Does anyone regret their surgery?

If you tried to eat 500 calories a day without the surgery you would literally starve to death.  We are able to eat 500 calories after surgery because that's all our stomach will allow us to eat.  We are also on tons of vitamins to make sure we aren't malnourished.  

I don't regret my surgery AT ALL and would do it again in a heartbeat.  I've lost 100lbs in about 6 months and I feel AMAZING!

That being said, when I did the pre op diet I started to get cold feet about surgery.  My pre op diet called for a protein shake for breakfast, protein shake for lunch, and 4 oz of lean meat with 1/4 cup of veggies for dinner.  As a snack I could have another protein shake and/or a SF pudding snack pack.  This all equated to about 600 cal a day.  It sucked, but I actually didn't feel that hungry.  I thought to myself, "What if I just stuck to this diet?  I'm losing weight fast so wouldn't this work?"  I lost 15 lbs on that diet before my surgery.  However, eventually the protein shakes would not have succeeded in keeping me full and I know that without the motivation from my surgery and the removal of HUNGER I would have allowed myself to to have "cheat days" which would have led to me falling off the wagon completely.  

I suggest you do more research and decide if this is for you.  Maybe go to a seminar and or support group to learn more.  Whatever you do though, don't turn to friends or family.  They'll just talk you out of it!! (just kidding.. but seriously, mine tried to talk me out of it and I'm SOOOOOOOO happy I didn't listen to them!)

You wouid not starve to death on 500 calories either pre or post-surgery! All surgery does is help us to eat less. It doesn't magically make that 500 calories somehow work better or make our body require fewer calories! If you chose ( and I really don't see why anyone would) to live on 500 calories a day and took vitamin and mineral supplements, you would be in just the same position with or without surgery. 

You might not literally starve to death, but some might say that someone who did not have surgery and only eats 500 calories per day is anorexic. 

My point is, without surgery a 500 calorie a day diet would be torture. You would be hungry ALL the time and you would easily gain the weight back. I believe this would be considered a fad diet like the HCG diet that experts and doctors day is unsafe. 

Edited to add that without surgery you would go into starvation mode and be in pain from the hunger. It's just overall not a healthy thing to do. 

This last statement is rubbish.  First of all 500 calories is 500 calories and has the effect on your body of....500 calories. Whether you have surgey or not! It s no more or less healthy with or without surgery! The supplements you might take compensate for lack of nutrition but the effect on your body is exactly the same. If it is not healthy before surgery, it is not healthy after surgery.

Secondly, the idea of starvation mode has been discounted by research. 

You are correct in saying it would be very difficult, I don't know personally as I lost all my excess weight on 1200 calories a day, 

I enjoy a healthy debate but you can get your point across without calling my statement "rubbish."  

That being said, what your saying makes perfect sense. 500 calories gives your body the same nutritional value with or without surgery. However, isn't some of this process mental as well? Pre surgery if I tried to limit my calories to 1,000 per day (500 wasn't even a possibility) not only did I feel hungry but I also got headaches from hunger and I would feel like I was starving. These are problems that I've never had post surgery.  I would also have everyone around me telling me that I wasn't eating enough. 

If starvation mode is a myth than why are we always being told that we need to eat more to lose weight?

I have never personally been told to eat more to lose weight! But I agree people do write that on here. But they usually refer more to cycling calories than simply upping them. But my point was more that there is no difference between the effect of food on bariatric and non-bariatric patients except those who have malabsorption. In the case of DS and RNY, the body absorbs less of the ingested calories so if they were to eat, say, 500 calories, the nutritional beneft wouid be less not more. 

As we lose weight, our bodies burn, for preference, the most easily stored energy. So the very early weight loss is the water soluble glycogen.  Then the body burns the next most accessibie - fat. Most of us have lots f that! Loss will not stop until we reach the very unlikely level of around 5% body fat. Loss may slow but it will not stop. 

Below is an article on this. I did have links to more scientific ones but can't find them at the moment. Ths s actually Wegh****chers who do generally base their guidance on science. Formatting has gone a bit odd. 

The idea that 'not eating enough' causes the body to stop losing weight because it goes into 'starvation mode' is a popular myth among dieters. Article By: The Weigh****chers Research Department Science Centre

The idea that 'not eating enough' causes the body to stop losing weight because it goes into 'starvation mode' is a popular myth among dieters. Restricting calories during weight loss lowers metabolism because the body becomes more efficient, requiring fewer calories to perform the necessary daily functions for survival. Consequently, this can slow (but not stop) the anticipated rate of weight loss.

For example, if an individual needs 2,000 calories per day to maintain weight, reducing intake to 1,500 calories, assuming exercise stays the same, should provide a 1lb per week weight loss (Note: 1lb of weight is equivalent to about 3,500 calories). Furthermore, reducing to 1,000 calories should result in a weight loss of 2lb per week and going down to 500 calories a day should result in a weight loss of 3lb per week. However, if an individual actually reduces their intake to 500 calories, the weight loss would not likely be a steady 3lb per week because of the reduced metabolic rate. It would likely be around 2¼ to 2½lb. This 'lower than expected' rate of weight loss is a lot different to 'no' weight loss as the 'starvation mode' notion proposes.

Somone who eats only 500 caloires a day is only "anorexic" (I assume you mean that as extra skinny, not truly anorexic in a clinical sense because that would require more than just limiting calories) if they have no body fat to help them live off of.  As long as we have extra fat to use as energy, we absolutely CAN live off of 500 calories per day. Most people, even after surgery, don't live off so little once they get past the initial couple of months post-op, though.

Yes, someone eating only 500 calories without WLS probably would be hungry a lot... And that is where the usefulness of surgery comes in.

Lora

Amy,

You have done so well. Wow 100 pounds that's awesome. I just had surgery last month. I'm hoping for the same results. Thanks for posting.

Robin

Robin thank you so much! Congrats on your surgery and best wishes on a speedy recovery and a successful journey!

You can eat 500 calories & lose weight by yourself but that isn't the way to go, do you think that is a lifestyle you can maintain long term? You will be miserable & constantly hungry. I can only speak about the vsg, but with that most of the hunger hormones are cut away along with most of your stomach, so wls people can have 500 calories & not be hungry. However most wls people follow their drs plan for weight loss & some don't count calories or keep it that low, it varies from person to person.

My dr doesn't emphasize calorie counting, maybe cuz it won't work for me. I'll write it down, but more for informational purposes. Getting in my protein, water & vitamins is the priority, calories less so. I couldn't keep calories at 500, nor would I try. I've lost over 113 pounds & not 1 day was my calories near 500 other than when I was in the liquid phase pre & post op.