How to get over missing part of your stomach!

I agree with almost all of what the above post said from VSGAnn. The part where she wrote that "about half of those who have WLS regain at least half of their lost weight" is inaccurate. First, I would gently suggest to look at the stats for VSG given that is what you are considering and not lump all WLS together. Why? The DS has better stats and longterm results, but with greater trade offs. The lapband has awful stats. Given you are looking at VSG just look at your VSG stats and compare those stats to the stats of the other surgeries.

The VSG stats indicate that the average person will regain 5% of what they lost. So, if you lose 100 pounds then your regain would be 5. Of course, that is the "average" person meaning that some will lose and stay well below their goal EWL or regain more. Personally, I have been hovering 15 pounds below my goal weight for a few years now, so I would balance out the person who hovers around a 20 pound regain to get that "average" person.

Do some of us experience regain? Absolutely. Do we all? Absolutely not. Do we all regain even 20%? Nope. And the one thing that becomes very clear is that the regainers show patterns early out from surgery that is predictive of the later regain. For example, denial, continuing to regularly eat junk food/sugary food, not tracking, drinking alcohol, etc. Those of us that get to goal and stay there also show predictive patterns although this is not to say we are "perfect" and never vary from plan. Our predictive patterns tend to be weighing and tracking, monitoring nutrients ( getting in protein, not overdoing carbs/avoiding simple carbs, avoid junk food/fast food/sugar, log daily, etc.) and we are very consistent with this. (My personal goal is to be consistent at least 90% of the time.)

This is an interesting question and I honestly don't know - it never crossed my mind to be bothered by it?  

But you know what else is irreversible?  Dying young due to poor health, abandoning those you love, having crippling debt from healthcare if you're "lucky" enough to live in the US.  I've never seen my stomach so losing part of it to avoid all these other things seems like a minor thing.  (I'm not trying to diminish your concerns - they're valid simply because they're yours.)  

You are right though - what good is having more children if you're not around to see them grow?  It seems like there's a greater chance you won't be if you DON'T have the surgery than if you do.  

And... as for for as social activity... you'll find other things to do when traveling and hanging out with friends :)  I still love both of those activities, they just don't center around food anymore.  

I don't miss my missing stomach any more than I miss the lemon sized brain tumor they took out of my noggin 6 years ago.  Both were slowly killing me, so I simply took care of them before they took care of me.  

I enjoy my girls' nights out even more.  I still have wine, and I love sushi.  I just drink a little less and eat sashimi. I still travel and I still sample foods.  The change?  I sample, I don't gorge myself.

My new normal is 5-6 mini meals per day.  I eat a few ounces, I am happy and satisfied and because I eat so little, I don't feel guilty eating better quality foods like shrimp, crab and fancy cheeses.

As a mom, wife, business owner, taking this step was the exact opposite of selfish in my opinion.  I can play with my kids, we practice martial arts together and we do mud runs twice yearly.  I am a better wife because I have more energy (wink wink).  My business is prospering because I can move better, longer, and focus more on matters at hand rather than sucking in my gut.

I wish I had made this decision sooner but I am so glad I did it!  It's given me my life back and it's given ME back to my family.

This is what I needed to hear! Thank you!

Everyone has answered great. 

Me, I had my surgeon take a pic of mine after he took it out.  It's in my photos on here.  If I were ever to miss it, I could go back and look at it.  I just giggle when I see it!!!!  You're welcome to look at it if you wish.

http://www.obesityhelp.com/members/khepera/photos/339903/#ph otoviewer

The thing that reassured me most about losing part of my stomach is that the VSG can technically be converted to an RNY in the case of "catastrophic failure." You're not completely hosed if something happens to your remaining stomach! It's rare, but my surgeon said he's handled a couple of cases like that, which was reassuring.

I had surgery at age 31. I knew I wanted to have a baby, but my health was in no shape to get pregnant or care for a baby. I had surgery, lost 140 lb, and proceeded to have a very healthy pregnancy and a wonderful baby boy. Now I have the energy and ability to crawl all over with him and I'm so grateful to have my health for him!

I wish the pregnancy board here was more active...how long did you wait until deciding to get pregnant? (Im 35 and just had a baby 6 months ago) I know there are recommendations and "guid lines" but all my research is all over the place. And it seems many women throw those guid lines out the window!

My surgeon recommends waiting at least 1 year post-op to get pregnant. Some doctors suggest 18 months, but things have usually settled down enough by the one-year mark to be OK.

You'll see plenty of accidental pregnancies before the one-year mark, rather than people getting pregnant on purpose! Our fertility often jumps dramatically as we lose a lot of weight, and it's actually recommended to be on two forms of BC if possible because the risk of a "surprise" can be so high.

so you get a cavity and you go for a filling. Dentist drill out the part that is bad and fills it. That part of your tooth is gone, do you miss it? 

Are you maybe emotionally attatched to your stomach?

Im not emotionally attached...its just irreplaceable. I cant get a new one or a replacement...unless there is research I have not done. A tooth can be replaced, the pp talked about filing a nail which can grow back. Again, these thoughts are coming form someone who over analyzes EVERYTHING, ha. :)