2.5 Years Post-op Today

[M2G 1,836]

How do you feel your sleeve is performing now that you are 2 and a half years out? Does it feel like you can eat like you did before your surgery, or do you still have some restriction?

Olivia23 - great question. I absolutely STILL have restriction when it comes to dense Protein (chicken, especially, but beef, pork, salmon, even meatless Protein, like veggie/soy burgers/sausage, etc.) I have never been one to "test" my limits when it comes to post-sleeve eating. I have an *almost* un-natural fear of throwing up and I can say that in the last 2.5 years I have NOT thrown up. Not even once. Not even in the post-anethesia fog that sometimes can make people regurg. So I'm in the camp that tends to underfill my sleeve. When it comes to meals I generally do NOT eat any more than 3-4 oz of meat. I don't care what kind of meat it is (4oz of meat is my high limit.) If it is a meal (vs. a snack) I will include an oz of veggies and maybe an oz or less of carbs (I try to choose whole grain, brown rice, sweet potato, etc.) but overall I do restrict most carbs from my daily diet. If I'm really trying to lose I need >30g carbs, and if I'm "generous" with my carbs I will average >100g daily. So a typical meal for me never more than 5-6 oz of food TOTAL.

I eat about 1,200 calories a day. I definitely find that I have to MEASURE and ACCOUNT for my calories or it's incredibly easy to EAT MORE than what I need. I didn't go and have 80% of my stomach removed so that I could end up eating the same amount of food that I did BEFORE surgery, so I have to remember that, otherwise yes, it would be easy to eat more. You can out-eat any WLS any day any time. Sure, probably not in the first few months after surgery when your stomach is swollen, pissed off and you are terrified of a leak, but after you heal, you could graze your way through the day and eat probably every 20 minutes or so and get in enough calories to equal a pretty big eating day.

I have to say that for the most part I feel so lucky to eat small amounts of food. I do not feel like I'm starving all the time or that I NEED to eat more. I sometimes sit around and get angry that I can't eat more than 1,200-1,400 calories a day WITHOUT gaining, but then again this was the trade off for having surgery. Learning to live with less was an ultimate goal. So then I realize that I'm doing just fine and get over it and move on.

I hope that answers your question and if not please holler!

[M2G 1,836]

Congrats and Happy Surgiversary! I love having fellow vets on the board. So good to have others at the same point in the journey.

Lynda

Thanks Lynda...It's nice when those of us who are farther out stick around. I was my surgeon's 15th sleeve, (even though he has done thousands of bands/RNYs) so there wasn't a lot of "living proof" out there when I got sleeved. I'm glad we can be here and let others know that it's not that scary.

[M2G 1,836]

I just got sleeved April 3rd I didn't know the further out the harder it gets can u eat more now or ur just eating some of the wrong things also have u had any complications

Toy27 - thank you, I didn't realize how that statement could be mis-interpreted. NO, I did NOT have any complications whatsoever, in fact, I breezed through recovery and felt pretty much normal about 10 days post-op.

What I meant by saying that it's harder to stay the course the further out you are is in reference to how easy it would be to overeat and not suffer any consquences. I can eat sugar, Cookies, pie, cake, ice cream, candy, etc. and the ONLY thing that is stopping me from doing that is ME. I chose to have the sleeve so that I wouldn't get the death penalty (ie. RNYs can suffer from dumping syndrome, etc. when eating foods with sugar) because I wanted to be in control of what I eat. But sometimes it can be exhuasting to be so on-top of what I eat. So that is where the further out you are the harder it is to be on-top of your eating habits.

I should say though that in some ways it's easier because eating smaller amounts of food seems completely normal to me now (at first it didn't) but now it's just 100% normal for me to portion out a small amount of food and that is what I plan to eat.

So thanks again for asking for clarification on that!

[toy27 62]

Toy27 - thank you' date=' I didn't realize how that statement could be mis-interpreted. NO, I did NOT have any complications whatsoever, in fact, I breezed through recovery and felt pretty much normal about 10 days post-op.

What I meant by saying that it's harder to stay the course the further out you are is in reference to how easy it would be to overeat and not suffer any consquences. I can eat sugar, Cookies, pie, cake, ice cream, candy, etc. and the ONLY thing that is stopping me from doing that is ME. I chose to have the sleeve so that I wouldn't get the death penalty (ie. RNYs can suffer from dumping syndrome, etc. when eating foods with sugar) because I wanted to be in control of what I eat. But sometimes it can be exhuasting to be so on-top of what I eat. So that is where the further out you are the harder it is to be on-top of your eating habits.

I should say though that in some ways it's easier because eating smaller amounts of food seems completely normal to me now (at first it didn't) but now it's just 100% normal for me to portion out a small amount of food and that is what I plan to eat.

So thanks again for asking for clarification on that![/quote']

Thanks now I know 2 be extra careful later on my journey

[aquitenonnymouse 206]

Thanks for posting! It's great to hear about your successes farther out than lots of people around here!

[M2G 1,836]

Thanks for posting! It's great to hear about your successes farther out than lots of people around here!

You are welcome. I know most "vets" don't stick around but I'm trying to be here. I was my surgeon's 15th sleeve back in late 2010 and I know he's done a TON more but when I was first sleeved this place was a lifeline for me because I felt like I was breaking new ground. I'm guilty of "drifting" away when life gets busy but definitely trying to still be active around here.

[MichiganChic 3,262]

So that is where the further out you are the harder it is to be on-top of your eating habits.

I should say though that in some ways it's easier because eating smaller amounts of food seems completely normal to me now (at first it didn't) but now it's just 100% normal for me to portion out a small amount of food and that is what I plan to eat.

