The lifetime limit for weight loss surgery refers to the lifetime of the patient. You can't change insurance companies and start a new lifetime.

Most weight loss surgery patients lose about 100 pounds. Most gain back about 20 pounds during the third year after surgery. By year five 50% have gained back 50 pounds. Some people gain back all or their lost weight and more. You are not unusual.

Research the different types of revision. You will likely be paying out of pocket if you decide to do it. I have been watching this board since 2003 and have yet to see a revision person lose more than 20 pounds from their revision. There are a few exceptions who go on strict diet and exercise programs and stick to them. They do lose more weight, but might be exercising three or more hours a day.

If a surgeon offers to tighten your sleeve, that will make almost no difference after a month. You already know how to eat enough to gain weight with a sleeve and that will not change. Distal RNY causes more malabsorption. But it only helps if you eat a high fat diet with very few carbs. Because carbs will still be absorbed. It also causes gas and diarrhea, possibly to the point where you will need diapers for life.

The way to lose weight is by taking in less calories than you burn. It will not be fast and easy like it is after the first weight loss surgery. When I started regaining, I went back to Weigh****chers. I counted points and tracked exercise. I have had several regains and lost it again since 2007.

I feel like the mean kid in second grade who tells all the other kids that there is no Santa Claus and their parents buy those Christmas presents. The only thing that a revision is good for is to relieve sleeve-caused GERD. Revision does not result in weight loss like a virgin weight loss surgery does.

Revision from VSG to RNY corrects the "too tight" situation that causes the GERD. RNY also gives some temporary malabsorption. After your weight loss surgery, you went from a stomach that held somewhere between 28 and 40 ounces of food. For a comparison, picture 10 McDonald's quarter pound burgers. Your old stomach could have held that amount of food at every meal.

Your sleeve reduced your stomach to about 2 or 3 ounces. A huge meal for that size stomach would be half of one McDonald's hamburger patty without the bun. With that tiny stomach weight falls off effortlessly. But the body is smart and wants that weight back. We learn how to get in more food even with a tiny stomach. Smaller, high calorie, and more frequent meals put the weight back on.

About 50% of people go back to diet and exercise when regain starts. If you were not counting calories or Weigh****cher points and doing strenuous exercise daily then your chance of regaining all that weight was at about 97%. We blame the regain on stress, sickness, pregnancy, or other factors, but the truth is that we regained because we ate more calories than we burned.

Resleeving is a quick, easy, and lucrative procedure for the surgeon. I have been watching for the last 20 years and know of zero people who lost more than 20 pounds due to resleeve. That is because your sleeve did not stretch out to hold 40 ounces again. It might hold 6 ounces now and will get reduced down to 3 ounces, but that will not even be noticeable after a few weeks. And if you eat a big meal, it will just stretch back out again to hold more food. If GERD is not a big problem than revising to RNY is going to have about the same effect as resleeving. You will lose about 20 pounds due to a liquid diet before and after surgery.

Once you go back to normal eating, that 20 pounds will come back. The only way to lose the bounceback regain after surgery is with diet and exercise. Weigh****chers is the most well known of those programs. But there are others, like TOPS that can be very successful. The secret is figuring out how many calories a day you need to maintain and then sticking to that plan. In addition there are changes to make in your thinking and habits to make you a weight loss success long term.

I had surgery in 2007. I have regained and lost it again several times. I will be very good for a long time at following a food plan and then get sick of it and gain weight again. This is a lifetime journey for me and will always involve making sure I don't eat too many calories. I weigh myself daily, plan meals and exercise, and stay aware.

Forget about revision. It is not the answer. Diet and exercise is. You can take that weight off and keep it under control for life, but the change has to come from you and the life that you want to live.

I never tell people that I had weight loss surgery. They think it is the easy way out and it is for about two years. After that it is harder to lose weight than before the surgery.

Did tricare prime retired cover your revision?

I would seriously look at the bypass. You have already had a sleeve and 99% of the time re-sleeving only gives you a 20-30lb weight loss. Maybe look at getting a second opinion. Best of luck.

Hey! Just checking in to see how your journey is going so far? Im scheduled for revision on 10/12.