Large weight gain

[Bobbie61 5]

Recently at the gym I spoke with a person that had gastric sleeve surgery about 3 yrs prior. She lost a tremendous amount of weight - 275 lbs. and over time gained back 200 lbs. My question is, how does that happen if your stomach only holds 1/2 c of food. I had the roux en y procedure and if I eat one tsp more than I should then I am miserable.

[MsTipps 314]

I guess maybe stretching or eating all the wrong things? Whatever it is, one thing is for sure - she wasn't sticking to her plan! X

[Healthy_life2 8,330]

4 minutes ago, Bobbie61 said:

Recently at the gym I spoke with a person that had gastric sleeve surgery about 3 yrs prior. She lost a tremendous amount of weight - 275 lbs. and over time gained back 200 lbs. My question is, how does that happen if your stomach only holds 1/2 c of food. I had the roux en y procedure and if I eat one tsp more than I should then I am miserable.

I have the sleeve so I can't speak to the type of surgery you have.

Anyone of us can gain if you don't make lifestyle changes. The restriction only does part of the work.

With a small pouch you can eat small meals all day long that have high calories. No exercise adds to the mix. On very rare occasions people may have a revision surgery.

[Mattymatt 491]

17 minutes ago, Bobbie61 said:

Recently at the gym I spoke with a person that had gastric sleeve surgery about 3 yrs prior. She lost a tremendous amount of weight - 275 lbs. and over time gained back 200 lbs. My question is, how does that happen if your stomach only holds 1/2 c of food. I had the roux en y procedure and if I eat one tsp more than I should then I am miserable.

The pouch stretches. It sounds like the person you spoke to was non-compliant with the program. I am personally concerned that this could happen to me because I've been successful with traditional weight loss programs in the past only to veer off course and gain back the weight. In some ways this is my hail mary pass ... I have to be successful at this or I will die early or painfully.

Edited January 31, 2018 by Mattymatt

[Bobbie61 5]

Jenn1 thanks for that insight. I never thought about the fact that a person could eat many small meals a day because my doctor strictly told us no snacking between meals, but instead to drink non carbonated sf drinks and Water. That's why these forums are good to be in. Thanks!

[blizair09 3,250]

If one doesn't change his/her relationship with food, he/she won't be successful long term. This is the case no matter which surgery the person has. Period. End of story.

That's why this forum is so entertaining. There are very few people that are successful long term that stick around. It is mostly pre-op folks, new post-ops, and people who have regained that are coming back for support.

My dad, mom and brother had the bypass, sleeve, and band respectively. My dad and brother gained every pound back and my mom gained back all but maybe 40-50 pounds. They didn't change their relationships with food, and when the honeymoon phase was over, they immediately started gaining weight. Their experience and example is why I am so disciplined about what I eat. I simply will not go back there, and to do that, I had to make food fuel and nothing else. (I know that approach isn't for everyone, but it was necessary for me -- and probably many others.)

Any surgery is SIMPLY A TOOL...

[Sunnyday25 172]

my simple answer is ice cream melts, when I had lap band and started having issues with partial paralyses in my esophagus I found foods that I could eat ice cream melted so it was easy to get down and it was a liquid so it left the pouch faster then solid food. Of course for me over time the esophagus issue got so sever I couldn't even drink Water.

[Clementine Sky 708]

A bariatric surgeon named Dr. Matthew Weiner has several informative videos on YouTube, and one is about the reasons people regain after losing a significant amount of weight due to WLS. He was not my surgeon, but I found his videos to be very helpful. Besides lifestyle choices such as being sedentary and overeating, there are other possible causes of regain, such as certain conditions or medications. Steroids such as Prednisone can cause rapid weight gain. If someone injured their knee, as an example, and was prescribed steroids as part of the healing process, he'd have the double challenge of having to limit physical activity and taking medicine that will likely cause weight gain. Many antidepressants cause weight gain, as do various hormonal medications.

Your stomach does not significantly stretch after having the VSG, but as your body heals and adapts after surgery you will be able to consume more than you initially did. There are many caloric "slider" foods that you can quickly consume without having the same level of restriction as with denser foods.

