I am new to this, as I am still going through the pre-op work-up for surgery, hoping to have it at the end of August. My question for the people who have already had the procedure is this: were any of you compulsive overeaters before surgery? I am wondering if I am alone in having concerns about making the lifestyle and diet changes needed for this surgery. I am very committed, but have failed so many times before at keeping weight off. I lost 120 pounds 10 years ago and was at my goal weight for about two months before I started gaining it all back, plus 10 more pounds. Tell me your success stories dealing with these changes and keeping the weight off, please!

Well...I think most of us that had the surgery were some time of compulsive over eaters or suffered from some type of eating disorder.. Unfortunately the surgery does not address this. The surgery reduces your capacity to take in food and with the removal of the portion of the stomach that produces the grehlin hormone, your hunger, for a while will be reduced. However, it does nothing to keep you from compulsively eating. You can very easily eat around the sleeve by consuming high calorie, high fat and high processed carbohydrate foods. Many of these types of foods are not restricted by the sleeve at all and are know as "slider" foods. If you feel that you have a compulsive eating problem, I would suggest that you talk to someone that is an expert in treating these types of disorders. Do not rely on the sleeve alone to help you through that. Talk to your Dr. and/or your nutritionist and feel that out about your fears. I am sure that they can recommend someone that can assist you with reconciling your relationship with food and over eating. Good luck!!

What Johnlatte said! The sleeve helps, but YOU must do. It's not impossible, but be open to "dealing" with your head issues -- and we ALL have them!

The way I look at it is this: the sleeve offers an opportunity for a "do over." Once sleeved, you can drop a lot of weight because of the restriction in how much you eat. However, it requires adherence to the rules of good nutrition to lose to goal weight and to keep it off. These are the same rules of good nutrition we were not following before surgery. Some seize the opportunity for the "do over" and some don't. Sorry I can't offer you any particular help. Good luck with your weight loss.