Camella

Well food has proven to be an abusive lover, so... no matter how hard, it's gotta be over!

Yes. When I was new there weren't many old timers hanging around. There was no vets board. There was no real picture of life in the 2+ years timeframe.
And I was one of "those people" that insisted that the only way to regain is if you try really hard and overeat or binge all the time. It's not true! Your body is a freaking miracle and it will adapt to ANYTHING, and that includes learning how to pack on a few pounds because you ate an extra couple hundred calories each day over the weekend. I find I have to be stricter with my intake 3+ years out. Once I'm in my window, I pretty well stick to a five pound range, IF I stick to doing a 6:1 or 5:2 method. Regain isn't an issue if I weigh daily and pick a day or two a week to hit the shakes hard and go all Protein.
But loss? Losing seven pounds is all I want, post pregnancy. And I've been trying for MONTHS. It's hard. It gets harder to lose the weight the longer you're small. It gets easier to pack pounds on the farther out you get.
This is to anyone relying wholly on their sleeve to make good choices: STOP. Start doing it yourself. Because my sleeve can hold a lot of the wrong foods. If I wanted, I could eat a slice of pizza every few hours and still pack on a few pounds. It addresses quantity, but only quantity of good choices. Do not rely on your sleeve to make those good choices for you.
I still hesitate to say I've had a regain. I got pregnant, and am having trouble losing those last stupid few pounds. But this is not the easy, effortless slide it was early out. Do not for one minute think that you'll be able to avoid regains and make good choices based upon the capacity of your sleeve alone. It takes effort, it takes a huge amount of willpower and it takes never-ending diligence to stay in your healthy weight range.
Three years out and no food is off limits. Some foods make me uncomfortable, but I can eat anything I want. And if I go sloppy on diet, I can easily fit in upwards of 2,000 calories a day, tiny sleeve be damned. I can easily eat upwards of 2 cups of food in one sitting if I choose the foods that will slide.
In the end? I have a tool. A darn good tool that I'm incredibly grateful to have. But it really boils down to me vs. the food. The sleeve only works if you work it, and that gets more tiring, more boring and harder to do the farther out from surgery you get.
We still get to succeed. I don't want to be defeatist. But don't think that it's as easy as it is that first nine months for the whole haul. It's not! Challenges are very common around one year post op, and losing regains of even ten piddly pounds can take more than half a year once you're farther out.
~Cheri

Drink ensure. its full of calories.
Bottom line if you can't keep food down your going to have to go bypass mod and load in the calories after. You can do this but you can't live with throwing up all the time. They might be able to do a bypass modification where they don't remove as much stomach as normal and reroute it higher. I know if I was as concerned as you are I would go for it. Just because you have a bypass does not mean you can't consume load of calories to up your weight after. Lots gain weight after bypass... Drinking a liquid diet for the rest of your years is not an option either, you would be in the same situation as now and that really isn't an option.
Truth is, if you can't keep food down, doesn't matter what you ingest.
You can't keep throwing up though and your doc says its the way its going to continue. It ruins more than your weight and you don't want to get to the point of no return... losing muscle mass and end up frail, your teeth pay huge price, your esophagus, not to mention continued weight loss. I hate the thought of having it done too but if it was to save my life... and this could be a situation where you are in that situation if it continues, I would. Lots have had the modification and do just fine. You will too!
Your going to be just fine, don't let the quality of your life be overrun by fear. You will take the right steps to get this fixed. You just need to get to where you can keep food down and then up the calories big time. You can do this.

Just finished week 12. I'm on holiday and currently in Sydney and where we are staying is very hilly so it had been challenging! I'm feeling the hills in my hips. Two weeks to the end of Couch to 10k!

Exactly! !!!!! That's what I tell everyone I didn't do this for my Jean size and cause I want to be showing off. ..I did this cause I want to be able to be there for my husband, my kids and any future grandkids.

