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Experience of seasoned sleevers



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Hello friends I was wondering how the journey is for seasoned sleevers and what advice you could give for us beginners. I have read a lot in regards of weight reverting and stabilization, physiological changes etc... How has the post-op experience been for you guys??? What would you have done differently if anything? Thanks for sharing!

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Bariatric weight loss is nothing magic. Follow your plan and put the work in.

Weight Loss success stories

https://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/1298-weight-loss-surgery-success-stories/

Tell your weight loss story

https://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/1297-tell-your-weight-loss-surgery-story/

Before and afters

https://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/297668-i-want-to-see-before-after-pics-contd/

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Couple of things I’d note, 10 months out:

- don’t compare yourself to others, focus on your own goals.

- get familiar with the metric that the average VSG patient loses 60% of their excess body weight. Set expectations accordingly and train yourself to tell the difference between genuinely falling behind medically and just perceiving you’re losing slower than others (comparison)

- keep in mind that this board is full of self-selecting success stories. We are NOT an accurate reflection of the group at large; those who lose less or struggle are less likely to post here consistently.

- many people who go off-track get walloped by the habit/emotional side of things. Think about therapy before and after, and if you start noticing yourself sabotaging? SEE SOMEONE.

- the honeymoon phase is about a year long. Don’t waste it.

For me, this surgery’s been a fantastic experience. My best guess is that I was chasing a chemical high achieved when I overate; when I could no longer overeat, I couldn’t get the high anymore so all incentive to overeat dropped away. I think the experience is different for people who have habits like emotional eating or socialized/ritualized eating patterns. Then again, the experience is different for absolutely everyone, so all you can do is prep in a best-guess way and put forth your best effort.

Good luck.

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That is really great advice. I'm terrified I'll not hit my goal and/or in a couple years be back at my original weight. Thank you😀

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Thank you Sideeye for sharing! Your excellent insight and advice is noted. I couldn't agree more with the statement of honeymoon phase, time flies amazingly fast and its best to make sure you put the work in when it counts like Healthy_Life states. I think if we maximize that phase not only do we accomplish our goals but we build long term habits. As for myself this surgery has been beneficial for me in so many ways and Im sure at one point or the other we all shared similar results positive or negative.

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    • LeighaTR

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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