My tips and why I Don't recommend Sleeve surgery for long term

[You Are My Sunshine 85]

On 9/25/2022 at 11:01 PM, Arabesque said:

I don’t eat like friends & family who carry weight. I don’t eat exactly like friends & family who never carried weight either. I have to work a little harder & listen more carefully to my body (what it needs, how it reacts, etc.) because it’s easier for me to gain weight.

THIS! I never will be able to, it will always be like that.

As far as the OP, I did not know that you could revise RNY in a sleeve-like manner. I had to google it, and apparently it is a thing. Learn every day! Ha.

The other thing you said about liposuction, though, I've been wondering about that. The occurrence of regain in those that have had some of their fat removed (through Lipo or tucks). As much as I don't want to do more surgeries, I'm open to the idea of removing some of these fat cells when I'm at a maintainable weight as part of this process in keeping it off.

[blackcatsandbaddecisions 844]

I’m mostly confused on the Lipo portion of this. Speaking as someone who recently had plastic surgery, I had multiple surgeons I consulted with note that I didn’t need lipo because quite frankly there wasn’t fat to suck out. If you lose enough weight you won’t even be a candidate for liposuction. Having just had all the loose skin removed from my hips up, I am not sure how this would have worked even had I asked for it. I can clearly feel bones and muscles under the surface now especially in my arm and chest.

[Arabesque 6,440]

6 hours ago, blackcatsandbaddecisions said:

I’m mostly confused on the Lipo portion of this. Speaking as someone who recently had plastic surgery, I had multiple surgeons I consulted with note that I didn’t need Lipo because quite frankly there wasn’t fat to suck out. If you lose enough weight you won’t even be a candidate for liposuction. Having just had all the loose skin removed from my hips up, I am not sure how this would have worked even had I asked for it. I can clearly feel bones and muscles under the surface now especially in my arm and chest.

I agree. And the surgery would remove fat cells as well as loose skin if that was a concern. Plus fat cells don’t make you gain weight & become overweight. We do that to ourselves by overeating & making poor food choices. (It’s a lot of why I said I have to work harder than friends & family who’ve never carried weight - too easy to slide to bad habits again.)

Edited October 4, 2022 by Arabesque

[blackcatsandbaddecisions 844]

I had a moment as the swelling went down where I was annoyed because I still had two bumps on my sides. Upon further examination I realized this wasn’t fat or skin rolls, it was actually my hip bones sticking out. I had never seen that before and wasn’t aware of the possibility 😅. Post bariatric and/or plastic surgery body changes are weird, y’all.

[pintsizedmallrat 470]

On 10/3/2022 at 5:13 PM, blackcatsandbaddecisions said:

I’m mostly confused on the Lipo portion of this. Speaking as someone who recently had plastic surgery, I had multiple surgeons I consulted with note that I didn’t need Lipo because quite frankly there wasn’t fat to suck out. If you lose enough weight you won’t even be a candidate for liposuction. Having just had all the loose skin removed from my hips up, I am not sure how this would have worked even had I asked for it. I can clearly feel bones and muscles under the surface now especially in my arm and chest.

Even if you wanted it as OP says "right away", I don't think there's a doctor anywhere who's going to look at someone freshly out of bariatric surgery and even consider doing lipo.

[SuziDavis 544]

On 9/25/2022 at 2:07 PM, strawberryga said:

2.If you have weight loss surgery be SURE to have Lipo suction after you've lost most of y our weight. Once you grow a fat cell you NEVER loose it unless you have it removed by having Lipo suction or cool sculpting. A fat cell will lay flattened until you have extra calories that need stored then they pop right up. Get rid of them b&&*$ right away, you can still grow more cells if you over eat but it takes time to grow them new, old cells are like little saboteurs waiting to fill up again.

This is not how it works and people should not go into PS or WLS thinking this.

[patrice1 81]

My results with the sleeve are completely different. I DO get sick eating sugar, rich foods, etc. It has been 8 years since my surgery and I have kept the weight off (100+ lb. weight loss).

[SpartanMaker 676]

I was hoping the OP would return so we could discuss some of the things posted here, but they have not. As such, I wanted to take a bit of time to delve a bit deeper into what was posted in the event anyone reading this was confused.

