GoldnHart

I think (and no offense to anyone) that it's easy to be kind of cocky about how easy it all is and how you'd have to be deliberately eating around your sleeve not to achieve goal.
And I say that because I used to think that, too.
The reality is much more complex and it's unfair that we, as people that have struggled with our weight our entire lives, are so quick to criticize or shout diet! exercise! to anyone that's struggling post sleeve. It's as if we're applying that same logic our family, friends and doctors had prior to our surgeries - it's not working because you're failing or it's not working because you have no willpower or it's not working because you're lazy. The end result being the message that of course losing weight is easy and if you really want to do it the weight will just fall off and you'll be on your way to happily ever after.
Not so. The issue is something not even fully understood in the medical world. If weight loss were simple restriction and willpower, the very first time you tried a 1,200 calorie diet you would have lost that weight and made it to goal and you would not be here missing 85% of an organ.
I have friends here that struggle and have struggled for years to either shed weight or stay on track for various reasons. It is not all willpower. I know folks that are the strictest eaters and most diligent exercisers that CANNOT reach goal and are still fifty or sixty pounds overweight.
Naturally, some of these people might feel less than thrilled with their results.
Now, for the original question: I am three years out. Today, I can say I am fully satisfied and love my life post sleeve. Six months out or nine months out you would have heard a different story. I struggled to lose at the pace I felt everyone else was meeting. I had two nine week stalls - one at six months and one between nine and twelve months. Now, I was still happy for my sleeve but I was also frustrated. I think you'll find very few people here (though you will find some, particularly those that had bad complications) that regret their surgeries even when things don't go as planned.
And yes, the biggest hurdle most people that are disappointed have is that their initial expectations were not realistic, usually because they either thought they would avoid complications of any sort or because they simply did not research the sleeve diligently prior to surgery.
Best of luck to you, whatever you decide. The wonderful universal of this surgery is that even those that are disappointed, frustrated or stalled have lost weight. Not as much as they'd like in some cases, but we all lose.
~Cheri

Sorry this is long -- wanted you all to read my email to her:
I realize you have written a mea culpa after the fiasco of a blog you put out into the ethersphere about fat/obese/"rolls and rolls of fat" people. I'm also betting you are right when you said your reaction may be due to the fact that you yourself have an eating disorder. How ironic! A person who used to suffer from an eating disorder bashing others who suffer from eating disorders. Actually, it's not ironic. It's sad.
The killer is that in your "mea culpa" you said, " I feel just as uncomfortable when I see an anorexic person as I do when I see someone who is morbidly obese . . . " Do you?? When was the last article you read that bashed anorexics?? As in, "Oh my god, did you see that sack of bones just walk across the bar? It's like the night of the living dead." No where. Please, let's get real. There is no one who justifiably thinks that anyone with anorexia is a "bad" person, that, in your words, "It's something they can change, if only they put their minds to it." We all know it's a disease, a medical problem. Do we bash people like that? No, we say, "gosh, I really hope she gets well soon." Or something to that effect.
Your knowledge of obesity and what causes it is seriously lacking -- it's not just something that "most people have a ton of control over." Nope, doesn't work that way. In fact, many women you see who are morbidly obese have PCOS (that's Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) -- where cysts grow around their ovaries, mess with their metabolism, and make it extraordinarily, if not impossible to lose weight (and have kids, but who's counting). So when you see a morbidly obese woman, do you think, "Gosh, that must suck to struggle to lose weight and not be able to have kids." Nope, you didn't. You attribute it to "lack of control." (Go figure, she might have a medical condition! Sound familiar?)
In addition, researchers (obesity researchers) have recently found out our "eat 5 breads a day diet" actually has a direct correlation with the rise in obesity. But! Researchers have also discovered that our production of fat is not controlled by the calorie consumption and calorie expenditure -- in fact, the fat production in our bodies can get so out of wack that the fat cells keep reproducing without stopping. But that's just research, right?? Who needs FACTS when we can talk about "control" and "exercise" and "nutrition." Who needs FACTS when we can just put our discriminatory opinions out for public consumption??
Don't think it was discriminatory? Let's do a test -- you said: "So anyway, yes, I think I'd be grossed out if I had to watch two characters with rolls and rolls of fat kissing each other ... because I'd be grossed out if I had to watch them doing anything. To be brutally honest, even in real life, I find it aesthetically displeasing to watch a very, very fat person simply walk across a room "
Let's replace a couple of words: "So anyway, yes, I think I'd be grossed out if I had to watch two characters of African descent kissing each other ... because I'd be grossed out if I had to watch them doing anything. To be brutally honest, even in real life, I find it aesthetically displeasing to watch an African American person simply walk across a room."
Nope -- you wouldn't say that would you? That wouldn't be nice. It would be . . . hmmm . . . discriminatory! Right?? What makes you think that judging ANYONE by their appearance is any less discriminatory??? Because you can, right? Because the vast majority of people in the United States will agree with you. Still didn't make it right in the 1800s and it doesn't make it right now.
Your mea culpa fell far short of what it should have been -- what you need to do is examine your own mores. If you're willing to discriminate against one, where does it stop??

