Weight Loss Surgery: Gastric Sleeve (VSG) - Total Lost: 154 pounds lost so far*
*Weight loss results can vary depending on the individual. There is no guarantee of specific results. Read disclaimer | More patient stories
For as long as I remember, I have had trouble with my weight. I was always the biggest kid in class. I started dieting in junior high. Yo-yoing up and down for years. I went on extreme diets eating only an apple for breakfast skipping lunch and just eating a small dinner. These diets were not sustainable and always led me to binge eat later, as I got older, I got bigger and became diabetic.
It came to a point where my diabetes was so out of control that I had to go on insulin. I was tipping the scales at 298 pounds and had to do something I went on the Atkins diet for 7 months and lost a significant amount of weight but I stopped the diet because it was so hard to maintain that lifestyle and started gaining weight back. The insulin controlled my diabetes but at a cost. It was making me gain weight, Frustrated I talked to my endocrinologist Dr. Na Shen from UCLA medical group about my desire to lose weight and she referred me to the bariatric program at UCLA.
"I owe my life to Dr Chen for doing the surgery and giving me a new life. If you’re on the fence about getting weight loss surgery I’m here to tell you it’s worth it 100%." —Darla, Simi Valley, CA
I met Dr. Chen nervously and he put my mind at ease and ensured me that the surgery would change my life and give me ten extra years of life. He put me on a pre op diet and sent me to a dietician to help me navigate that every one of the staff members were great to me I was about 243 at the time. On the Day of surgery, I was 223. I had Surgery on 8/4/23. My total loss of weight from before surgery to now is 154 pounds lost. From surgery until now over two years post op was 79 pounds all together. I am now at my goal weight and have maintained it for about a year now at 144. I feel great and have an abundance of energy now. I owe my life to Dr. Chen for doing the surgery and giving me a new life. If you’re on the fence about getting weight loss surgery I’m here to tell you it’s worth it 100%.
