My Weight Loss Surgery Journey

Hello! My name is Taylor Mashburn and if you are new to my story, I had weight loss surgery in 2018 and I successfully lost over 200 pounds. I have since been able to maintain my weight loss, until recently when I had my daughter in March of 2023. I am currently working on loosing the 60 pounds I gained during my pregnancy and am documenting my entire journey here on my blog, on TikTok, and eventually I hope to start a YouTube channel.

Why did I choose to get vsg?

In 2017, I reached my highest recorded weight of 302 pounds, being that I am only 4’11 that is considered severely morbidly obese.

I wasn’t having many health issues at that point but I was borderline diabetic and also having issues with mobility. All though I was able to still get around easily it still was becoming harder and harder. I also found myself with a profound amount of depression and was consistently having feelings and thoughts that I was better off not here.

Eventually, I started researching diets and I came across a woman named Clusie who had the vertical sleeve who was making videos on YouTube. Her videos inspired me to take a look into the surgery and I decided to reach out to my insurance company and see if it’s something that they covered.

Of course, they covered the surgery but I was going to have to meet some basic qualifications first before I could get qualified for the surgery.

Did you need to prepare for your surgery?

Its important to know that everyone’s insurance is different so what may have worked for me may not work for you. But the qualifications I had to meet were very minimal compared to what I’ve seen others have to complete.

First, before they would improve my weight loss surgery I of course had to go on a doctor monitored diet for 6 months. Luckily, my doctor was extremely flexible with me and let me choose the diet I wanted to go on and I ultimately decided to follow weight watches which helped me lose 27 pounds prior to my surgery date.

Secondly, before my surgery I had to get a psych evaluation to make sure I was of sound mind and that I knew what I was getting into before I actually did it and there was no turning back. This was fairly easy because I was dedicated and committed to loosing the weight I just needed an extra bit of help.

Thirdly, I had to see a nutritionist and agree to continuing seeing a nutritionist after the weight loss surgery. This was actually exciting for me because I never saw one before and I didn’t really know much about eating healthy or working out. She gave me amazing insight and I learned a lot. I was so used to restricting myself from certain foods rather then eating all foods just making better choices. But they taught me those things.

Lastly, I had to come up with an after care plan and have my doctor sign off on it. Kind of like writing an essay I wrote a letter to my doctor detailing my plans for after surgery, how I was going to keep the weight off, and what types of foods I’d eat more of and less of.

Once I did all these things the insurance company approved me for surgery and then 6 short weeks later I was getting my sleeve.

What was life like after your wls?

After I initially had my weight loss surgery it was very different, I had to make some major adjustments. Once I made the adjustments and stuck with a schedule and routine everything got easier.

The first adjustments I had to make was drinking more water. The first few days after your surgery you are usually on a clear liquid only diet, so lots of water and then after a few days you graduate to protein shakes and then pureed foods.

I didn’t do well on those stages because I hate the way all the protein shakes tasted, I finally got the premier protein shakes and those were a game changer. I still love my premier protein to this day I love the caramel flavor.

After a few weeks I was able to start eating foods again, I had to learn to slow way down, chose the healthiest options, and eat very little at a time. That’s the biggest adjustment I’d say is portion size. Portion size is so hard to figure out because the moment you eat to much you’re in pain and probably throwing up which is a lot more painful then before the surgery.

How was your healing ?

I healed remarkably fast I’d say. Which a matter of hours I was already walking around and than around the third week I was ready to get back to normal everyday life.

They don’t usually release you to start working out again until 6-8 weeks sometimes longer but I did start walking around my neighborhood and walking on the treadmill. Kept it light but still got my steps in, I think that’s why I healed so quickly.

My scars are very minimal especially now you can barely see them, I really keep up with my skin care routine though even before surgery. I don’t even have many stretchmarks from my babies.

Would you do the surgery again ?

Sometimes when I am out with friends, on dates, or at family gatherings I really regret having my surgery. Only because I really miss being able to eat and drink a lot and a lot of times I go out to eat and I’m done eating before everyone else.

But I in no means really regret my weight loss surgery I believe it was the best thing that happened to me and I am extremely happy with the decision I made.

What are you doing now ?

In 2020, I had to get my gallbladder removed because I was following too much of a high fatty diet, aka the keto diet. So I have switched things up a bit.

For a while, I was eating what I wanted and what felt right, which only worked until I got pregnant this past year in 2022. In 2022, while I was pregnant I gained a whopping 60 pounds, I really could not believe it. My pregnancy was also terrible and the doctors couldn’t make any sense of it because my blood results always came back good and clean. The only thing my doctor could think was wrong with me was that I was hungry and so was my baby and I was eating too much, much more then my sleeve could handle which was causing a lot of pain, discomfort, and eventually led to me throwing up and feeling uncomfortable almost every day of my pregnancy.

After I gave birth to my beautiful baby girl in March 2023, I nursed her for about three weeks, again, struggling almost the entire time. The reason I struggled was because I wasn’t able to make more milk no matter how many times she fed and no matter how many times I pumped.

The said it was because I wasn’t eating enough calories but trust me I defiantly was eating a ton of calories and you only have to eat about 500 more than usual to produce but I am not going to knock the doctor. After all, they do know a lot more about this stuff then I do, right? Well I went to see a lactation consultant and behold she was not latching correctly, and once she latched everything changed. But I unfortunately got sick and decided that feeling better to be able to take care of myself and the baby was most important so I took some meds, and while on the medication I unfortunately wasn’t aloud to breast feed.

And you can imagine how hard it was to pump and dump all while taking care of a newborn. So out of frustration I gave up on breast feeding and that was a big mistake and I regret. But now six weeks out that I am writing it, I don’t think it made too big of a difference and anyone who says other wise really doesn’t understand the struggles. Like I’m a single mom doing it all by my lonesome, I’m lucky to even take a shower on a daily basis. Let alone a weekly basis.

So last week I finally decided I didn’t like the way I was starting to feel again and it was mostly because I wasn’t working out or eating healthy anymore and I more or less, let myself go. I started to feel depressed and very much thought I had post partum depression.

I immediately talked to my doctor got back on Lexapro and started weight watchers again. And I do not regret it. I’ve lost 3 pounds my first week and I am so proud of myself for that and I will continue to push forward with the Lexapro and with weight watchers until I reach my goal weight and probably even then after that. I’d say that’s the best part of everything and I am really happy about my decision.

Ending Thoughts.

If you or someone you know is thinking about getting the vertical sleeve surgery I encourage you to do as much research as you can and if it’s not for you think about seriously being an ally. The most important part to success after weight loss surgery is your support system and it is so so so important.

I hope my journey/story has encouraged you in some way to take charge or your life and your health before it gets so out of control that you have to consider something like weight loss surgery.

And I hope I was able to give you some insight into my life as a vsg weight loss surgery patient post op. I am super excited to share my journey with each and every one of you who follows me. If you ever have any questions feel free to message me or leave a comment. You can find my contact information on my contact page, or just message me on any of my social media sites.

Have a wonderful day!

Thanks for reading 🙂