VSGAnn2014

I just found an older thread here at BP about the same topic that may be interesting to some readers, with an experienced surgeon's predictions about sleeve size changes. http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/202400-sleeve-size-after-surgery-and-4-years-later/ The thread also contains an image of a VSG patient's brand-new sleeve and the same patient's sleeve four years later (see below):

The authoritative sources and answers re "can my sleeve stretch" vary much more than I would expect a basic question like this to generate from medicos. In videos, research studies and during informational seminars, we see doctors' answers range from "Hell, no!" to "Hell, yes!" And then we hear of real-life situations like @@Kaila312 's: I am persuaded by the logic that VSG surgery removes the fundus (the expansive portion of the stomach) and that the remaining stomach tissue (the sleeve) isn't very stretchy. Yet situation's like @@Kaila312 's make me wonder if some surgeons' surgical techniques or the physical characteristics of some patients' sleeves or some patients' overeating behaviors -- or a combination of all of the above -- do create situations where some patients' sleeves stretch more than others. ??? In any event, I hope you get this situation properly dealt with, Kaila. I would also like to hear what else you learn about your sleeve and its changed size. I also hope your NUT and your surgeon can get on the same page with regard to their advice for you. P.S. Congrats on your weight going down again!

Oh, sorry ... I read too fast.

Huh? Haven't heard that. And I spend WAY too much time on WLS forums. Maybe you're hanging with people who have terrible dental hygiene? No problems here with my teeth. And I'm nearly 18 months post-op, have lost all my excess weight, and maintaining at or below goal for the last 9 months.

For those who care ... it's very easy to log a fraction (1/4, 1/2, 5/6, 12/22nds, etc.) of anything that's in the My Fitness Pal database or that you enter into the MFP database (you can do, too). You just insert 0.25 or 0.5 or 1.5 in the "servings" field for that food. I do this kind of logging on most days, as a matter of fact. Today, for lunch I had half an avocado turkey burger without fries. I logged it as 0.5 of that item. I frequently log things like 0.5 serving of an apple; 5 servings of 1. oz of chardonnay; 1.5 servings of 8 oz. of skim milk, etc. When I have 3 of something, I just log 3.0 servings of them. Easy peasy.

I do eat ice cream (probably once every month or two), since I've been at or below goal. FYI, I reached my weight goal at 8.5 months post-op and have continued to slowly lose another 15 pounds since then. But I sure didn't eat ice cream before I reached my goal weight!

I forgive everyone in this thread who has butthurt me. (See how easy that was?)

I second those who are happy with their WLS. It's completely changed my life for the better. I have no complaints and no regrets. We are so lucky to have had this surgery!

I'm 17.5 months post-op. I've been at or below goal for the last 9 months. Started at 235, got down to 135. An even hundred pounds lost. I weighed 136.4 this morning after a sister's birthday dinner yesterday of BBQ ribs, baked Beans, potato salad, chocolate cake and ice cream. Back on the mostly Protein bandwagon today. In other words, I have a long way to go. I'm learning a lot from others about how to do the right things 90% of the time, and relax and enjoy life's celebrations the other 10% of the time. FYI, I weigh every morning. I still measure and track my food. And practice all the good eating behaviors I learned while I was losing weight. I'll be happy anywhere between 135 and 145.

YES!!!!! So happy for you! I keep telling people here they're going to get into single digit pants sizes, and I can tell they don't really believe it. So happy you've now had that amazing NSV. It really is one of the best ones.

I think it's perfectly acceptable and healthy to explore (experientially and in conversation here and other forums) what "acceptably full" feels like. And I certainly don't think the topic is inappropriate to raise. Yes, many of us have relied on the signal of "overly full" to equate to other things -- a number of other things. So much so that post-op many of us struggle to understand what the physical and emotional sensations of being "satiated" are really like. Speaking for myself, a bright light that flashes "DONE" doesn't come on when it's time for me to quit eating. For me, satiety and fullness are an issue of degrees. That's why eating smaller bites, chewing well, and eating slower are very helpful to me. Those behaviors give me a chance to recognize when I'm nearing the border of "done eating." I know some people have learned to recognize "done eating" time when they feel a certain "plop" in some portion of their bodies. Others have other signals. I'd be interested in hearing what the physical and other signals are of when you've reached that threshold.

