I met a 4-year sleever today

[DougNichols 124]

Her lessons learned:

- Avoid slider foods. They will cause you to constantly struggle with your weight. Even occasionally, these are the devil.

- Never try to see if you can eat more than you did last week, or last month, or even last year. There's no reason to stuff more food in your mouth, just to see if "it stretched". Eat the same small amounts for the remainder of your life. Why even test those waters - JUST DON'T GO THERE. EVER.

- Don't let other people choose your menu. You are in control of your food. If the rest of the family is pigging down on chips and high calorie dips, don't get wrapped up in that and think you need to partake in this crap diet as well.

That's all. I thought it was some sagely advice.

[meriteri 1]

Thanks for sharing her lessons! It is scary to think about what can happen, if you don't do the right things & use this tool like your suppose to. I guess even after we've reached goal we'll always have to battle the bad foods & have self control. But I kinda knew that going into this. Now hearing about someone that failed makes it more "real" Good to know!

[LilMissDiva Irene 3,280]

Her lessons learned:

- Avoid slider foods. They will cause you to constantly struggle with your weight. Even occasionally, these are the devil.

- Never try to see if you can eat more than you did last week, or last month, or even last year. There's no reason to stuff more food in your mouth, just to see if "it stretched". Eat the same small amounts for the remainder of your life. Why even test those waters - JUST DON'T GO THERE. EVER.

- Don't let other people choose your menu. You are in control of your food. If the rest of the family is pigging down on chips and high calorie dips, don't get wrapped up in that and think you need to partake in this crap diet as well.

That's all. I thought it was some sagely advice.

Wow all I can wonder is what on earth IS she eating to have gained ALL of her weight back??? That's so extreme for this surgery - I honestly don't think I'd ever be able to pull that off... ever.

She has to be eating nothing but slider junk food and high calorie drinks all day long, so of course she would gain all her weight back. I think her only resolve from obesity now is some serious therapy sessions... for real. She has some other really major stuff going on.

[BlackBerryJuice 349]

Scary! But if you have a slow metabolism, do not exercise, and have like one drink or fancy latte per day, I could totally see regaining some of the weight - although not all!

[bilka 6]

Definitely scary, but it's good to be alerted.

Slider food means hamburgers and fast food, right?

It's a shame and it must be SO frustrating for her. Is she seeing a shrink or something? Is she getting help?

[Globetrotter 1,340]

This kind of news just scares the pants off me, it is my biggest sleeve-related nightmare. However, he didn't say she has gained all her weight back, just that she was still fat. I don't want to still be fat! This is scary, and I am such a slow loser.

[juliarh 35]

You know, I have had more people say to me, "just one won't hurt" "eat this, just once" -- I always say HELL NO!! I'm not going back to where I came from -- my doctor scared the bejeezes out of me when he told me about a patient he had given the sleeve to and she gained EVERYTHING plus some back -- by eating chips, drinking sodas, etc., etc. I WILL NOT GO BACK -- you will have to drag me kicking and screaming. It almost killed me being so obese, why the hell would I trade momentary pleasure of eating a chip or what have you for the hell of being obese??

Thanks so much for sharing Doug!! Fair warning to us all!

[Rootman 1,101]

I don't know any sleevers out that far but I know 2 people who have had duodenal switch surgeries in which the still take about 50% of the lower stomach out. Both are fat and both just gave up on the diet and gained like crazy.

One Snacks on candy bars all day. The other - my sister - just eats 5 or 6 full meals a day. She was down below her target weight and developed a congenital heart problem that hit our mother at about the same age too. She gave up and started to drown her sorrows in food.

This sleeve thing will take a LIFELONG commitment to eating less. We will never be free of dietary restrictions.

[DougNichols 124]

Sliders are foods that don't require chewing, and just go right down (like chips, many fried foods, etc).

I don't know if she gained ALL her weight back, but she definitely hasn't reached her target weight and stayed there. It was a sobering reminder that: SLEEVE IS A TOOL. Not a permanent, easy solution. You have to change your habits, and your relationship with food in order to really create a lifelong change.

[pumpkin07 32]

Lord please don't let that be any of us. I think focusing on lean Protein is a good habit, but I do think my metabolism is trying to slow down making it very hard to lose the remaining lbs. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr I need to exercise. I want Blackberry's ABS!!!!

[juliarh 35]

This sleeve thing will take a LIFELONG commitment to eating less. We will never be free of dietary restrictions.