Sorry, but this will be a long post. The TL;DR version is that most of what was posted was inaccurate. Let's start with this section:

On 9/25/2022 at 1:07 PM, strawberryga said:

I had a revision to a gastric sleeve. The sleeve has been a joke, there is no stopping me from over eating sweets or fried foods, I was sick when I ate those things with a ruen-y. The sleeve has been a joke, there is no stopping me from over eating sweets or fried foods, I was sick when I ate those things with a ruen-y.

Dumping syndrome (feeling very sick when eating certain foods), is really variable for both Sleeve and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass patients. Some people have this, and some don't. It's generally accurate to say that dumping is more common in gastric bypass but regardless, relying on this as the way to keep you from eating things you shouldn't, is just not a good strategy.

As I mentioned before, neither surgery fixes what's between your ears, so if you go into WLS expecting that this is going to keep you from binge eating, you likely won't be successful.

On 9/25/2022 at 1:07 PM, strawberryga said:

Dr says my stomach looks like any other non surgery stomach he sees. So much for my surgery dr saying stomachs dont stretch.

Stomachs can stretch, but it takes repeatedly overeating for this to happen. I wanted to make that clear since some people are overly worried about this. As long as you stick to plan, this should not be a concern.

On 9/25/2022 at 1:07 PM, strawberryga said:

1.Ruen-y is more evasive but it keeps you from eating sweets/fried foods without becoming so ill you have to lay down for 2 hours. (not dangerous, just very uncomfortable)

Again, not a good strategy expecting dumping syndrome to "fix" you. Fix your eating problem first, then have surgery to help you get to a healthy weight.

On 9/25/2022 at 1:07 PM, strawberryga said:

2.If you have weight loss surgery be SURE to have Lipo suction after you've lost most of y our weight. Once you grow a fat cell you NEVER loose it unless you have it removed by having Lipo suction or cool sculpting. A fat cell will lay flattened until you have extra calories that need stored then they pop right up. Get rid of them b&&*$ right away, you can still grow more cells if you over eat but it takes time to grow them new, old cells are like little saboteurs waiting to fill up again.

The OP seems to have a misunderstanding about how fat cells work. White Adipocytes (fat cells), store lipids (fats) as droplets in the body of the cell. The volume of the droplet stored in each cell can grow or shrink as needed. The point is that the number of fat cells one has does not determine some sort of "baseline" amount of fat you will store.

Yes, obese people often have more fat cells on average, though this is somewhat determined by genetics, overall body mass, as well as how long you have been obese. The OP is correct in that you can grow new fat cells if you exceed the capacity of your existing adipocytes to store lipids. What's not correct is that this somehow makes it more likely that you'll gain weight if you overeat. If you overeat, you'll gain weight regardless.

On 9/25/2022 at 1:07 PM, strawberryga said:

3. If you don't like aerobic activity try chill-aerobics. Sit somewhere cold.. shiver and ur body burns fat. 15 min. of shivering equals 30min,. of aerobic activity. Your body will burn fat to try and warm you up. (it's actually opposite in a polar bears body)

This is factually wrong. Yes, being cold does require your metabolism to work harder to keep you warm. Studies have shown that on average, if you were to exercise in a very cold environment vs. a warm one, you can burn as much as 30% more calories when subjected to cold. Keep in mind that this effect only occurs when you are exposed to cold however.

Let's take a simple example to illustrate how little of a difference this makes: Let's say your basal metabolic rate is 2000 calories. If you burn 30% additional calories in a 15 minute session of shivering as the OP suggested, that means you'd burn about 21 extra calories. (2000 calories divided by 24 hours is about 83 calories. That times 30% equals about 25. Divide 25 by 4 since it's 15 minutes of shivering and you get about 6. So if you take the OP's advice, you'd burn about 6 extra calories for your 15 minutes of shivering.

Now if you actually workout (rather than just sit), in a cold environment, you can certainly increase the calories burned, but again, it's limited.

I hope you see that this is not a good way to actually lose weight. Plus, we should be exercising for other reasons like to improve our cardiovascular health. Shivering won't do anything for that.

If you want to know the real way to exercise for weight loss, you need to do strength training. Why? Because as you strength train, you also increase your basal metabolism. In other words, you burn more calories even when you're not working out.

[You Are My Sunshine 85]

Fascinating stuff!

[sindihankins 0]

I had gastric bypass surgery 10 years a ago. I had the revision in June and have only lost 10 pounds. I feel like it was a waste of time. There isn’t a restriction on how much I can eat. It is very discouraging.

