Currently in the pre op testing phase. I expect I will get my surgery date soon for late June-early July. I still struggle with staying on track and counting calories. I'm assuming we all have had this issue if we are here so

What Changes after the surgery? I assume it's still going to be hard afterwards, but how mentally do you go from struggling to stay on track to having kind of no choice but to stay on track?

Because I have failed so many times losing weight and yo yo dieting in my head I feel like I will get this and not lose a pound. Which I'm pretty sure is impossible. Any insight into this from post sleeved peeps would be great! Thanks.

I wonder the same about going from trying to stay on track to being forced to. I'm also doing pre-op steps, my doc makes me feel like I can do if on my own and then I get confused like should I try on my own and either fail or gain it all back eventually. Good luck with pre op!

Don't be fooled it is not going to be any easier after surgery than before. I know four people who had surgery before I did. All have regained the weight.....and so have I. I have not gained all but most of the 80 lbs I lost. If one does not deal with the reason they over eat the problem still exist. I had my surgery in Ashland Kentucky and they did not have afollow up program. They said call if you need us. That was it. I think extensive psychological counseling is needed to change food addiction just like any other substance abuse. I wish you well,however, gastric sleeve is not the answer. All I got out of the surgery is loss of bowel function.

If you work with your sleeve, losing weight post-op is easy. This is the easiest I have ever lost weight with the least amount of stress.

The most important thing is to follow your post-op diet strictly the first 6 months. The stages of the post-op diet is not just to reduce complications but to also change your relationship with food and teach you to eat again properly. People advance their stages, don't follow a plan and miss that chance.

The first 6 months you are healing so you have the most restriction. This restriction is a great tool to enforce healthy eating habits and make them natural. Example, a proper portion of meat for anyone is 3 to 4 ounces. Post-op you have to work up to eating 3 to 4 ounces of dense protein. The time it takes to work it to that and learn you are completely satisfied with that amount teaches you proper portion control and makes it normal.

Also after living on protein shakes and water for weeks, the simplest foods taste delicious. Baked fish is suddenly a feast, veggies a delight. Going without and slowly introducing healthy foods resets your attitude about food, but you have to let it happen and work with your program not against it.

A lot of people advance their stages or eat slider foods because they are easier to eat and they miss this mental reset.

You get a one time shot at the easy mental reset post-op. If you miss it then you have to try and retrain yourself later on, on your own and it is just as hard as doing it pre-op.

People that regain usually reintroduce carbs early and/or think they can eat how they did prior to surgery just in smaller portions.

The one person I know personally that had surgery 5 years ago, never hit goal and has regained half their loss (They are a bypass patient). Never changed eating habits. Ate the same way just smaller portions, and then followed fad diets. Never learned nutrition, never tracked food. Now they have regained and are a loss on how to lose it. They can eat normal portions of food. Their tool offer a them no help and they haven't learned any lessons.

Hopefully you are having surgery at a center of excellence. I was given a book and several handouts on how to eat and live for the rest of my life. I don't eat everything they allow because they have far too many carbs on the list for a former diabetic like me, but I followed my food stages. I follow the portions and I still look at my book for guidance. Picking a good program and a good surgeon is another key to success.

I mean Emle has a point. You are still going to be dealing with a food addiction even after the surgery. You won't be able to eat as much and at first no matter what you do you'll pretty much loose weight(within reason.). But that doesn't mean you can't stretch that new stomach out and or gain the weight back. I'm only about 4 months out from the gastric sleeve and I have lost a lot of weight. I do not want to go back to the way I was. It's what motivates me to continue to make the right food choices and find suitable alternatives and deal with what causes me to over eat/eat junk. Your stomach and how it handles food will change, there will be stuff you use to love to eat that will make you feel sick. I.E. cause dumping. This surgery is a tool to help but you will still have to work on a lot yourself and stick to the rules of your post op care.

SW: 328
CW: 256
GW: 150
Surgery date: January 12, 2017

Thank you! That makes sense what your saying and I never thought of it that way. I'm with a hospital that's a center for excellence in Philadelphia. I'm self pay so I haven't had the insurance guidelines to follow pre op, but I go this week for a nutrition appt. Thanks again for the advice!

