I am on my pathway to getting surgery in June and was talking to a friend at work yesterday about it. She herself would love to get the surgery because she has tried and failed so many diets. Her fear is that she will be one of the people who barely lose any weight because she'll have a tough time sticking to the low carb diet. She said that she had lapband about 15 years ago and wasn't very successful.

I honestly never thought about getting surgery and not being able to lose weight. Any opinions on this?

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The best way to think of bariatric surgery is to think of it as another tool for weight loss. It's not a magic pill. It really does require a change in attitude towards how you look at food and what you eat. I had a hard time trying to grasp how people could possibly gain weight back having a smaller stomach, but if you're still putting junk into your body then you aren't going to change.

My surgery is tomorrow and I'm on day 14 of my 2 week pre-op diet. I laugh now thinking back to all those times I thought myself to still be sooooooooooo hungry after eating a plate full of pasta. It's taught me that much of what you perceive as hunger is in the head. If you don't follow the guidelines and snack all throughout the day and eat the wrong things then yes, you're going to gain weight back.

It really requires a change in mentality.

It is still so very hard... you fight everyday with head hunger or just wanting to eat. It's exactly the same as before the surgery the only difference is the size in which the stomach is.

They cut out the stomach not the part of your brain... I'm only 7 week post op and if I would let myself I would be eating all the time... changing your attitude and breaking habits is very hard... but it's doable

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To be successful at WLS still requires a tremendous amount of discipline and dedication. All gastric sleeve does is reduce the amount of food you can eat at one time. It doesn't stop you from eating all day long. It doesn't stop you from drinking you calories. It doesn't stop you from eating slider foods. It doesn't stop you from eating high calorie/high fat foods. It doesn't force you to be more active and exercise more. It is simply a tool that addresses ONE aspect of overeating.

I don't say that to discourage you. I say that so you understand the reality of the situation. You will still have to do ALL of the work to lose weight. You will still have to eat the right things, stick to the guidelines, and exercise.

For me it was the perfect tool, because I was a binge eater. I can't binge anymore. I had to find other ways to deal with my emotions. But every day I still have to put Protein first at every meal/snack, avoid drinking my calories, avoid nibbling on chips and candy between my scheduled meals/snack, avoid eating and drinking at the same time, and make a conscious effort to exercise regularly.

great topic!! I've been feeling the same way~

I also tried countless ways to lose weight, but nothing worked. A lot of people talk about head hunger and while I had cravings, definitely and still do, I truly was hungry so often before surgery. Studies have been done that show being overweight might produce more of the hunger hormone. Now that I'm no longer feeling hunger like I did, it's much easier to be logical about what I eat and talk myself out of my cravings. Just a little encouragement for your friend!!

HW 285.8 SW 272.8 CW 253.8 GW 140 Sleeved 11/23

I agree wholeheartedly with jwinters above! I'm not finding it that difficult, post surgery -- because I find the surgery does do a lot of that work for me. I can't eat a lot. I feel full faster. I don't get hungry as soon (or, sometimes, at all, and let me tell you THAT never happened to me pre-sleeve). I now understand how someone could skip a meal, and I have to work to keep on top of it and NOT skip my meals.

It varies person to person, though. She should try to find a program that has a good pre-op program as well as just straight up surgery. Mine was amazing, including an overall meeting you had to attend that gave you all kinds of general info, and then support groups open to anyone even pre-op, so you can learn about what it means for your life. Something like this might be helpful for her to figure out if she can do it.