Binge Eating Solved From Surgery?

[Dominik Mikula 0]

Hi all,

I'm new here and considering getting a gastric sleeve done.

I have had a binge eating disored for years upon years. Ive done it all with yoyo diets, lots it, gained it, and now it wont go and if it does I know ill be back and a big me.

Ive read a lot of the forum and lots of people say how they had years of BED and even went wild before the surgey eating everything in sight in the fear of not being able to eat their favs after the surgery.

And so many said that the surgery just fixed the binge eating. It was really just part of it.

I know there are lots of posts on the forum about this. But I wanted to post my own thread and actually ask the question to hear the responses.

I hope that I can get some replies!

Thanks in advance!

[jess9395 5,448]

You will hear mixed things.

In a nutshell, they are operating on your stomach, not your brain. If your binges are responses to emotional triggers and stressors, surgery isn't going to fix that.

That said, for many people the surgery causes a reduction in the amount of ghrelin produced by removing the part of the stomach that manufactures it. If your binges are solely biochemical, and you are one of the ones who experiences that, it may stop your binges.

My training is in psychology. I believe that our coping mechanisms are both biological and behavioral in nature. That is, how a person handles stress is a combination of their specific body chemistry--their biological predispositions--AND their experiences and behaviors. Nature PLUS nurture.

So someone with a biological predisposition to overeat (too much ghrelin or other hunger regulating hormones) may turn to food to relieve stress at first because of a biological component. But it's what happens in your life (lots of issues/stressors?) and the reinforcement you get from the overeating that strengthens the behavior as a coping mechanism--you feel good when you overeat so you relieve the stress, so now you are eating for both biological AND emotional/psychological reasons. Make sense?

So you can remove the biological drive but the emotional drive is still there.

So no one can predict for you. Therapy surrounding food issues is HUGELY beneficial in figuring out which it is for you and how to replace bingeing with a better coping mechanism if they have become a way to cope with an emotional/psychological stressor.

I binge ate before surgery for years. It was both for me. Years of therapy helped me beat the emotional part of it but the biological part remained. And after 40 my body wanted to hold onto every pound. For me the surgery was the last part of the puzzle and I haven't had any twinge of an impulse to binge since. I am only just more than 1.5 years out though so that could change. And every now and then I get angry or frustrated and want a cookie but I clearly recognize that it's an anger cookie not a hunger cookie and can make a decision based on THAT. Sometimes I have it (and only one! Who knew that was possible?) and sometimes I don't.

I am happily maintaining at 135 (136lbs lost) and a size 4. I run to relieve stress these days

[LovinSoul 113]

Couldn't say it better than @@jess9395

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

First, I don't have a BED diagnosis and haven't been a binge-eater for 30 years or longer. So there's that.

However, I've seen many posts here and at other WLS forums where posters say their BED behaviors have been modified by gastric sleeve surgery (they simply cannot eat as much at a time), but that they are still binging by grazing, eating "slider" foods (highly processed, high calorie foods) that move quickly through the stomach into the intestine.

The meta-evaluation studies (that collapse many studies' findings into a single analysis) say that only half of WLS patients maintain a long-term weight loss of 50% (EDIT ... or more) of their excess weight lost.

If you want to maximize your odds of losing all your excess weight and keeping it off, you've got to eat differently than you used to eat: eat less, eat more Protein, eat Protein first, eat slower, chew more, eat three meals and no more than two Snacks daily, drink 64 ounces Water daily, move more, exercise regularly, and for some people seek psychological counseling to support the development of new habits and to treat specific diagnoses (like BED and others).

This isn't exactly on point, but I personally know people who've gained all their weight back after WLS because they could not give up certain foods / drinks like sweet tea, wheat thins or ice cream.

Success after WLS requires discipline and support, and some of us require even more resources. As @@jess9395 says, what each of us needs and must do post-op to succeed must match our peculiar needs.

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

P.S. Just found this article that could be useful to you:

http://c-hit.org/2014/10/15/years-after-weight-loss-surgery-patients-seek-treatment-for-eating-disorders/

[p1Sz 52]

First, I don't have a BED diagnosis and haven't been a binge-eater for 30 years or longer. So there's that.

However, I've seen many posts here and at other WLS forums where posters say their BED behaviors have been modified by gastric sleeve surgery (they simply cannot eat as much at a time), but that they are still binging by grazing, eating "slider" foods (highly processed, high calorie foods) that move quickly through the stomach into the intestine.

The meta-evaluation studies (that collapse many studies' findings into a single analysis) say that only half of WLS patients maintain a long-term weight loss of 50% (EDIT ... or more) of their excess weight lost.

If you want to maximize your odds of losing all your excess weight and keeping it off, you've got to eat differently than you used to eat: eat less, eat more Protein, eat Protein first, eat slower, chew more, eat three meals and no more than two Snacks daily, drink 64 ounces Water daily, move more, exercise regularly, and for some people seek psychological counseling to support the development of new habits and to treat specific diagnoses (like BED and others).

This isn't exactly on point, but I personally know people who've gained all their weight back after WLS because they could not give up certain foods / drinks like sweet tea, wheat thins or ice cream.

Success after WLS requires discipline and support, and some of us require even more resources. As @@jess9395 says, what each of us needs and must do post-op to succeed must match our peculiar needs.

Do you know if the meta studies break out the different types of WLS? I'd expect, for example, band to have lower success rate than GB or GS.

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

There are many long-term meta-analysis studies. This morning I don't have time to do a big online search, but here are a few links to some studies:

Lapband - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23235396

Single study re VSG - http://www.medpagetoday.com/Endocrinology/Obesity/40490

Discussion of multiple studies re VSG - http://asmbs.org/resources/sleeve-gastrectomy-as-a-bariatric-procedure

If you find more links to different studies, please post them here. I'll do some more digging later myself.