!

Best wishes - if you're still on the fence, just do it. You will be happy you did.

Lisa

* This is an actual testimonial, however, your results may vary. For more information, please read our Testimonial Disclaimer and Risks of Surgery.