If you're still in the hospital -- are you telling the nurses how you're feeling? Are they able to offer you either meds or walking? They will contact your physician, or whomever is on call, if you feel it's warranted.
'same when you go home -- if something is near intolerable, call the doctor's office (if possible, speak with the nurse).
They can tell you what's "normal," and can quickly discern if your pain/discomfort should be addressed quickly.

Oh and I forgot to mention that I have figured out that carbs are the devil (at least for me). If I eat carbs I will spend the rest of the day craving sugar and more carbs - I then find it really difficult to control my eating.

I am definitely addicted to food and I have no doubts about where I would be if I had not had this surgery. I would still be eating exactly the same way I use to. Everyday I battled with the urge to satisfy head hunger. Some days I am winning and some days I'm not perfect. I hope it gets easier. I know you are just at the beginning of this journey, and I think for me seeing the weight come off has been enormously motivating. I don't want to go back to the way I felt before. I know I still have a long way to go, but I'm trying to hang in there. I come to this site almost everyday as a way to stay on track and continue to learn from everyone on this board. It is a great resource for me and other peoples experiences help keep me on track.

I am definitely addicted to food and I have no doubts about where I would be if I had not had this surgery. I would still be eating exactly the same way I use to. Everyday I battled with the urge to satisfy head hunger. Some days I am winning and some days I'm not perfect. I hope it gets easier. I know you are just at the beginning of this journey, and I think for me seeing the weight come off has been enormously motivating. I don't want to go back to the way I felt before. I know I still have a long way to go, but I'm trying to hang in there. I come to this site almost everyday as a way to stay on track and continue to learn from everyone on this board. It is a great resource for me and other peoples experiences help keep me on track.

I started losing hair around the 3 month mark and I noticed regrowth around the 6 - 7 month mark.

I am definitely addicted to food and I have no doubts about where I would be if I had not had this surgery. I would still be eating exactly the same way I use to. Everyday I battled with the urge to satisfy head hunger. Some days I am winning and some days I'm not perfect. I hope it gets easier. I know you are just at the beginning of this journey, and I think for me seeing the weight come off has been enormously motivating. I don't want to go back to the way I felt before. I know I still have a long way to go, but I'm trying to hang in there. I come to this site almost everyday as a way to stay on track and continue to learn from everyone on this board. It is a great resource for me and other peoples experiences help keep me on track.

Oh and I forgot to mention that I have figured out that carbs are the devil (at least for me). If I eat carbs I will spend the rest of the day craving sugar and more carbs - I then find it really difficult to control my eating.

Oh and I forgot to mention that I have figured out that carbs are the devil (at least for me). If I eat carbs I will spend the rest of the day craving sugar and more carbs - I then find it really difficult to control my eating.

Thank you so much for sharing your success! Congratulations! I find your story so motivating.

Be careful. This is how leaks happen.