I had the VSG in 2015 and have been maintaining a BMI on the low end of the normal range for over a year, but my weight bounces around about 10 pounds due to medical issues. I have Addison's disease which makes me dependent on steroids, which can cause my weight to rapidly surge. Anytime I'm going to be encountering a stressful situation, with work or even just something like a really long flight where I'll be sleep deprived, I have to take an increased "stress" dose, and I gain weight. I then just work to get that weight off again. But I can see how if someone was in a chronically stressful situation, that would be much harder.

[soccerkaty 50]

A bariatric surgeon named Dr. Matthew Weiner has several informative videos on YouTube, and one is about the reasons people regain after losing a significant amount of weight due to WLS. He was not my surgeon, but I found his videos to be very helpful. Besides lifestyle choices such as being sedentary and overeating, there are other possible causes of regain, such as certain conditions or medications. Steroids such as Prednisone can cause rapid weight gain. If someone injured their knee, as an example, and was prescribed steroids as part of the healing process, he'd have the double challenge of having to limit physical activity and taking medicine that will likely cause weight gain. Many antidepressants cause weight gain, as do various hormonal medications.
Your stomach does not significantly stretch after having the VSG, but as your body heals and adapts after surgery you will be able to consume more than you initially did. There are many caloric "slider" foods that you can quickly consume without having the same level of restriction as with denser foods.
I had the VSG in 2015 and have been maintaining a BMI on the low end of the normal range for over a year, but my weight bounces around about 10 pounds due to medical issues. I have Addison's disease which makes me dependent on steroids, which can cause my weight to rapidly surge. Anytime I'm going to be encountering a stressful situation, with work or even just something like a really long flight where I'll be sleep deprived, I have to take an increased "stress" dose, and I gain weight. I then just work to get that weight off again. But I can see how if someone was in a chronically stressful situation, that would be much harder.

I have severe asthma and that is one of the reasons I did this. I am petrified of being put on any/more steroids for the reasons you touched on. While there is no doubt I made terrible food choices there is no doubt that long courses of steroids did little to benefit my weight.

[MsTipps 314]

I'm asthmatic and on longterm steroids too. I hope this doesn't make it harder to lose weight.

[Clementine Sky 708]

38 minutes ago, MsTipps said:

I'm asthmatic and on longterm steroids too. I hope this doesn't make it harder to lose weight.

I still would have hunger surges due to my medication, especially when I had to increase the dosage, but after having the VSG I'd become full much faster. I still gain weight rapidly but have been able to stay on top of it so it doesn't keep going up. It's usually about a 5-7 fluctuation. Even when I'm on the higher end of what's been my range for the past year, I wear a belt with size four jeans and comfortably wear XS dresses and tops. The surgery radically changed my life for the better.

[kakatlady612 1,053]

As a fellow asthmatic I can tell you steroids are notorious for weight gain. Ah you can't live with them and we can't live do well without them. As the King says in Anna and the King of Siam says " is a puzzlement"

Sent from my VS880PP using BariatricPal mobile app

[Margo H 17]

Plain and simple - overeating! I too have a friend that gained back all her weight and had to repeat the bypass because she stretched her stomach out to hold all the food she was eating. I am thankful that I throw up if I overeat, or feel so miserable, that I absolutely have to stop eating!!

[MonkeyNurse 26]

I had sleeve and lost 100# and put back 70#. I had an upper GI and it showed the upper portion of my sleeve ballooned out with a big pouch and my sleeve was dilated. I was able to eat a lot. I had an EGD and it showed the surgeon left the fundus or upper part of my stomach in. That's the stretchiest part and should have been removed. But I can't blame her. I made bad food choices and overate and stretched my sleeve. I converted to RNY on 1/11/18.

[Hello2018 21]

How is the post op compared to the sleeve? Also how is the weight loss progressing? I have severe gerd with vsg and converting to rny in late Mar. Hoping to drop my weight regain after 6yrs post vsg and resolve my gerd.