What Size Is Your Sleeve?

I asked my surgeon what size he made my sleeve and he said he used a 36 bougie. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I was hoping it would be a 32 or 34.

Anyway, what size was your bougie and are you happy still with your restriction?

I think there was study that showed that the bougie size has at the time of surgery does not determine if the person would be successful or not. But, maybe little bigger bougie size could give you better chance not to get GERD?

Size may cause difference when it is significantly larger, like a few times larger. By from 34 to 36? I don't think there should be an issues. How well your body heals, how well you can control portion sizes - from what I know - the last 2 may have significant impact on your weigh loss and maintenance.

Have you looked at this picture that shows how the different size bougies compare to everyday objects?

Thanks for showing this picture. I never saw the size equivalents before now.

I have no idea, and really don't care (if, indeed, he even used one) - there are so many other factors involved that it makes little difference. When i had mine done some eight years ago, there was a group in here from one surgeon who insisted that if you didn't have a tightly oversewn 32Fr sleeve, that you would never lose the needed weight, could never maintain your loss, would soon be eating 16 oz steaks, and no one would ever love you again.... Yet others who had 36 or 40Fr sleeves did just as well (and others with 32s struggled.)

My nominal stomach size at surgery time was 2.5 oz; when my wife had her DS, her nominal stomach size was 4 oz which probably works out to a 56-60Fr, typical for a DS, yet all these years later, our meal capacity is about the same.

A more important factor is to understand that your capacity will increase some over time, and you need to plan for that. This doc provides a rough projection of what to expect, and his ideas of how to live with it (mainly taking up that additional volume with high bulk, low calorie veg) - you may or may not like his prescription, but the main idea is to plan ahead for it and figure out how you are going to handle it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_aahPETzH0&t=106s

Good luck, and have fun with it

Thanks for the link that was a good video. It's interesting that he has meats and dairy closer to the "bad" end of his food continuum, yet it seems that most people on this site (and my nutritionist) recommend high protein, which leaves little remaining room for fruit and vegetables.

And to the thread, I have no idea the size of my stomach!

Mine is a 34 and I asked him to do it tight ! Haha don't know if he did or not and I had really good restriction up until the 2 year mark and then I noticed I could eat more, ugh. So I had to measure for a while and I have to be mindful of what I do. I never thought I would be able to eat much again but that is not the case. Make sure you follow the plan and measure your food and you wont have any issues.

My surgeon gave me a copy of the surgical notes and he used a French bougie 34 and 60mm staples. I'm six months out and have full restriction. Not sure how long this will last but hopefully until I reach my goal.

Bougie size I believe is based on patient height, weight, and surgeon technique. Generally, the smaller the bougie, the smaller the new stomach size although the finished sleeve size is determined by how close the stapler gets to the guide and whether the surgeon oversews the staple line.

Mine is a 40 bougie. I lost to my first goal (high normal) but can't seem to get lower then that. I still have restriction but can eat a good amount more now at almost 2 years out. The surgery never really decreased my hunger as much as I would have hoped. And now seems excessively high but the restriction and my watching what I'm putting in my mouth is helping me not to gain it all back. At some point people can eat a lot more you just have to be careful what you eat. I'm okay with the size of my bougie and the amount I can eat. I just wish my appetite was more suppressed. I doubt that has anything to do with bougie size.

I do believe that my decreased appetite has to do with eating very low carb and eating five or six very small meals every day, rather than three large ones. I never allow myself to get hungry and never allow white carbs to increase my hunger.