How long should I wait before I want to get surgery part 2? Has anyone ever done it?

I'm by no means an expert having only been at this for 5 mths, but it sounds suspiciously like you've put yourself in maintenance.

What do you mean by maintenance? I don't understand what you're trying to say? 

She's saying that you are in maintenance - which means you are eating the same amount of calories that your body burns. So, if your body maintains weight on say, 2100 calories per day, then you are eating 2100 calories per day (these are just example numbers, what you actually burn depends on your activity level and your current weight). In order to lose weight, you have to burn more calories than you're eating.

The only way to know precisely what you are consuming is to track every single thing - food, drink, etc. You can't "eyeball" portion, you should weigh/ measure everything - even liquids. Are you currently doing that? If no, start right away. Buy a food scale if you don't already have one, buy measuring utensils, and track everything in an app - like MyFitnessPal or LoseIt

Gotcha. I do use that app. And liquids all I drink is water. And as for measuring I never bought a scale or anything because I can only eat maybe 5 bites of anything. But maybe I'll try switching things up.

Why do you think there's something wrong with your surgery when you can only eat 5 bites per meal?  It seems to me that your sleeve is performing exactly the way it should be. 

According to my WLS physician,"sleeves do not stretch...swelling goes down."  He refers to the "not working" as eating and appetites "stretching".  I am only a patient. 

Good luck

Mine said it can be stretched back out to the original size of the stomach that it was before surgery. I don't know. I just think there is something going on and that I should have lost more weight and shouldn't have stopped that soon.

Are you sure you weren't originally hoping to get a Duodenal Switch (DS)? This surgery is the most powerful of the weight loss surgeries and has the stomach of a sleeve, with rerouting of the intestines. Usually, from what I understand, this surgery is reserved for people with a VERY high starting BMI. Perhaps the surgeon feels, that if you stick closely to the post-op eating plan, that you won't need such a serious part two revision? I would be direct and ask him again - he may just be trying to avoid a lifetime of a diligent vitamin taking regime that comes along with part two....

I have never heard of DS. But I am going Monday to see him again. I will ask him. If he beats around the bush again though, I am going to see about going to another doctor and getting a different perspective. 

I'm not sure what you mean by part 2. There is no part 2 to a sleeve. Sometimes the DS (Duodenal Switch) is done in two stages: first the sleeved stomach and then the rerouting of the intestines.

I'm curious as to what you might be eating since you are only able to eat about 5 bites per meal. That to me indicates that your sleeve is working very well, indeed. I'm thinking that since you are playing around with the same 8 pounds you are probably in what we call "Maintenance" which Nikke explained very well.

If you want to start losing weight again, I would try counting calories, grams of carbs, and grams of protein. It is a place to start. If you don't start losing weight eating 100+ grams of protein per day and fewer than 50 carbs per day and keeping your calories to about 1000 a day, then I would start worrying a little.

The VSG is not a one size fits all surgery. I know fellow VSGers that are able to eat quite a bit more than I can, and some that can eat only a portion of what I do. At 3.5 years out I believe I still can't eat very much when I eat properly. For instance, I had 1 oz chopped ham, 1/2 oz shredded cheese and 1 egg for lunch. I am sated. HOWEVER, I could eat double that amount by volume of ice cream with no issues at all. I can eat 4 homemade chocolate chip cookies in a row - no problem. But when I put whole, unprocessed foods in my mouth, I can eat much, much less.

I would love for you to try my "plan" for a week and check back in an let us know how it's going. I bet you'll be happy by the progress you make in just one week.

Good luck!