So I figured I'd post a (hopefully) short note on what my life is like about 5 months after my lap sleeve, for any prospective sleevers.
First, the bad news -- this is forever, and it's not a decision to be made lightly. This WILL affect the food choices you make for the rest of your life. It's probably the safest WLS surgery around (when you total up operative and perioperative risks, long-term success rates, M&M stats, and so on), but that doesn't mean it's risk- or hassle-free.
Now, let me soften the blow: it's really, really easy. Every day, I take some Multivitamins -- and I was taking Vitamins before the surgery, so this is no biggy. Every day, I drink a Protein Shake for Breakfast -- not because I have to, but because they're tasty and it's quick (I'm usually in a rush in the mornings) and that way I know I'm not getting Protein deficient. I have changed my eating habits dramatically -- I've slowed down my eating and drinking, and I don't eat breads any more for the most part, because I find that bread gets "stuck." It seemed like an imposition at first, but now I don't notice because I've sort of been trained. I don't even WANT bready stuff any more, and that's a HUGE change from my pre-op mentality (I was a HUGE fan of doughy, bready stuff).
I exercise, but I haven't been to a gym since my surgery, and I'm not sure I'm going to be. What I've discovered is that my activity level (or lack thereof) has NOTHING to do with my weight loss. Now, don't get me wrong -- I still do a fair amount of exercise, but that's because 1) it helps in so many OTHER ways -- I sleep better, I think better, my sex drive is better, and my occasional spells of anxiety or mild blues are pretty much gone when I'm exercising, and 2) now that I'm 70+ pounds lighter, exercise seems so EASY. I can easily run up three flights of stairs without getting winded! At 330 lbs, that would have (possibly literally) killed me! So, when exercise makes me feel so good and doesn't HURT like it used to -- why WOULDN'T I exercise? But again, my exercise "routine" consists of some push ups in the morning to keep my chest and shoulders from getting flabby, some arm curls while I'm sitting reading the news in the morning to keep my arms strong, and a 30-45 minute fitness walk at lunch every day. Honestly, it doesn't feel like I'm having to "work out" at all -- it's all so EASY -- and yet my stamina keeps going up, my arms and chest are getting very muscular. It almost feels like I'm "cheating" since there's so little work involved, but I wanted to show you that this is not like you're used to! You don't have to sweat for hours and hours in a stinky gym just to "maintain" -- post sleeve, you just have to do enough to be healthy, and honestly your body WILL reward you.
I still eat sweets -- just not very much. I still drink an occasional bottle of beer or (more likely) a mixed drink or two -- just not very much (volume or frequency). I still have days or whole weekends where I just lie around on the couch and do NOTHING at all -- no fitness walk, nothing -- and mostly munch on snack-y foods. It's not like I'm some slave to my sleeve.
And the net result of my hard, hard life? I've lost over 70 pounds with little to no effort. My weight loss shows no signs of slowing. My doctor is amazed how healthy I am at 40 -- my last blood test showed that ALL of my numbers were "within range." My sex drive -- which vanished in my 20's-30's when I was so fat -- has returned with a vengeance. My face looks much more lean and angular. My bones and muscles now show where fat used to bulge and roll out. I can easily walk over 5 miles without getting winded or sore, and could probably walk 10 miles or more -- in the right clothes and shoes, I think I could walk for days. I don't get tired. I'm already out of the "morbidly obese" category; I'm looking to be out of the "obese" category near the beginning of next year, and by the middle to end of next year -- if my weight loss progress holds steady at about 1-2 pounds per week on average -- I should be near or under 200 pounds. I started this at 330, and I haven't been under 250 in my adult life.
And all of this without any real deprivation, any really hard work (aside from meticulously following the doctor's orders), and any real cost aside from the up-front cost for the surgery.
So, I don't want to make you think this surgery is completely cost and risk free. Like everything in life -- especially everything worth having -- it has trade-offs and consequences. But as someone who has literally struggled with his weight his entire life -- 30 years, probably, and I'm only 40! -- I can tell you that this is the best medical decision I've ever made. I would do it again in a heartbeat. In fact, my only real regret is that I didn't get a chance to do this when I was, say, 20, instead of 40. But still, I'm so very glad I made this choice.
Hopefully that will help some folks who are on the fence realize just how "normal" life after sleeve is.