Can’t decide which surgery is best... let’s talk about hunger

[laura bee 1]

Based on how much weight I want to lose (BMI is 47), I have been leaning towards bypass. However there are a lot of great benefits to the sleeve and the number one thing that keeps bringing me back to the sleeve is this notion that more of your “hunger hormones” will be removed with the sleeve.

When i was pregnant, my body changed so much and I didn’t want sugar, craved salads and mango, and lost over 20 pounds. My sister had the sleeve surgery and said that’s how she would describe her mental state after the sleeve. More than any amount of weight loss, I’d love to get that mental state back. I wouldn’t even call it self-control or discipline because it was a natural and easy thing! What do you guys think?

Do both surgeries have that effect? Or one more often than the other? Or is it just luck of the draw and everyone’s different? Please give me your insights. I don’t have a date or anything, I’m just starting to look into programs near me.

Thanks!!

[mousecat88 2,281]

I am having bypass on Thursday. My surgeon said it will reduce/eliminate hunger and cravings, but if you read these forums... you'll see that both bypass and sleeve patients still experience some hunger and cravings. From everything I've read and everyone I've talked to, neither seems to be better than the other. It really seems to be luck of the draw and how your own body reacts.

As an aside, the sleeve can make acid reflux worse, while bypass improves it... which is why I went with that choice. Don't know if you suffer from acid reflux, but that's something to consider, too!

[Matt Z 4,140]

12 minutes ago, laura bee said:

Based on how much weight I want to lose (BMI is 47), I have been leaning towards bypass. However there are a lot of great benefits to the sleeve and the number one thing that keeps bringing me back to the sleeve is this notion that more of your “hunger hormones” will be removed with the sleeve.

When i was pregnant, my body changed so much and I didn’t want sugar, craved salads and mango, and lost over 20 pounds. My sister had the sleeve surgery and said that’s how she would describe her mental state after the sleeve. More than any amount of weight loss, I’d love to get that mental state back. I wouldn’t even call it self-control or discipline because it was a natural and easy thing! What do you guys think?

Do both surgeries have that effect? Or one more often than the other? Or is it just luck of the draw and everyone’s different? Please give me your insights. I don’t have a date or anything, I’m just starting to look into programs near me.

Thanks!!

Just a heads up, that "hunger hormone removal" thing is pretty bunk. Almost all sleeve patients regain some level of hunger at some point within the first year.

Both surgeries have a level of hunger changes. For both surgeries, some folks lose the sensation and never get it back, most lose it or have it greatly reduced but get it back within the first year. And some never lose it at all.

The sleeve can make GERD or any acid reflux issues worse, this happens pretty often.
The bypass can resolve GERD and acid reflux issues, this is very common.
The sleeve is 100% un-reversible, 90% of your stomach ends up in medical waste.
Contrary to popular belief, the Bypass *IS* reversible under certain circumstances, reversals don't happen often due to the danger of doing so, but they *DO* happen and it *IS* an option if something really bad happens.

I was "against" the bypass originally, one of the reasons I had the band installed in 2011. With the revision, my surgeon wouldn't do the sleeve... for good reasons that were specific to my surgery, so I went with the bypass and I really couldn't be happier. Everyone is going to have their personal preferences, but overall, the bypass results in less follow up surgeries for failed WLS, has a better weight loss % and a better % of weight kept off.

I won't tell you which is best for you. But for me, I truly wish I went with the bypass back in 2011.

[summerset 5,265]

25 minutes ago, laura bee said:

Do both surgeries have that effect? Or one more often than the other? Or is it just luck of the draw and everyone’s different?

I personally think it's the luck of the draw but that's just my opinion. This "true hunger" feeling, this gnawing in the stomach area... it was practically gone after the lap band and it's still gone after two years of MGB.

[GreenTealael 25,622]

1 hour ago, laura bee said:

Based on how much weight I want to lose (BMI is 47), I have been leaning towards bypass. However there are a lot of great benefits to the sleeve and the number one thing that keeps bringing me back to the sleeve is this notion that more of your “hunger hormones” will be removed with the sleeve.

When i was pregnant, my body changed so much and I didn’t want sugar, craved salads and mango, and lost over 20 pounds. My sister had the sleeve surgery and said that’s how she would describe her mental state after the sleeve. More than any amount of weight loss, I’d love to get that mental state back. I wouldn’t even call it self-control or discipline because it was a natural and easy thing! What do you guys think?

Do both surgeries have that effect? Or one more often than the other? Or is it just luck of the draw and everyone’s different? Please give me your insights. I don’t have a date or anything, I’m just starting to look into programs near me.

Thanks!!

Nah. Plan on hunger returning.

[Walter.Sobchak 978]

I say go with Bypass.
I had the sleeve done and while I have had success to a certain extent, I wish I would have had bypass. Especially for the amount of weight I needed to lose. The only thing that worried me about bypass was dumping syndrome.
As far as hunger hormone, in my opinion that is really over exaggerated. I was starving the morning after surgery. I don’t feel like getting into the stupid debate about real hunger and head hunger and all that. I still get hungry now, maybe not like I used to but I still feel hunger. Ultimately the choice is up to you and your surgeon, but if I could go back and start over I would have gone with bypass.

[elcee 3,343]

For most people the "hunger" comes from the head not the stomach. Unfortunately they haven't yet found a way of shutting that off yet.

Too many confuse appetite with hunger or think the noises their stomach makes means that they are hungry.

True hunger is not seeing food and thinking ohh that looks nice I could eat one of those, or looking at the clock and thinking hey its noon it must be lunchtime.

Most of us rarely get to the point where we are really "hungry" .

[laura bee 1]

4 hours ago, elcee said:

For most people the "hunger" comes from the head not the stomach. Unfortunately they haven't yet found a way of shutting that off yet.

Too many confuse appetite with hunger or think the noises their stomach makes means that they are hungry.

True hunger is not seeing food and thinking ohh that looks nice I could eat one of those, or looking at the clock and thinking hey its noon it must be lunchtime.

Most of us rarely get to the point where we are really "hungry" .

I know it’s not just your head because I experienced it when I was pregnant. It’s hormonal, just like other pregnant women who experience strange cravings. I know you are saying it takes work to see results, and it’s partly leftover addiction, but my addiction and habit was saying “Don’t you want ice cream after dinner? ” and something in me changed and said, “Uh, no, not really.” I explained all of this to my sister and she had a sleeve over a year ago and said that is how it has felt for her since she had the surgery. More than anything, I want to feel that way again. It felt like my body was normal and right for the first time in my life and I had control over my cravings and not the other way around.

Edited October 31, 2018 by laura bee