VSG versus Dieting

I believe you are pre-op, aren't you? Post-op many people have to eat less than 1200 to maintain their loss and even fewer to lose.

Yay Laura ... I can see having to do under 1200 or so. congrats!!

it varies a lot between people. I'm in maintenance and average 1700 calories a day. Some people can only eat 1200 to maintain - or even fewer. Others can eat 2000 (these are women - there are some men who can eat even more).

The biggest difference is that with the VSG, you're not going to feel like you're missing out, because you're not hungry like you would be without it. For some, it's just what they needed, for others, they need more to fight their bodies, for even the VSG isn't enough in the long run. Many VSG's have moved on to get revisions to RNY and DS because they weren't getting good results.

There is also a hypothesis (not proven, but there's some interesting early evidence) that WLS somehow re-sets the set point, which is the weight your body thinks it should be (usually close to your highest weight). As we gain weight over time, that set point gets higher and higher, and the body thinks that's the weight it should be at, and weight loss is bad as evolutionarily it meant scarce resources or illness. So the body fights tooth and nail to get back to that set point, driving hunger through hormones and other means, and causing cravings for fatty and high calorie foods to worsen. It's part of the process that makes permanent weight loss a serious uphill battle for most. People who have the ability to overcome those cravings and hormone drives, don't usually get morbidly obese.

Mind you, all of this is theoretical and can't be proven.

I can tell you that I'm 47 and have been overweight most of my adult life. If diet and exercise were enough for me, I wouldn't have needed the surgery. And my only regret is that I didn't do it years and years ago.

Right before I decided on getting surgery I dieted for 6 months solid using myfitnesspal to track every thing I ate. I kept my calories between 1200-1400 ... so it wasn't to extreme. I cut out sugar, pasta and bread completely. At first I was just a little hungry ...then more hungry ... then I began bargaining with myself. I would say oh I can have that peanut butter sandwich but I'll have to walk for an hour. Today I can eat that extra 200 calories but tomorrow I'll have to eat 200 less. That kind of stuff. All the while I was getting hungrier and hungrier. I became obsessed with food, what I could eat and when I could eat it ... a behavior I didn't have before. at the end of the 6 months I had lost only 30 pounds and I was fed up with how food was ALWAYS on my mind. So I quit dieting, regained the weight and starting looking into other options.

I had VSG surgery 3 and a half months ago and I am down 40 pounds. I do not stress over food, I am not hungry all the time and have no regrets.

I dieted multiple times and spent thousands of dollars - literally - on different weight loss programs through the years . I was able to lose on some of them (WW never worked for me, but not for lack of effort). I even did hcg shots. But I never got that feeling that I had found a permanent solution until vsg. Each time, weight would creep back on or load back on like an unstoppable freight train. I'm 6 months post op and feel much more in control. Not at goal yet by any means but I have a path to get there now.

I am still pre-op (surgery scheduled 8/20) but the reason I finally decided to go with WLS instead of more dieting is because I have lost 116 lbs and kept it off for over a year with diet and exercise before I slowly allowed the weight to pile back on (plus some, the usual story) over the course of 5 years. Now I am at a point where I just can't allow my weight to ruin my life anymore. We all have our own stories and this is mine. I'm about to turn 32 years old. I've been with my husband for over 8 years and we'll have been married a year in November. We're wanting to have a baby in the next few years and I don't feel comfortable risking my life or my babies life by staying at the weight I'm at now. Also, at 32 I don't feel like I have a lot of time to get this weight off. It took me almost 2 years to lose the 116 lbs I lost the first time and now I need to lose 165 lbs to get to a healthy weight. That would be another 3 years of dieting. When I was dieting and exercising before I was hungry ALL. THE. TIME. I was also able to exercise 1.5-2 hrs a day plus walking an extra 2-5 miles a day because I was in college and had a ton of free time plus I walked to all of my classes. I don't have the same kind of time to dedicate to exercise now. I work 60ish hrs a week at my job so by the time I get home I barely have time to eat before I need to go to sleep so I can get enough sleep to get up for work the next day. I know if I cut my calories to less than 1200 a day it's impossible for me to stick to that for more than a few days before I want to binge. I have tried every diet under the sun & nothing has worked for me long term. I have so much weight to lose that it feels insurmountable at this point and the quick short term dramatic weight loss is what I need to get that jump start. I know I can lose the weight, but doing it with diet and exercise alone is going to take me so long and I just don't have the luxury of time anymore.

This was my before when I lost weight the 1st time. I was around 315 lbs here.

This was me around 199 lbs after that 116 lb weight loss.

Now I am back up to 305 lbs. That's down from my highest weight of 344 lbs in January of this year. Diet and exercise do work & if I only had 50 lbs to lose that is what I would do but I have 204 total pounds to lose from my highest weight and I don't have the 4 years that it will take me lose it. I've seen people lose 100 lbs in 6 months with VSG and I am going to try my hardest to get down to 160 over the next year and a half that I have to wait before trying to get pregnant. Good luck in your own journey!