Gastic Sleeve OR Optifast Diet? Help!

This exactly- Optifast can be followed succussfully by some with a great deal of weight loss. Problem is, at some point you go into maintenance. You still have the big ol' stomach that can hold a lot of capacity, loads of ghrelin, and didn't truly learn how to eat real food at the levels needed by your body. The stats for maintaining that loss via Optifast are crappy compared to surgery. 

I first looked into surgery when I was 25 years old too. I decided against it because back then it was mainly RNY and I didn't like the idea of rerouting my intestines. I joined the Quick Weightloss Center + starved myself and lost 125 lbs. But I eventually gained it all back + some just like every other diet I did. So if you choose to do the Optifast plan, just know that you will most likely gain when you start to eat food again. Do you honestly believe that you could live off of 3 shakes a day? Most of us did all liquids for 2 or 3 weeks pre-op and we all can tell you it was NOT easy!! I couldn't do it for months! Anyway, I wished I had done the surgery 10 years ago but here I am, 35 years old now and 3 weeks post op and couldn't be happier. Yes I was nervous at first but I was super calm before surgery. I prepped myself mentally by reading just about everything on this site. You should stick around for a bit and get yourself familiar with the sleeve before you decide. Surgery was a breeze for me and I was back to work after 1 week. Good luck in whatever you choose! 

Thank you for your input. I am still debating which one to do. I know I am ready to work hard and stick through if I choose the Optifast way. Diet and exercise after the shakes. 

Ditto to everything Rachel said. I just turned 35, had the surgery a month ago, and I wish I would have done this years ago. Sure, there's always the food choice component, but I am actually satisfied with a small amount of food thanks to my sleeve. If I had portions this small before surgery, I would be starving all day long. It's not possible to have a "cheat day" or cheat year anymore. I can go out with friends and watch them eat copious amounts of bar food while I have a small cup of chili that fills me up completely. Before the surgery, I was right there with them. 

I did Optifast in the early 1990s.  Lost 90 lbs.  Gained 200 lbs. when I stopped it.

It's a short term fix that will not help you make permanent changes to your lifestyle to keep the weight off.  I don't know anyone who has successfully kept the weight off after doing Optifast. 

Could it be possible that the optimist system has changed since the 90's?. 

I have also heard of people that have weight gained after sleeve surgery. The way I see it is that a diet is a diet, moderation, exercise, consistency. Thank you for your comment, I am still debating what route to take. 

The thing with diets is that it's temporary, optifast is temporary. I wouldn't want to do a liquid diet for a week, much less for months at a time. Moderation is great, if you can stay with it. I think getting over the depression should come first, the weight gain is a reaction to that. If you can tackle the mental issues & do moderation with their help to get the weight off & keep it off, you might avoid surgery.

I see surgery as a tool to help me get my weight off & keep it off, but it's not my only tool. Dealing with the mental issues is a day by day battle. If a diet was a diet, & moderation, exercise & consistency helps people get the weight off & keep it off, good for them, but I think past a certain weight, surgery along with those other things is the most successful way to get the weight off & keep it off.

Yes, it is true some experience regain... even a few here and there total regain (not many that I see post here though). This is where you might benefit by doing some research. The sleeve patients statistically regain on average 5% of what they lost. Optifast is a clusterfuck when it comes to regain. My mother in law lost as much as I did with my surgery, gained all of it and then some back starting shortly after she went into maintenance. 4.5 years out and still going strong, eating real food that is the correct portion size for me without starving or feeling deprived in any manner.

Don't underestimate the power of losing most or all of your ghrelin. Today, for example, was a hot mess- my daughter found out her university retracted a $5,000 housing grant, making her dorm unaffordable for us. She was supposed to move in Sunday, screwing her roommate in the process. Had my hands full dealing with her meltdown, tracking down what happened, and coming up with an alternative plan that worked for us financially and also the roommate. I forgot to eat literally the entire day due to this- not 1 minute did I "feel" hungry. Compare that to when I have acid issues, as acid for some of us can mimic hunger. That was the only time in my 4.5 years I regained above my goal weight. Once that was resolved, immediately able to get my weight back where it belonged and cruising along more like normal now. I tracked religiously too for more than a year- on my high acide days (sometimes up to a two week period) my calories skyrocketed due to the "hunger" associated with it. 

Without experiencing the surgery it is so difficult to wrap your head around why this will be different compared to diet x, y, or z. But it is. So many of us failed at dozens and dozens of diets before we got here, and with surgery lose 100% of goal and maintain it long term or with that 5% regain mentioned. No. Comparison. To. Optifasgt.

It's a difficult decision and one to not be taken lightly, so it's good you are asking questions and doing some research.   I just wanted to point out one thing I've seen a lot of people post on this forum, they're only regret was not having the surgery sooner in life and going through all those yrs obese.   Yes, there is a chance for regain with wls too, but we have an  advantage with the restriction from a smaller stomach.   Also the ghrelin(hunger hormone) reduction, a lot of people don't have physical hunger after the surgery.   I am 5 yrs out and I still don't have physical hunger.  Now I do still struggle with wanting carbs, so it's head hunger.   You still have to make good food choices.   But I am 90 lbs lighter and smaller than I've been in 20 yrs or so.   Don't do either if you're not ready.  Oh, and there is also the low carb lifestyle most of us adhere to now, you could try it now to see if you can lose weight, it's just easier with wls.   It would give you an idea on how it would be post-surgery.   Good luck in whatever decision you make!!

You are getting some good advice. I lost and regained 100+ pounds three times before VSG. I have found you have to be ready for a total lifestyle change THAT IS SUSTAINABLE long term. One of my 100+ losses was Optifast. I totally avoided my disordered thinking about for eight months, and immediately regained 150 pounds.

I encourage you to follow a plan you could follow forever. Prior to VSG, Weigh****chers came closest for me. I NEEDED the tool of a smaller stomach designed for protein forward eating and that fabulous pyloric valve to enhance the restriction to pull everything about a healthy lifestyle together. I truly wish I had given myself this gift when I was 25 !