Scared and questioning if surgery will work

My surgery is scheduled for October. I have had approval from insurance since earlier this year, but keep putting off the surgery. The main reason being the fear of failure. The reason I am overweight is because I eat even if I feel full. I eat even if it feels uncomfortable because I've eaten too much. The surgery removes part of the stomach so that you feel full after eating only a small amount of food. But what stops you from overeating? I read Frisco's post about Pyloric Valve and that was informative. But I can't get my head around the idea that feeling full won't stop me. So why take this drastic step? I'm new to this site, but have been reading many of the posts, and I know this will not be easy. I'm sure others have had this feeling. How did you overcome it? Any advice?

There are many reasons as to why VSG will help you lose. At the beginning, you have HAVE to weigh and measure your food because your nerve ending are severed and you absolutely will not feel "full" no matter what. Not eating the correct amounts can result in serious complications like the damaging of the staple line. Of course, weighing and measuring is good practice really forever, but it's crucial at the beginning.

Secondly, eating too much after VSG is completely and totally unpleasant, and it takes much less to fill you. Pre-op, I would also gorge myself until I was in physical pain - but no longer do so because even going the slightest bit over my matured capacity of about 6-8 oz., is completely unpleasant. VSG was a perfect solution for be BECAUSE I never felt full pre-op and would eat, and eat. I needed my stomach to be drastically reduced. I always ate the "right" things, for the most part, but could eat probably 2-3 times as much as the other people around me. 

Overall, though, if you really feel that appetite doesn't play into your eating, then I would recommend perhaps taking to a therapist and trying to find meetings for Overeater's Anonymous. If eating is so compulsive to you that you know you can't stop and that even the possible risk of damage to your stomach is not a deterrent, then I would recommend first working on that part of the problem prior to getting the surgery.

I can totally relate. I was and still am a binge eater ...it's a disorder that cannot be corrected with surgery. It's all in the head. I managed to lose 230 lbs and then a couple years after surgery, I put 90lbs back on...quickly. I was eating way beyond full / the new stomach allows it to some extent but trust me, if I eat something too dense and eat too much - it'll come back up. But there's no such mechanism for eating too many slider or soft foods like the calories dense sugar and floury foods. Those it seems like I have an endless capacity. 

There was one day about 8 months ago. I was eating out of control. Under no cir****tance could I stop. I was scared and out of control and felt so much shame and guilt and all that. I thought i was hopeless. I constantly thought to myself how the hell did I have surgery just to engage in these behaviors. For the first two years after surgery, I swore I would never be that person that gains it back. I had every motivation in the world including a whole new body thanks to plastics. But I did. I gained it back. But for the sleeve, I'd have gained it all back for sure. So thank god for my sleeve but bigger thanks to God for leading me to Overeaters anonymous. 

If you truly feel out of control with your eating, please give it a shot. Yes - it's a 12 step spiritual program but it had worked so many miracles for so many people. It has changed my life in ways I could never imagine. It has helped me clean up all the areas in my life that cause me to reach for food and use food as a drug. I lost about 60 lbs in the last 7.5 months, but more than that gained peace and serenity around food. I don't battle with myself anymore, there's no more yo yo dieting, no more negotiating with myself over what I can and "should" have. I'm not full of shame and guilt and self hate anymore. 

My BIGGEST regret is not finding OA prior to surgery. If you want to chat more about food issues and/or OA send me  message. 

You are right for putting off the surgery if you feel that you will eat even when you're full. The sleeve, although you might feel unpleasant for eating too much, won't stop you from staying away from this behavior. You can graze all day to full., & chasing the full feeling is how a lot of people end up gaining their weight back. Eating till full for me tells me that I ate too much. I practice undereating my sleeve. The surgery is on our stomachs, not our head.

I think getting therapy, joining support groups etc will help with the head stuff & should be worked on b4 surgery., & afterwards. The surgery is only a tool if used properly, once you work on the head stuff & then get the surgery if you want, you'll be more successful in getting the weight off & keeping it off. 