Don't be fooled it is not going to be any easier after surgery than before. I know four people who had surgery before I did. All have regained the weight.....and so have I. I have not gained all but most of the 80 lbs I lost. If one does not deal with the reason they over eat the problem still exist. I had my surgery in Ashland Kentucky and they did not have afollow up program. They said call if you need us. That was it. I think extensive psychological counseling is needed to change food addiction just like any other substance abuse. I wish you well,however, gastric sleeve is not the answer. All I got out of the surgery is loss of bowel function.

Thanks for the reply. I'm so sorry to hear that and of your experience. I totally agree that counseling is needed through this process. Best of luck.

I am just glad I made this choice for myself. No matter what I did before I couldn't stop eating and was never full. My stomach was a bottomless pit haha. This surgery is merely a tool & I have already made major changes to my lifestyle at only 9 weeks out. Seeing myself physically change is just an incentive. I also have regular bowel movements

3 hours ago, Deactivatedfatgal said:

I am just glad I made this choice for myself. No matter what I did before I couldn't stop eating and was never full. My stomach was a bottomless pit haha. This surgery is merely a tool & I have already made major changes to my lifestyle at only 9 weeks out. Seeing myself physically change is just an incentive. I also have regular bowel movements

The point is that you are 9 weeks out. I was so happy at that point too. I had my surgery in 2013. Each of the people I mentioned did great at first. It's the long term that I don't want anyone to be disillusioned by. It is possible to regain. I tried very hard to not put the weight back on, however, it seemed to return actually quicker than it came off.

17 minutes ago, emleyrose said:

The point is that you are 9 weeks out. I was so happy at that point too. I had my surgery in 2013. Each of the people I mentioned did great at first. It's the long term that I don't want anyone to be disillusioned by. It is possible to regain. I tried very hard to not put the weight back on, however, it seemed to return actually quicker than it came off.

You were having problems at 6 months though. That is pretty early, so your issue with regain isn't because of how far out your are from surgery.

If any of your stats are right you never got to goal or close to it and you started regaining. People that get to goal or close to it seem to do better long term because they have more to defend and more room to bounce.

Just because you had a hard time with the sleeve because of your food addiction does not mean the sleeve does not work or is not a good tool or that people cannot maintain losses.

The issues you have with food and weight are more than just WLS issues.

There is a binge eating drug that some people have success with Vyvanse. Maybe you can look into it.

Edited May 21, 20179 yr by OutsideMatchInside

17 minutes ago, emleyrose said:

The point is that you are 9 weeks out. I was so happy at that point too. I had my surgery in 2013. Each of the people I mentioned did great at first. It's the long term that I don't want anyone to be disillusioned by. It is possible to regain. I tried very hard to not put the weight back on, however, it seemed to return actually quicker than it came off.

Well I am far from disillusioned, I read a 5 year study about regain and WLS patients. I have every intention of utilizing my sleeve to help me continue to lose & maintain. There are many people who are successful and they are further out than you. Everybody's journey is different. I would enoucrage any interested in WLS to look at success stories as well as those who didn't make it to where they wanted to.

Excellent thread. I'm having surgery tomorrow and I know I'll get a honeymoon period and I'm going to use that time to learn all I can. I don't want to fall into old habits. Just being on this preop diet has me feeling more in control and that is a great feeling. Thanks everyone.

Thanks for info I wish you the best. I will check on meds. I would really like to know the stats on the number who regain and those who maintain.

Edited May 21, 20179 yr by emleyrose

Thanks for info I wish you the best. I will check on meds. I would really like to know the stats on the number who regain and those who maintain.

I think it's important to hear both experiences when going into this. Thank you for sharing. Hope things get better for you!

@emleyrose

https://asmbs.org/patients/bariatric-surgery-misconceptions

Quote

As many as 50 percent of patients may regain a small amount of weight (approximately 5 percent) two years or more following their surgery. However, longitudinal studies find that most bariatric surgery patients maintain successful weight-loss long-term. ‘Successful’ weight-loss is arbitrarily defined as weight-loss equal to or greater than 50 percent of excess body weight. Often, successful results are determined by the patient, by their perceived improvement in quality of life. In such cases, the total retained weight-loss may be more, or less, than this arbitrary definition. Such massive and sustained weight reduction with surgery is in sharp contrast to the experience most patients have previously had with non-surgical therapies.

http://www.healthline.com/health-news/bariatric-surgery-patients-see-weight-gain-after-honeymoon-period-080515#2

Quote

Dr. Andrei Keidar, of Beilinson Hospital in Petah Tikva, Israel, and his colleagues, examined data from 443 patients who underwent LSGs from the same surgical team, between 2006 and 2013.