Congratulations on your continued success, and thank you for posting here. I often wonder what the future will be like, and the things you discuss are my biggest fears now. I try not to push it either, but I know that my sleeve can hold more than many people post here. I'm about 5 months post op, and I don't graze, but I could. I used to eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and I never want to go back to that lifestyle. I agree that it takes a lot of energy to stay the course, which is one of the main reasons I was so fat. If I was stressed or if something else needed my full attention/energy, I ignored my diet. I know I can never allow that to happen again, but I also have to be realistic and know that life gets in the way sometimes. How do you manage to keep your energy and attention on this at 2.5 years out? Again, congrats!

[mvickyway 256]

Thanks for the inspiration, hope, and wisdom. I think struggling with 10 last pounds is my pick over 100 lbs. And I hope to get to that point and learn as I go to live a NEW way so I can enjoy my life as it comes

[M2G 1,836]

Congratulations on your continued success, and thank you for posting here. I often wonder what the future will be like, and the things you discuss are my biggest fears now. I try not to push it either, but I know that my sleeve can hold more than many people post here. I'm about 5 months post op, and I don't graze, but I could. I used to eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and I never want to go back to that lifestyle. I agree that it takes a lot of energy to stay the course, which is one of the main reasons I was so fat. If I was stressed or if something else needed my full attention/energy, I ignored my diet. I know I can never allow that to happen again, but I also have to be realistic and know that life gets in the way sometimes. How do you manage to keep your energy and attention on this at 2.5 years out? Again, congrats!

Wow MichiganChic thank you so much for your question. You are really making me think here. I guess most everything that I do now stems from a lot of reasons. One really big reason is that (like almost everyone else here) surgery was my last hope. It wasn't like I thought, "oh I'll give it a whirl and if it doesn't work out, no big deal." I was a bit of a research junkie about this surgery and I knew going into this that it would not be a miracle cure or a magic wand, and that it WOULD take a lot of effort on my part. And like almost everyone else here, I was GREAT at losing weight, but just not great at keeping it off. So I knew going in that would still be my cross to bear. Maintenance is for life. It's not some distant land that you reach and then it's all skittles and rainbows. It takes a concentrated effort to NOT put crap in my mouth. And there is just not a surgery ON THIS EARTH that will make those daily choices for you. Sure RNY can make people dump which is a huge incentive to stay away from sugar, but I chose the sleeve because I didn't want my surgery to control that aspect of my life. I could eat sugar all day long and gain all my weight back, but I CHOSE this path. I CHOSE to have 85% of my stomach removed. So I guess staying the course, and still working this tool is part of what I bargained for.

Another reason is that a lot of stuff HAS become automatic. I tend to eat a lot of the same core foods daily. eggs, greek yogurt, cheese, all kinds of meat, meatless soy burgers and sausage, and then I sprinkle in veggies, minimal fruit, whole wheat carbs, and yep even junk food. I'm not 100% perfect all the time but I would say I'm fairly good about 80% of the time. Do I fall off the wagon? Yep! Are there days when I'm exhausted counting calories, measuring my food, and just want to sit and reach my hand into a box of sugar Cereal and NOT CARE ABOUT how it's going to affect me? Yep! But then I have my little pity party and I pull myself back up and know that every meal is an opportunity. An opportunity to do better, to eat better, to feel better. So I make those daily choices. And I've learned that there IS NO FINISH LINE. I kinda thought there was. As much research as I did about the surgery, the pre-op, the post-op, the first week, the first 6 weeks, the first 6 months, the first year, I did NOT find a lot of information regarding "maintenance" or life down the road a bit. When I was sleeved in Oct. 2010, I was my surgeon's 15th sleeve. He did literallly thousands of Bands and RNY's, but sleeve territory was new. And finding post-ops that were 2, 3, 5, 10 years OUT from surgery was pretty much next to impossible. I think that is part of why I stay around here also because I've learned the hard way that maintenance is NOT all skittles and rainbows. It does take work, it does take effort but the results are worth putting in the effort.

I guess that would have been easier to say. The hard work is worth the results. THAT is what keeps me going.

I commend you for thinking about the future and not just living in the weight-loss mode. And more than that I really appreciate your question because it did make me think.

All the best to you and your journey!

[toy27 62]

Luv it

[aroundhky 1,174]

You are welcome. I know most "vets" don't stick around but I'm trying to be here. I was my surgeon's 15th sleeve back in late 2010 and I know he's done a TON more but when I was first sleeved this place was a lifeline for me because I felt like I was breaking new ground. I'm guilty of "drifting" away when life gets busy but definitely trying to still be active around here.

I still consider it a learning process. That and I remember vets helping me when I first started out with the sleeve, so I am also here to return the favor....even if it is just to new sleevers or people thinking about being sleeved. I want to be as helpful to them as the vets were to me. Thanks for hanging around M2G!

[AnonyMouse 14]

So much great info in this thread. Thanks so much for the in-depth answers. Congrats to you and your husband.

[M2G 1,836]

I still consider it a learning process. That and I remember vets helping me when I first started out with the sleeve, so I am also here to return the favor....even if it is just to new sleevers or people thinking about being sleeved. I want to be as helpful to them as the vets were to me. Thanks for hanging around M2G!

So much great info in this thread. Thanks so much for the in-depth answers. Congrats to you and your husband.

Thanks all, this place was THE most helpful site in all of my research and studying about the sleeve. More helpful than medical journals, studies, and statistics (while they have their place) but connecting with others on the same journey has by far been the best!

[SouthernSleever 236]

Great to see you post again!! YOU LOOK FANTASTIC!!

[bradycone 94]

Thank you so much for all of the info! I'm just 2 weeks out, but trying to prepare myself for the future, and this was really helpful.