I have read sometimes in this forum and viewed several times on YouTube warnings about the "honeymoon period" for the sleeve ending after approximately two years. At this point, it sounds like some people regain some of their weight. Is this normal? Are there success stories with the sleeve where people have kept their weight off for 5, 7, and 10 years or more after the sleeve procedure? Would you share those stories? I will be having surgery in approximately 4-5 months and am concerned about keeping the weight off after losing it. Thanks

I belong to my surgeon's support group that meets once a month, and there are many people in there that are success stories 2-6+ years old. Some even fell below "goal" and were able to keep that off over the years as well. They all live very normal lives, eat anything they want in moderation and smart portions, and still exercise -- though not every day or like they did when they were losing. They just live very smart lives now, and continue to come to the support group to help others and to keep themselves on track. Each and everyone will tell you that they don't have to do the Protein shakes all the time anymore, and they are able to eat a little of everything at birthday, holiday, celebration dinners; they could snack on potato chips and reintroduce soda -- IF THEY REALLY WANTED TO. They are a reminder that we will have to continue to be smart about our choices for the long term, or face the possibility of falling into old habits and putting the weight back on.

Yes, you will ALWAYS have restriction and will never again be able to eat the Fisherman's Seafood Platter in one sitting, or the 16oz steak with side of lobster tail. But whether you eat 2500 calories in one meal or over an entire day snacking on calorie dense foods, and that done repetitively can lead to weight regain. (Of course, men need more calories than women, but you get my point).

Thanks so much for the reply and the insight!

emlefe - great post. I'm so excited about getting sleeved for exactly the reasons you lay out.

A continuation on the post that I forgot to mention earlier:

My surgeon pointed out that ANYONE losing weight on ANY PROGRAM -- Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Atkins, you name it -- has the ability to regain some or all of their weight back once they stop using the program. Really, VSG is like a program in that removing 80-90% of the stomach just a tool to keep you honest with your lifestyle changes. And yes, to have fast weight loss in the first 3-6 months as the stomach heals to it's new "normal" size. But when you strip away the surgery, you get all the same factors you have with any other diet regimine: Eat right, exercise, drink plenty of Water, reduce stress, get adequate sleep, and be happy.

Do those things, and you should be fine 2, 6, 20 years down the line!

Emefle-thank you for the wonderful post. Absolutely excellent! I just want to chime in on a few really successful sleevers I know. One is three years out and maintaing goal weight beautifully. One experienced a regain of 15 lbs and lost it. The other did gain about 20 lbs from her lowest weight but she was at the point of being kind of "too skinny" and she still falls in a normal BMI.