Hi Everyone,
I am celebrating year 5 of having a very successful weight loss surgery! I was 63 when I had sleeve surgery done, so it is never too late to have weight loss surgery!!!!
This was very best choice I have ever made in my life. I had my Weight Loss Surgery in Oct 2008. After a lot of investigating and considering all the doctors and places I could have my surgery. I made the choice to have Dr. Aceves in Mexicalli Mexico do my surgery. I was a self-pay, and believe me I really checked out every option there was. I was an older person and I really took my time to figure out what was best for me. I talked to a lot of different people who had already had weight loss surgery about who their doctors were.
It wasn’t something I rushed into. It took me about 6 months before I knew for sure that I was going to the right place for me. I also made the choice to have VGS aka the sleeve. I lost of total of 105 pounds and it took me 14 months to do this. Was it easy, yes and no? The 1st month was the hardest month I had to do. After that it just kept getting better and easier each month. It is NOT a magical cure. It is my tool to allow me to use to reach my goal. The big question you are thinking is have I maintained my weight loss goal? The answer is YES, I fluctuate between 5 to 7 pounds sometimes. I still eat healthy, make sure I get enough Protein and stay away from too many carbs. It accurately is a lifestyle change NOT a diet. It is easy for me to live like this and eat like this for the rest of my life. I have some really delicious meals and I never feel deprived at all. Do I eat deserts, yes and it is made healthy and is extremely good. Do I eat deserts every day; the answer is no. I love all the lifestyle changes I have made in my life and it will always work for me.
I was the person who hated to exercise. Now I do something every day. Last Sept, I thought I would just see if I could walk 7 days a week for a month and I did just that. Well that became a good habit and I walked EVERY DAY for one YEAR without missing a day. Yes, I walked outside when it was raining or not nice weather—I am always coming back home, so I will get dry if I get wet while walking. I walked between 3 ½ miles to 4 miles a day. Five years ago, I could have never walked that much. Find some type of exercise that you like and it will be easier to do. Start out slow and then add to it. You don’t have to do it 7 days a week, but do something at least 3 or 5 times a week.
I want you to know that you too can become successful at weight loss. I am 68 now and life is so different for me. If you are thinking about having weight loss surgery, I am living proof that it does work and you can do it too.
Suzanne Beaty
Sleeved Oct 21, 2008

I'm and three and half months post op and my life has changed dramatically. I'm so happy with the healthy new me. Here is my before & after pic so far (before taken the night before surgery). It is amazing how quickly things can change

I remember being 2 weeks post op last October, still feeling sick, barely able to get Water down. Feeling weak and not sure if I made the right choice. Here we are, a year later and 104lbs lighter. My goal was to lose 60-80lbs because I'm not the overachiever type. I couldn't be happier with my results! I feel great! Have lots I energy and can pretty much handle all foods (except for steak, rice and potatoes) but, I'm fine with it. So before you think that you are having regrets, made the wrong decision or feeling like it won't work, understand that if I can do it, you can too

I am 5 months post-op as well. Hunger returned a couple of months ago. But, what a surprise to actually be PHYSICALLY hungry. Before my sleeve I ate so much and so often that "hunger" was actually head hunger, to continue to feed my addiction. I was never physically hungry.
Now when physical hunger hits, after getting over the surprise, I eat until I am no longer hungry. It could be a few nuts, or 1/2 cup of food. So different for me, since before I ate like I was never going to be able to eat again, and ate whatever food was in my path.
The other difference in hunger for me is my physical reactions. As a type 2 diabetic, my blood sugar was pretty out of control. When I was hungry I was shaky and lightheaded. Now that my blood sugar is under control and I have discontinued my diabetes meds, I no longer have the shakes when I get hungry. It's such a relief!

I'm 5 months out and have had hunger nearly the whole time. The difference is that it doesn't rule me. It comes at the "right" times, it isn't for specific foods, and I don't feel a compulsive need to "fix" it like I did before surgery. It's also satisfied by less than a cup of food by volume. Not a big deal. I expect it might change.

I've been married twice (happily the second time). But I believe that your heart knows the answer (what ever that may be). Sometimes it is hard to hear what our heart is trying to tell us. You are a beautiful women and from your posts you sound like you are becoming courageous and strong. I'm sure you will make the right decision! Trust yourself

Well my personal life is a mess... But on a positive note- I hit my goal wt 145! I love my sleeve, and am soooo happy I chose to do it!

I'm and three and half months post op and my life has changed dramatically. I'm so happy with the healthy new me. Here is my before & after pic so far (before taken the night before surgery). It is amazing how quickly things can change

I'm and three and half months post op and my life has changed dramatically. I'm so happy with the healthy new me. Here is my before & after pic so far (before taken the night before surgery). It is amazing how quickly things can change

I'm and three and half months post op and my life has changed dramatically. I'm so happy with the healthy new me. Here is my before & after pic so far (before taken the night before surgery). It is amazing how quickly things can change