[SleeverSk 617]

On 9/26/2022 at 7:09 AM, SleeveDiva2022 said:

Yeah, usually it's a revision from sleeve to bypass. I've never heard of a bypass to sleeve revision. How does that work?

I have a friend of a friend didn't do well after having a bypass it was reversed and then they sleeved her and she did better. (not sure what the problem was but must have been bad enough for them to revisit surgery)

[Usseent 1]

1. You can get a sleeve if you want to, but it's not necessary.
I've had my left arm amputated twice before and have been able to live a normal life without any problems. I don't think it's necessary to have a sleeve. If you do choose to have a sleeve, make sure you're getting one that fits properly. There are some sleeves out there that are way too big and cause a lot of pain. Also, make sure you're having it done by someone who knows what they're doing.
2. You'll need to learn how to use prosthetics.
You'll need to learn how your prosthetic works and how to care for it. Make sure you know how to clean it, oil it, and adjust it. You'll also need to learn how to put it on and take it off.
3. You'll need to find a good prosthetist.
Make sure you find a good prosthetists who specializes in amputees. Most people who have a limb removed end up going to a doctor who does general orthopedics. These doctors aren't trained to work with prosthetics. A good prosthetist should be able to help you figure out what size socket you need and where to place it.
4. You'll need to buy new clothes.
If you decide to go ahead with a sleeve, you'll probably need to buy new clothes since you won't be able to wear your old ones anymore.
5. You'll need to get fitted for a new prosthesis.
This means finding a prosthetist who specializes in amputee prosthetics. Once you find him/her, make sure you tell them about your situation and ask them questions about your options.
6. You'll need to start taking medication again.
When you have a sleeve, you'll need to start taking medications again. Your doctor may prescribe you different types of drugs depending on what kind of amputation you had.
7. You'll need to deal with depression.
Depression is something that many people struggle with after losing a limb. Make sure you talk to your doctor about ways to combat this problem.

[SleeverSk 617]

I don't think you are talking about the same thing,well I don't think I know you aren't 🤔

[SleeveToBypass2023 1,795]

On 10/7/2022 at 11:35 PM, Usseent said:

1. You can get a sleeve if you want to, but it's not necessary.
I've had my left arm amputated twice before and have been able to live a normal life without any problems. I don't think it's necessary to have a sleeve. If you do choose to have a sleeve, make sure you're getting one that fits properly. There are some sleeves out there that are way too big and cause a lot of pain. Also, make sure you're having it done by someone who knows what they're doing.
2. You'll need to learn how to use prosthetics.
You'll need to learn how your prosthetic works and how to care for it. Make sure you know how to clean it, oil it, and adjust it. You'll also need to learn how to put it on and take it off.
3. You'll need to find a good prosthetist.
Make sure you find a good prosthetists who specializes in amputees. Most people who have a limb removed end up going to a doctor who does general orthopedics. These doctors aren't trained to work with prosthetics. A good prosthetist should be able to help you figure out what size socket you need and where to place it.
4. You'll need to buy new clothes.
If you decide to go ahead with a sleeve, you'll probably need to buy new clothes since you won't be able to wear your old ones anymore.
5. You'll need to get fitted for a new prosthesis.
This means finding a prosthetist who specializes in amputee prosthetics. Once you find him/her, make sure you tell them about your situation and ask them questions about your options.
6. You'll need to start taking medication again.
When you have a sleeve, you'll need to start taking medications again. Your doctor may prescribe you different types of drugs depending on what kind of amputation you had.
7. You'll need to deal with depression.
Depression is something that many people struggle with after losing a limb. Make sure you talk to your doctor about ways to combat this problem.

Um...what??? I don't think you and the OP are talking about the same thing. The sleeve being discussed is a weight loss surgery where 70-80% of the stomach is removed. Has nothing to do with amputation.

[pintsizedmallrat 470]

On 10/9/2022 at 3:45 PM, SleeveDiva2022 said:

Um...what??? I don't think you and the OP are talking about the same thing. The sleeve being discussed is a weight loss surgery where 70-80% of the stomach is removed. Has nothing to do with amputation.

Glad I wasn't the only one confused. Sure, you may lose 20-30 pounds per leg, but you're probably not going to look the way you're hoping in jeans..