Hello! I am about 3 weeks out from my sleeve surgery and I keep having this fear that it's simply not going to work on me and I'm going to be fat the rest of my life - does anyone else feel this way?

I mean, I am following all my doc's and nutrition guidelines and am exercising so there is no rational basis for my fear, except that, on a whim, I got on the scale a few days after a weigh-in at my doc's office and it gave me 3 different results, all were heavier than my previous results a few days before. It really kind of sent me into a tailspin. I mean, what if I just start gaining weight?

Please tell me someone else has had this fear! Thank you!

I will, thank you!

I also have the same fears. My surgery is 4/23. I've been going through the process for a year, preparing for 4/23. Learning everything about VSG I possibly could. I watched every You Tube video, I read every book, I joined BP, and made some friends along the way. But I am down to 2 pair of jeans that I can wear, and only a couple more weeks to go. I saw my family at Easter, and not everyone knew about the surgery, so I came clean. My nephew shouted at me..."NO!! Don't do it!! It'll RUIN your life, or you will DIE. Just eat less and exercise more....come on, lets take a walk right now and get started today!! ". To say I was ticked off, is an understatement. He is too young to remember by struggles with maintaining my million losses. I know I've probably lost a million pounds in my lifetime. I just am so afraid of failure. I am a total rule follower, so I know I will lose. I just need this time to be different. This time when I get to goal.....I need to stay at goal! That is MY GOAL!! (get it!)

You're doing it for you. Embrace it. You will succeed!

I felt the same way. One week post op I said to my BF ( who had RNY 2 yrs ago and has lost over 150lb) what if this doesn't work for me? She said what a good friend should say " your crazy you had 80% of your stomach removed you will loss weight ". When I start to freak myself out about slow wt loss I think follow the plan it has worked for others it will work for me/you.

girrrrrllll Nervous isnt the word for it! Yesterday I had a full on melt down. I start my liquid diet on Thursday, surgery is in 2 weeks and 2 days. In preparation for the liquid diet I slowly phased out one meal a day over the past several weeks. At this point for the past couple weeks I'm only eating one high protien low carb meal a day, so the liquid diet should be no problem right? I started FLIPPING out, what if I can't do the pre op diet, what if I cant handle the pain of surgery, what if I ruin this tool I was given? OMG I was a wreck! But a great thing happened, a bigger support system came out of it, and I'm feeling better today. I hope you are too!

I really am feeling a lot better about it today, everyone has been so awesomely helpful and it's amazing how KNOWING that other's have felt the same way can make you feel better. I weigh myself tomorrow (I do it once a week) and I am hopeful for a change but if there's isn't one, I have to be okay with that too!

Good luck with your pre-op diet, I'll admit that I cheated once on the pre-op but after I did that, I rocked the diet until surgery and it all went really well. I'll hope the same for you!!!

This sure is a challenging journey, I had a total meltdown about 3-4 days after surgery, I had a little cry, talked to some friends and felt a lot better. I think it's such a personal thing, being overweight and this is SUCH a big step towards ending that, it cannot help but be stressful both emotionally and physically.

I certainly had (and still have) the fear that I will gain the weight back.

My initial fears were:

• My sleeve is too big...liquids were going right through me. I was able to drink over 100oz the first week of surgery. Oh, but then I hit the purees and I felt how restrictive my sleeve truly was.
• I'll have terrible head hunger. I was really worried when I woke up from surgery that I'd still feel hungry. Nope, not one bit. Not for several weeks. I feel more head hunger now, but physical hunger is still non-existent. I think the difficulty is distinguishing between head hunger and physical hunger. I can now easily tell.
• I'll eat till I burst the sleeve. This goes along with the hunger. I feel perfectly satisfied with 4-4.5 oz of food. I'm actually more satisfied than I was with 3-4 cups of food pre-op. That can't possibly be explained until you experience it.

My long-term fear now is that I'll become complacent at my goal weight and return to old habits: less exercise, more carbs, calorie-dense foods. I'm very habitual and if I have a donut one day, I'll have it every day for weeks.

I've made it a big goal to keep realistic about my expectations with the sleeve. I try to never lose sight that it's a tool and doesn't given me free reign to eat anything that I can get into the sleeve.

Edited April 7, 201511 yr by AlwaysVegas

Oh yeah, I remember times along the way when I thought that was it, that's all that was coming off! After about six months I would only loose 2-3lbs per month and they all came off after my period. That was brutal but what I really needed to do was step up my exercise (read: I needed to exercise!). Walking and resistance training are what I needed and at least I got the walking going.

You'll do great. Stick to your Dr's plan and try to keep your attention on fun things or things you want to do in the future.

I had my surgery in Feb and had similar fears, but luckily I'm losing. You will do great! =D

The scale can make me crazy. So, I stay off of it. I can tell I am losing by the way my clothes fit and what I am doing. I am not going to weigh myself again before I go back to doctor for follow up at the end of April. The last time I weighed in was at my last follow up appointment. For me the number can just be an enemy. I am focusing on the non-scale victories. I have already enjoyed so many of those! (Lower BP, fitting in chairs, looking better, etc.) And really, if you think about it, those are more important than the actual number on a scale.

My advice: let go of the scale and embrace the new you. Let the new you focus on your improved health and quality of life!

Good luck!

Thank you for this, I totally agree! I've been careful to only weigh myself once a week but I think I may have to let go of that as well, or else buy a scale that gives the same weight every time! YEESH!

You're totally right though, my clothes already fit better and I FEEL better so that's truly what matter! Thank you

I didn't read everyones comment..but I can tell ya I told my surgeon that I would be the odd one that this would NOT work on me..lol..he laughed at me haha...been there done that! I'm sure they hear this all day everyday.. yes I had my fears. its a mind game and you have to squash it. toss out the scales if you have to. I am 10 PO now I have consistantly dropped except for that 3 wk stall and it last almost a month then it was all fine. hang in there! don't worry follow your plan and trust it works..

I'm two months post a revision from a band to a bypass. I'd lost 30 pound, but for the last month have been stalled. Now my weight has started to creep up, and I'm eight pounds heavier than I was a few weeks ago. I'm walking and averaging about 700 calories a day, mostly Protein, and admit to be pretty confused by this. My recovery hasn't been smooth - lots of issues with vomiting and stomach sickness. I'm terrified I've failed and that I've lost all the weight I'm going to lose. It was a lot to put my body and mind through to not be successful.

Oh man, that sounds awful! Have you spoken with your nutritionist to see if they can offer suggestions to help you? I weigh myself next week (every Tuesday and no more than once a week for me) and I'm hopeful to have lost something, last week I did not. From what i've gathered in the comments in this thread, these kinds of ups and downs are very common and the important thing is to just keep going and working at it and following the rules.

I've been eating about 700-850 calories a day (my nutritionist wanted me to get up to at least 850) and feel really good, I've been lucky that so far, nothing has made me sick.

I wish I had some words of wisdom for you but what I will say is that you shouldn't give up hope, from looking around these forums, there are lots of people who have struggled like you and that it gets easier. You'll be in my thoughts, good luck.

Thanks for your kind words, JLMet. Another poster on this site who's also gone through a revision said my experience is neither normal nor acceptable, and I should definitely check back in with my dietician. I'll give her a call tomorrow. In the interim, I'm going to take a page from your book and stop weighing myself every day.