These are great subjects: feeling full, feeling full vs. feeling satiety, the emotional rewards of feeling full, recognizing when you're satiated and recognizing when you're full, stopping eating before you're "too full," eating specific foods and eating in certain ways that help you feel satiated and/or full sooner than you would otherwise, etc. Boy, does this all vary depending on whether you're 1, 2, 3, 6, 12, 18 months out -- or, as others say, 2, 3, 4, 5 years out. IMHO, how we should behave on these fronts depends a lot on whether we're (1) still in the losing phases, (2) through losing weight and maintaining easily or (3) regaining and trying to get back on track. I'm coming up on 18 months post-op and am currently maintaining easily. But I'm still a relatively newbie maintainer (have been at or below goal for 9-10 months now) and still learning what works for me at this point and trying to learn to eat more intuitively. However, I'm also learning that the old, original WLS rules are just magical in helping me to eat intuitively in ways that are healthy and that satiate me and make me feel comfortably full / done / whatever other words describe that we don't need or want to eat anymore food. What has always worked for me is when I mostly (90% or more of the time) do these things: * Don't drink with or immediately before or immediately after my meals. * Eat slowly, chew well, and take small bites. * Eat Protein early on in my meals (for me, this means eat meat first). * Eat 80-100 grams of protein a day. * Eat on smaller plates / bowls / cups. * Use a smaller fork (usually just a salad fork). * Plan my meals ahead of time. * Measure / weigh my foods (when I'm eating at home). * Eat plenty of fibrous foods -- colored veggies, whole grains, and fruit. * Track all the food I eat, whether I chose "good" or "not good" foods and volumes. * Stay hydrated throughout the day by drinking at least 64 ounces of Water and other non-calorie liquids. * Don't go hog-wild with sweets. When I was losing weight I didn't eat any sugary foods at all. Big protip: Eating too much sugar just makes me feel crave more food in general. Weird! Yes, the sleeve works by restricting how much we can eat. But we can sabotage ourselves by not continuing to follow our WLS eating rules. It's not that hard to learn these new eating behaviors. And it's certainly a lot easier to follow them than to battle our cravings for sugar, fast food and trigger foods the rest of our lives!

@@VDLT posted: From my surgeon... Stomach Dilatation We believe that if we create a small enough stomach it will be very difficult for the stomach to dilate. The thickness of the musculature of the stomach near the lesser curvature and the antrum is the highest of anywhere else in the stomach. Thus, by staying very close to this area, using a 36 french bougie creating a small gastric tube with a small antral remnant, we feel that stomach dilatation will be very difficult. There! 'Nuf said. And no, you cannot stretch a sleeve by drinking anything.

I'm not allergic to nuts, but I could live forever without any nuts. And almost have since WLS 17.5 months ago. IMHO, you should learn to eat real food post-op. Making Snacks bars a big part of your menus post-op is not only unnecessary, but not even advised. You'll find recovery and life post-op easier if you are comfortable eating both animal and plant Protein, healthy veggies, whole grains, and fruit. Your ideal nutritional life post-op is absolutely no different than for those who have never had WLS.

You're having WLS to lose 30 pounds? Is that right?

Another NUT who doesn't know much. I am so discouraged by the "wisdom" I hear dispensed by way too many NUTs associated with WLS programs. Shee!

Yes, flora in the gut can be powerful things. I am quite sure that over-the-counter Probiotics are not designed to regulate moods, but to improve digestion and reduce constipation.

Boy, I wish every WLS'er understood this as well as you do! Thanks for this post.

There's a hard truth here no one seems to be addressing: We cannot make someone love us or be attracted to us who simply doesn't / isn't. You can patch it together, fake it, make the other person feel guilty for being "superficial," stay together for financial or familial or ideological reasons, or even spend the rest of your life trying to look or behave in specific ways that you hope will make you worthy enough for the other person's love or respect. But it's a hard way to live. And eventually it won't sustain itself. Finally, the concept of offering your troubled marriage up to the congregation's inspection and discipline invites a world of weirdness into your situation. If you think you're misunderstood by your husband, get ready to be misunderstood by random people who will want to wallow in the drama and to school you about just how wrong you are. Do you really want go there?

