7 Years after VSG Gastric Sleeve Weight Gain/Loss

[JinnChan 2]

Hi, I am nearing the 7 year anniversary of my VGS. I initially lost 102 pounds. Losing the weight was easy after surgery. A year later I started to feel too small. I needed to wrap my head around my new body. I felt that I was too small and gained 10 pounds. I was able to maintain this weight for years but then the Covid lockdown began, I ran into problems. Living alone, eating, & very little physical activity led to a 20 pound weight gain. Today I have gained 40 pounds and I am working towards losing the weight. Has anyone experienced the same? Any advice or suggestions are appreciated.

Edited September 16 by JinnChan

[VSGDavid 184]

Yep. I had surgery in 2018. Lost 172 pounds. March 2020 hit and I started regaining. I regained 60# of the weight I lost. I’m back on the road to fixing it now (16# lost from highest regain)

I kept telling myself it’s not that bad. It’s only 10#. And it kept snowballing. Very discouraging, but it happens.

[VSGDavid 184]

Yep. I had surgery in 2018. Lost 172 pounds. March 2020 hit and I started regaining. I regained 60# of the weight I lost. I’m back on the road to fixing it now (16# lost from highest regain)

I kept telling myself it’s not that bad. It’s only 10#. And it kept snowballing. Very discouraging, but it happens.

[catwoman7 10,345]

weight gain is really common if you let bad habits sneak back in. Happens to a lot of people. Most people don't gain everything back, but it's not uncommon to gain 30, 40, or 50 lbs. You can lose it again, but it's definitely more challenging than the first time around!

[RickM 1,721]

Yes, very common, and here is one of the factors -

In the middle of the video he goes over the typical progression of meal volume that we can expect, and it is consistent with my experience. I you simply let things happen and eat the same way we did the first year, but more, then there will certainly be the tendency to gain.

While I'm not a big fan of everything this guy preaches (or any online guru, for that matter,) one of the things that I do like is his "eat your vegetables first" concept, which he applies after the first few months of Protein first. My general evolution was to increase the veg content of my meals over time, rather than the protein, as the protein that we are advised to consume early on is usually our basic requirement, as we can't get that from pills like we can most micronutrients. So, I still have about 3 oz of meat in a meal today like I did the first year, but a lot more veg in there.

And, it's still something of a struggle because the junk still wants to creep back in there stimulating old habits (we usually spent a lot more time getting fat, and getting used to it, than we have trying to be healthy now!)

With a sleeve, or a bypass, at this point it is basic dieting/healthy balanced eating that we are all familiar with; it is somewhat easier than before as our volume rarely returns to where is was pre-op, but our old bad habits sure can come back.