Rootman, you are soooo right -- the longer I work at this, the more I realize that my eating is probably never going to change that much. I have an issue with carbs and that issue will probably always be there -- for others, carbs may not be an issue, but for me it is -- and so, I'm ok knowing that I probably can never eat many again in my life without gaining weight. That's the sacrifice I'm willing to make to be healthy

[LilMissDiva Irene 3,280]

I don't know any sleevers out that far but I know 2 people who have had duodenal switch surgeries in which the still take about 50% of the lower stomach out. Both are fat and both just gave up on the diet and gained like crazy.

One Snacks on candy bars all day. The other - my sister - just eats 5 or 6 full meals a day. She was down below her target weight and developed a congenital heart problem that hit our mother at about the same age too. She gave up and started to drown her sorrows in food.

This sleeve thing will take a LIFELONG commitment to eating less. We will never be free of dietary restrictions.

Sliders are foods that don't require chewing, and just go right down (like chips, many fried foods, etc).

I don't know if she gained ALL her weight back, but she definitely hasn't reached her target weight and stayed there. It was a sobering reminder that: SLEEVE IS A TOOL. Not a permanent, easy solution. You have to change your habits, and your relationship with food in order to really create a lifelong change.

You guys are absolutely correct. You MUST change your eating habits, and work our entire lives to fight them. I think as time goes on it does get easier. Honestly before my first WLS my main problem was eating too much - of anything and everything. Good foods and not good foods. I'd never ever had a problem with sweets. Cookies, candy, cakes, etc... were never a problem. My main junk food trigger were the salty crunchy variety. It wasn't until I was banded that sweet carbs became an addiction because frankly they were the only things I could get down. I couldn't get the healthy food down at all.

Now with my sleeve, it seems like all I CAN tolerate is healthy food. I know I'm in the great minority here, I'm not fooling myself. I also realize that it can change in a heartbeat too, so I'm taking full advantage of THIS advantage now while I have it. I've noticed that as time is going on most of my cravings and bad habits have gone away. THANK YOU SO MUCH SLEEVE!!!

I also know that my healthy habits have pretty much taken over now, so I really have no doubt in my ability to make goal and stay there. I think it's mostly whats between the ears that makes things happen. Without that one probably will stay fat... Just my opinion.

[Billy363627 15]

This should be a guide to even the most educated sleever..She has said what your doctor has said but she didn't listen!! We all support one another good, bad everthing in between. I know everyone knows this is a tool for weight loss. There are people out there that think this is the cure you have to do nothing else. I learn everyday and I am soo glad to have heard about this lady. I feel soo sorry for her circumstances but it teaches us that if you are not dissapline and you slip you can be in her situation very quickly..I am not looking back the road is too long.. I have already been there I don't want any part of that life anymore..

[M2G 1,836]

The statement that you can eat around any type of WLS is soooooo true. Every WLS still requires effort and I truly believe that we need to keep working sleeves, even after we reach goal. The losing part is so easy to focus on and it does require a lot of effort, planning and it is a huge lifestyle change for many people. But maintaining is always going to be an effort too. Nothing worth having is ever effortless.

I agree with Rootman...I will never be one of those naturally skinny people who can claim "oh I can eat what I want and never have an issue" ...that simply does not apply to me.

So, Doug, thank you for posting this an reminding us that you can out-eat any type of WLS. I hope the person you met can get some help like Irene mentioned.

Oh and I bet is was cool to meet another RL sleever.

[Lila21 36]

The statement that you can eat around any type of WLS is soooooo true. Every WLS still requires effort and I truly believe that we need to keep working sleeves, even after we reach goal. The losing part is so easy to focus on and it does require a lot of effort, planning and it is a huge lifestyle change for many people. But maintaining is always going to be an effort too. Nothing worth having is ever effortless.

I agree with Rootman...I will never be one of those naturally skinny people who can claim "oh I can eat what I want and never have an issue" ...that simply does not apply to me.

So, Doug, thank you for posting this an reminding us that you can out-eat any type of WLS. I hope the person you met can get some help like Irene mentioned.

Oh and I bet is was cool to meet another RL sleever.

I totally agree. I think it's really important to understand that this is just a tool, and fixes only ONE of the problems that we have around eating. I think many of us eat emotionally (I know I do!), or have carb addictions or sugar addictions, and these are things that we'll have to work on for a lifetime to be successful. Having said that, we do have tool that can be VERY helpful! Thanks for this important reminder, Doug!