This thread is a great Starbucks education. Have never seen this discussed anywhere online. Thanks to all. (I always feel like such a dope standing in a SB line.)

@@CowgirlJane ... we know each other only online here. In other words, I don't know you or your psyche very well, like I might if we knew each other IRL. But *projecting* myself into your shoes (which is just exactly that, nothing more) I would interpret what happened like this: I (you) contributed more to her than I was really comfortable doing, because each of my acts of generosity felt right to offer at the time. Over time, the balance of our mutual contributions to each other (as good friends are wont to extend to each other) got WAY out of kilter. You became the giver, and she became the taker (even though this was unaligned with her espoused ideology). In your shoes, what I would eventually perceive is how unbalanced our mutual contributions to each other had become and would start to resent the imbalance. And I'd be pissed at myself, too, for doing this again (since I do a lot of generous things quite impulsively because of the feel-good potential in the moment). And now it's hard to get back to how it used to be, since she has accepted favors she didn't ask for, but nevertheless took advantage of because she never said, "No, thanks," or was generous in return, e.g., "I have to do something for you now." Yes, she took advantage of all the things you offered, then was (somewhat) true to her own ideology not to offer or ask for favors. And you (understandably) wound up resenting the mounting imbalances in the relationship. I dunno that she meant to make a *mark* out of you. But she certainly isn't a good match for your generosity. And, in your shoes, I would probably feel (at this point) like I'd been a mark of both her and my own doing. I would say you could try to be friends with her anew, but on new terms: You stop extending favors to her that she doesn't ask for and find out if she can hang with you without relying on your favors. What do you think about that?

Thanks a lot for these thoughts, @@4MRB4PHOTO . Personal responsibility is the bottom line, isn't it? Happily, taking personal responsibility for our health is easier when we have built healthy new habits. It's easier to do something that's good for us the hundredth or thousandth time than when we are trying it out for the first or tenth time. Courage to try something new and consistent practice matter so much. In this vein, I've been so impressed by the power of the new habits I've been able to build, thanks to WLS. Things I used to imagine would forever be difficult aren't hard anymore, like chewing well, eating slower, not drinking with meals, measuring my food, planning and tracking my meals, walking daily, doing stretching exercises daily. The new habit I'm working on now is meditating. Daily meditation has the potential to help on all fronts by keeping me more focused, less distracted, less impulsive, calmer, and more accepting of life as it is, not as I wished it were. Put another way, s**t happens. Yet we always have the option of making good choices. Finally, here's one of my favorite new sayings (don't know who came up with this gem): "Not my circus. Not my monkeys." Thanks again for the OP.

I've heard this before, but not that you had to take off all the nails -- just leave one or two "naked" so they can do oxygen / blood pressure tests with those thingamajigs they clip on your fingers.

Like many others above have posted, my surgical team didn't set my weight goal. I did -- 150 pounds, which is a nice round number and one pound above the normal BMI for me (I'm 5'5"). I hadn't weighed that little in 35 years. (I'm 70 years old.) I started at 235 pounds, was 216 the day of surgery, then 8.5 months later hit my goal weight. Since then (in the last 9 months) I've slowly lost 1-2 pounds a month and now weigh 135 pounds, which seems to be an easy weight to maintain. Honestly, as long as I'm under 145 pounds I'll consider myself a wonderful WLS success. I NEVER would have imagined I'd reach this low weight. So I'd suggest that if you work your sleeve, do what your medical team advises, learn how to eat nutritiously, and watch what your body's doing in response to what YOU are doing (what you eat and drink and how you exercise), you might be surprised where you wind up. But as others have said, your ideal body weight and a weight that can be comfortably maintained will depend on so much that's unique to you and your body. Very best to you!

What the hell?!? No, no shaving required. No shaving done. Why in the world are you required to shave your pubic hair? Out of curiosity, has any male patient ever been required to shave his pubic hair prior to laparoscopic surgery?