In reading through several of the posts here, it sounds like people are perpetually hungry

I thought that the entire raison d'etre of the sleeve was to limit intake and thus, provide a dramatically greater feeling of satiety much sooner than before. Beyond this, it is my understanding that the removal of the part of the stomach which is excised contains tissue which produces ghrelin which causes feelings of hunger. The net result would then be that there is far less hunger throughout the day.

Am I mistaken in these assumptions? Reading through many of the posts here I'm not hearing too much about what this surgery does to aid us in our journey. Often, it just seems like people are adhering to a very difficulty diet characterized by endless deprivation.

Am I missing something?

Please understand, I'm not looking to argue or troll, I'm genuinely interested in hearing about the specific benefits of this surgery. I'm wondering if people who post on forums such as this may represent a skewed sample of individuals who are experiencing problems and are looking for help or guidance.

I know there are some people who say they feel hunger - I personally never feel hunger. Sometimes I want to eat, but when I think back to stomach growling hunger - nope. Also I used to have a lapband, which you could "eat around." I don't think it's possible to eat around the sleeve - at least not with real food. I know there are "sliders" which supposedly go through easier but I don't really experience that either. I guess everyone is different.

It is absolutely physically possible to eat around your sleeve. I imagine you would be capable of drinking a milkshake :)

The people on these forums are at all stages of the process. Ranging from pre-surgery to a decade after. Not all of us have had the same surgery and some have had multiple trip to the OR. On top of that ... we are all different people and our bodies do react differently.

Are some of us hungry and struggling? Of course. Just because we have this surgery doesn't mean that what we are doing is easy. What it does is make it POSSIBLE.

VSG does limit the amount of food you can eat. As for the ghrelin, unfortunately you have a 12-18 month window before your body catches up and starts producing it again.

You can eat around the sleeve. But, you can do that with any weightloss procedure. It's all about what you put in your body. If you eat high protein, low carb you will not have issues. If you revert back to eating the carbs, sugars, starches, it will be harder to maintain your weight loss if eating in excess.

You are the master of your body and weightloss. Myself, I have a eating disorder, so it's a constant struggle. I had VSG in 2010 and life happened in 2015 and I totally got off track and managed to regain a large majority of my weight back. However, I got back on the train and have lost my regain plus and additional 10 lbs. It's a constant battle.

Make sure you have your food demons if you have any under control and be stringent with your eating. It's truly in your hands. I'm one who can't just have something in moderation. It's all or nothing for me. Some have better control.

Forget about ghrelin. It's an incredibly overblown aspect of surgery that just doesn't make much difference. Hunger is far more complicated than one hormone -- one which is made in other parts of our bodies, not just the stomach.

None of us became obese because we weren't eating enough. Hunger is much more in our heads than our bodies.For the morbidly obese, satiety has nothing to do with it.

Many also struggle with acid after surgery, and acid will feel like hunger.

Also, no one logs on and writes. "I'm not hungry. What do I do?" People log on because they are having trouble with too much hunger.

Forget about ghrelin. It's an incredibly overblown aspect of surgery that just doesn't make much difference. Hunger is far more complicated than one hormone -- one which is made in other parts of our bodies, not just the stomach.

None of us became obese because we weren't eating enough. Hunger is much more in our heads than our bodies.For the morbidly obese, satiety has nothing to do with it.

Many also struggle with acid after surgery, and acid will feel like hunger.

Also, no one logs on and writes. "I'm not hungry. What do I do?" People log on because they are having trouble with too much hunger.

Ok, let me put it another way. Exactly how does this surgery differ from or improve on the dismal results we've all experienced from the myriad diets we've tried in the past?

What, exactly does VSG offer that enables us to succeed after so many years of failure? Your post suggests that satiety is not substantially altered and that the ghrelin - hunger issue is largely wishful thinking.

So exactly what is it that VSG does then?

VSG is a metabolic and bariatric surgery. It changes the way your metabolism functions and it reduces the size of your stomach. The size reduction provides a sense of "restriction" when the stomach is full. Prior to surgery, our stomachs are HUGE, so reaching that sense of restriction took a lot more food. Now we feel full, or satisfied, with much smaller amounts of food.

Thank you. That's exactly what I was asking.

It is, of course, possible to eat around any surgery. For example, I could eat ice cream all day since it hits the stomach as a liquid for all intents and purposes.

As with any healthy lifestyle, we're still required to make good choices about what we put into our bodies.