Regretting my surgery

I am at a really low point in my journey with my sleeve.  I had the surgery on April 11 and sailed through recovery with no issues, no problems, but also no weight loss.  I was 272 at my pre-op appointment and 262 at my first post op appointment.  I believe I lost the 10 pounds on the liquid diet before surgery.  I accepted that I was in a stall early and kept the faith. I only ate high protein and low carbs and  I added more exercise.  Two weeks ago the stall broke and I lost five lbs.  Then I went on vacation to the mountains.  I tripled my exercise and was hiking every morning, doing water aerobics daily and did zumba gold several times during the week.  It was also the first time that I was not in control of my eating environment while traveling with my husband and grand daughter.  I ate slider carbs daily, not in great excess, but ate pistachios, mashed potatoes, ice cream, crackers.  I regained the five lbs in that week.  Since I have been tracking my food daily in Sparkpeople, I know that prior to the vacation, I was having around 800 calories daily and eating very low carbs.  But even if I doubled my calories on the trip (which I doubt) how could I gain weight eating 1600 calories a day?  That is the calorie count I used to lose at. 

Is this surgery just one more promise that is really a lie and a  hoax?  Is it like the  Atkins diet where you lose weight on a high protein diet and the minute you introduce carbs, gain it all back?  I know it is just a tool, but it is difficult to understand that after taking such a drastic step to have the surgery, I am perhaps worse off than I was before.  I am "able" to eat just about anything I want after two months, and am constantly fighting head hunger and emotional eating.  If I give in to that, will I quickly gain back everything I lost and more?  No one every told me it was possible to eat 600-800 calories and day and exercise for months and not lose weight.  I think people considering this surgery need to know that.

I had a good day yesterday with high protein, low fat and low carbs and will continue to eat that way and track daily and exercise, I just no longer expect to get any good results.  I am no longer a believer and regret the surgery.  It feels like ai will be marching in place for the rest of my  and be at risk for massive weight gain if I don't.

What do your surgeon and dietician say about your lack of weight loss?

At my second post op visit I was told I was getting too much protein and too much calcium.  Stop all protein drinks because I was drinking my calories ( I was having one a day at that point) and to stop eating greek yogurt because it was a slider food.  I was told to add raw carrots and other veggies at the end of a meal.  I get up at 5:30 and was told to have a mid morning snack and also a late afternoon snack since I go to exercise after work and eat a late dinner. I was also told to not count calories. 

They were not at all negative about my progress or weight loss or lack there of.  I am losing inches and feel and look a lot better. But that was a month ago.  My next appointment is next week.  I am looking forward to talking with them then. 

Give it time.  You have to remember that you are exercising a great deal.  You are building muscle at the same time you are losing inches (fat).  That will probably cancel each other out for a bit.  Add more veggies and stay very well hydrated.  Try and get more fiber to keep you feeling full longer and help keep things moving.  Keep charting your meals.  It will help keep you accountable.  Don't give up and get discouraged.  You are doing great!

I would think that (A) feeling better and (B) losing inches would trump worries about "the number on the scale." Are you finding yourself feeling more physically capable? Because for me that's been the best thing about life after surgery: I can DO THINGS again. I took a DANCE CLASS. That's kind of incredible, if you know me. 

Obviously not everyone who undergoes bariatric surgery becomes skinny. If I were in your position I'd try to savor the amazing things that have already happened (hiking in the mountains, feeling better, etc) and think about those rather than how many pounds were gained or lost. Distract yourself with more awesome plans (HIKING IN THE MOUNTAAAIIINS can you tell I'm jealous?)

I feel your frustration; please take care of and be kind to yourself. Sending good vibes your way.

The reason people have rapid weight loss with RNY is that they start out eating about 400 calories a day but not absorbing those calories.  With the sleeve you are absorbing every calorie that you eat.  With a sleeve weight loss is slower even if you really do eat like an early RNY patient because you would be absorbing those 400 or 500 calories.

You can still lose weight with the sleeve by tracking calories. It is a tool that should help you to feel full.  You do that by not eating slider foods and not drinking protein shakes.  Fill up on solid protein.  Chicken, fish, turkey, steak, roast beef, ham, pork, and cheeses.  A good meal is a slice of cheese rolled around some sliced ham and/or sliced turkey.  Do not eat potatoes, rice, bread, ice cream, crackers, pastry, pasta, noodles, corn, cookies, pie, candy, cereal, baked goods.

Avoid fruit entirely.  You can introduce those foods again in moderation after you are at your goal weight.  But don't think you can lose the weight with having a sleeve, eating what you want and exercising it off.  You have proven to yourself that it will not work.  The only reason a restriction only surgery works is by eating less food. 

The most important thing to track daily is the scale.  You may have been told not to worry about the scale, but if you do not weigh myself daily, you don't know whether you are succeeding.  If you can lose one pound a week, you will be down 52 pounds in another year.

How did you do with dieting pre-op? By that I mean, did you easily lose weight as long as you stuck to a low-calorie diet, or did  you struggle for each and every pound? Do you have any metabolic problems, such as diabetes or PCOS?

It's possible that you would be better served with a metabolic surgery, such as the DS. Unlike the VSG, which merely restricts how much food you can eat at one sitting, the DS actually changes the way your body metabolizes that food, AND causes you to only absorb a portion of the calories you eat. The DS has the same stomach as the VSG, plus an intestinal bypass similar to, but more effective than, that of the RNY.

I think you'll be happier with your Sleeve after you get a little farther out, but if you simply can't get the results you need and want with it, it's a fairly simple procedure to add the 'Switch' portion of the DS to your VSG.

I appreciate your response and I agree that I have not fully embraced the new rules of weight loss that now govern my life and am still trying to apply old rules to the new situation.  I will work with the tool I have been given in the sleeve and abide by the new rules, but I still wish I had the full understanding of these rules before I had the surgery.  I never imagined that I could eat so few calories, exercise my butt off and still not lose weight.  I lost 30 lbs in the six months leading up to my surgery and wish I had kept up with that eating plan.  I think I would have been further ahead.

I am new here and in the early stages of pre-op and leaning toward the Sleeve.

Reading posts like this worries me...then I read people who lost 100 lbs in 6

months w/the sleeve.   I too, wonder about getting weight off pre-op and

just continuing with this program and not doing the surgery. But...isn't this too,

about long term? Keeping it off? All the stats out there really are not that favorable 

for people to lose a lot of weight and keep it off.  Seems to me that doing this drastic

form of 'weight management' is really truly a long-term situation and one we have to

radically change our lifestyle and eating habits.

I truly believe that most people can lose a significant amount of weight with any form of WLS. (Well, maybe not the Band.) As you point out, what really matters is keeping it off, long-term, and that's where WLS is supposed to help. The Band, the Sleeve, and the RNY all rely primarily on restriction to make it easier to stick to a diet, long-term.

The inability to stick to a strict diet is why the stats for the traditional 'diet and exercise' are so poor---most of us just cannot do that. You're correct when you say a radical change in our lifestyle and eating habits is very important.

The DS is a little different from the other surgeries in that the changes it requires are  different. The DS relies only slightly on restriction, and rather heavily on malabsorption. Unlike the RNY, the DS causes permanent malabsorption of calories---about 50% of protein, about 40% of complex carbs, and 80% of fats. This means that the average DSer in maintenance eats about 2500-3000 calories a day, and absorbs about half of them. (Provided she's eating a high-protein, high-fat, moderate-carb 'diet'.) This makes maintaining pretty easy.