10 Years since I got the sleeve......at age 57. My story.

June 2013. Gastric sleeve surgery.
300 lbs. High BP. I looked horrible. Felt horrible. I have Asthma since birth and I wasn't worried about that. My BP? Yikes. I failed the heart stress test before surgery. And my Cardiologist told me "I'm going to sign off on this because if you don't lose weight your dead".
I was never fat growing up. Nickname was skinny. In 2010 I dealt with 3 dear friends(like family) that died. And I ate and ate and ate. My addiction for grief has always included overeating.
I read extensively about the Gastric Sleeve. And was in healthcare.
So yeah I did it.
Had issues after surgery. Stayed in hospital 5 days and nights.
About 2.5 weeks later I was given the green light for exercise and going back to work slowly. I choose swimming at the local health center. I was embarrassed first in that bathing suit. That passed.
Worked my way up to 2 miles 3 times a week. Backstroke.
I took EVERYTHING very very seriously. What I ate became an obsession. Got 100 grams of protein in every day. Lots of water slowly. Lost most of my hair. I RESPECTED MY TOOL.
In 10 months I lost 140 lbs. I went down to 160 lbs and size 10. I'm 5' 9.5".
Well ok some things dramatically changed. I did go to a Psychiatrist for two years which was excellent. Never liked coffee. After surgery? Can't get enough. LOL. I've got a coffee station in my house!! A lot of things didn't bother me that much anymore. My high BP ended.
I guess it felt like a shift happened in my brain. Foods that I loved meant nothing now. I know it's the gut that runs things and boy does it. I just felt completely different if you can understand that. Like a 360. Do I regret it? No.

Now 2023. I've gained back 20 lbs only because my Asthma has been so bad. And I stopped swimming in 2020 because I was working so hard taking care of Covid patients(and they closed the fitness center for awhile). I plan on starting again with swimming soon.
Never ever overeat or stretched out my stomach. My restriction IS still there. If I overeat I vomit.
There are things I miss. Buffets. Worthless never eat that much so waste of money. Spicy food is a no no. Fizzy drinks and I set them out on the counter to de fizz. Lol. What we called the "sludge" food back when I had my surgery is real. Like Popcorn. I respect my sleeve so don't over eat the sludge food.
OMG the hanging skin from my stomach. It did shrink BUT still some there. Sigh. No not doing plastics.
Anyway. It worked for me because I WORKED SO DAMN HARD TO KEEP IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And you can to!!!!! It's NOT easy and it's NOT a fix. I was in a group of ten that all had the sleeve done around the same time. I'm the only one who didn't gain it all back.