Researchers found that while excess weight loss was at 77 percent after a year, it decreased to 56 percent after five years. Diabetes remission was promising at 51 percent after a year, but only 20 percent after five years.

Remission of hypertension, however, remained steady at 46 percent from the first to fifth year.

http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamasurgery/fullarticle/2422341

Quote

The mean (SD) preoperative excess weight was 51.2 (18.4) kg, and the mean (SD) preoperative BMI was 43.9 (6.6). At 1 year of follow-up, the mean (SD) body weight was 81.4 (16.7) kg, the mean (SD) BMI was 29.9 (5.1), and the %EWL was 76.8%. At 3 years of follow-up, the mean (SD) body weight was 84.1 (17.2) kg, the mean BMI was 30.8 (5.3), and the %EWL was 69.7%. At 5 years of follow-up, the mean (SD) weight was 88.6 (15.7) kg, the mean (SD) BMI was 32.3 (5.1), and the %EWL was 56.1%. There was a significant decrease in %EWL between patients with 1 and 3 years of follow-up or patients with 1 and 5 years of follow-up (−4.8%, P = .007; and −16.3%, P < .001, respectively). The decrease in %EWL between 3 and 5 years was not statistically significant (P = .07). The failure rates, determined as the percentage of patients with a %EWL less than 50%, were 13.3%, 21.1%, and 38.5% at 1, 3, and 5 years, respectively. There was no mortality, and the leak rates were 1.3% and 3.1% in the primary and conversion procedures, respectively. Eighteen patients underwent conversion to another bariatric procedure and were excluded from follow-up following the conversion.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2174497/How-gastric-surgery-patients-ALL-weight-on.html

Quote

A worrying proportion of patients fail to keep the weight off long term, largely because although their stomachs have physically shrunk their addiction to food remains.

In fact, 63 per cent of patients put weight back on within two years of their operation, according to one Brazilian study of 782 patients. Meanwhile, a German review of studies on weight-loss surgery found 30 per cent of patients regained their lost weight between 18 and 36 months.

If you work with your sleeve, losing weight post-op is easy. This is the easiest I have ever lost weight with the least amount of stress.
The most important thing is to follow your post-op diet strictly the first 6 months. The stages of the post-op diet is not just to reduce complications but to also change your relationship with food and teach you to eat again properly. People advance their stages, don't follow a plan and miss that chance.
The first 6 months you are healing so you have the most restriction. This restriction is a great tool to enforce healthy eating habits and make them natural. Example, a proper portion of meat for anyone is 3 to 4 ounces. Post-op you have to work up to eating 3 to 4 ounces of dense protein. The time it takes to work it to that and learn you are completely satisfied with that amount teaches you proper portion control and makes it normal.
Also after living on protein shakes and water for weeks, the simplest foods taste delicious. Baked fish is suddenly a feast, veggies a delight. Going without and slowly introducing healthy foods resets your attitude about food, but you have to let it happen and work with your program not against it.
A lot of people advance their stages or eat slider foods because they are easier to eat and they miss this mental reset.
You get a one time shot at the easy mental reset post-op. If you miss it then you have to try and retrain yourself later on, on your own and it is just as hard as doing it pre-op.

People that regain usually reintroduce carbs early and/or think they can eat how they did prior to surgery just in smaller portions.

The one person I know personally that had surgery 5 years ago, never hit goal and has regained half their loss (They are a bypass patient). Never changed eating habits. Ate the same way just smaller portions, and then followed fad diets. Never learned nutrition, never tracked food. Now they have regained and are a loss on how to lose it. They can eat normal portions of food. Their tool offer a them no help and they haven't learned any lessons.

Hopefully you are having surgery at a center of excellence. I was given a book and several handouts on how to eat and live for the rest of my life. I don't eat everything they allow because they have far too many carbs on the list for a former diabetic like me, but I followed my food stages. I follow the portions and I still look at my book for guidance. Picking a good program and a good surgeon is another key to success.

Thanks for the encouragement I truly appreciate it & it's well rec'd[emoji16] my sleeve surgery is 6/1 & I just want to be as successful in this journey as possible [emoji41]

Sent from my S8+ using BariatricPal mobile app[emoji41]