I'm 5 days out from surgery and can tell you what I'm experiencing so far. I'm on full liquids now with very small amounts of strained, creamy soups that I load up with protein. It takes me a very long time to eat only an ounce or two of it. I am still sore, but I feel a great amount of discomfort if I go too fast. This discomfort is worse than when I use to overeat. I have been instructed to only eat til I feel pressure then stop and resume a little later. It's still very much trial and error for me as I'm trying to feed my body, hydrate my body and get my energy back up. I am like one of the other posters said, I use to cook good, healthy, no processed foods, but I never really felt full. Trust me, as my surgeon told me "I'm gonna make you feel full with this surgery; force you to"; and he has and I do feel full. I think this is going to be a wonderful tool to a healthy me. Something that I've not seen in many years. But it's something you need to be sure about, you can't get a mulligan on this one. Good luck to you. I know you will make the right decision for you. 

It sounds like you're teetering on an eating disorder, and you're right about the VSG not overcoming these behaviors.  With the aid of counseling, and working through what compels you to overeat, perhaps you can kick this thing with a one-two punch.

What stops you from eating is that if you overeat with the sleeve you will feel sick and throw up. On only had to do that once and never again. My hubby is also a sleever and still overeats to the point of sickness once in awhile. The sleeve reduces your grehlin production which reduces hunger. I was a big sugar carb junky and after surgery was not hungry for months.  Over the weight loss phase when you can't eat a lot you hopefully develop new habits so that when you reach goal, you have formed a better approach to eating. Still a good time to start now by trying to let go of whatever it is that makes you over eat.  I sort of psyched myself into thinking that I had eating so much good food in my life that I was ready to do with less of it.    Read "The End of Overeating" by Dr. Kessler which will make you hate the junk food industry and explains the addictive model.  GL,  Diane S

As most have said,  this surgery is only a tool.  It's a tool that works pretty good and if you feed it correctly with protein first,  your water low carb foods and take your vitamins it should keep you under control.  It is the slider foods that are the culprit.  You have to be very vigil and keep them very, very limited. 

I had a bad last year and regain 20 lbs.  I took control and have now lost 16 of my 20 and did it by paying attention to what goes in and went back to basics.  I sat down and had a talk with myself ..LOL..about why I went through all it took to get the surgery.  Had 80% of my stomach removed.....WHY....because I was, unhealthy, unhappy, I had basically checked out of life,  I wasn't in any family pictures, I stayed away from parties, family events, didn't accept any invitations to go places with friends,  pretty much didn't even talk to others unless it was absolutely necessary.....that's WHY.

I haven't regretted it for a moment.  I know it is hard to make this decision,  I am just believing you will NOT regret it.  You will get through it and you will learn all the in's and out's of how it works.  It is something we all learn,  because none of us actually know how it will be because we are all different and can't truly compare our experiences with someone else.

I hope this helps in some way.  Think hard and long,  where you are now....how your overweight life has been,  how many diets you've tried....we've all been there.  Then you will be able to make your decision.  You will find tons of answers to questions you have and lots of support and motivation on here, so keep in touch and I will be watching for your updates and cheering you on through it all.  Good luck to you and I wish you the best!

I had undiagnosed Binge Eating Disorder prior to surgery and, for the first year post-op, I did remarkably well.  My willpower was at an all time high, it was great.  Then my dad died and things went to ****  

I've recently gotten my Binge Eating Disorder diagnosed and have started medication for it and I'm very, very happy.  I feel like I did in that first year post-op.  It's awesome.  

So the short version is - surgery rocks, but you still need to fix your head.  For me, surgery really gave me breathing space I needed in order TO fix my head, but I was still able to get derailed when life went to **** I'm not sure that it will ever be possible to permanently fix my head, but hopefully I can go through longer and longer periods of remission.