Considering Revision

Hello,

I had the sleeve in June of 2011. I lost a lot of weight very fast. I started at 330 and within a year was at 225. Now 7.5 years later, I am up to 315. I don't exercise. I eat whatever I want, almost as much as I want. I failed my sleeve. I think I stretched it. I am considering revision, but not sure if I should. If I did, I don't know what to revise to.

I think the sleeve wasn't enough restriction for me. I am addicted to sugar. With the sleeve, I was able to add sugar back into my diet so early on after surgery. All the weight came on so gradually. You'd never know I had WLS.

Any advice is welcome. Thanks.

You can eat around any surgery. Esting sugar and carbs - there is no surgery that would prevent you gaining weight when you eat that. RNY - only 30% dump from sugary items, and with work, even those who dump can learn how to eat just enough to prevent the worste dumping. And the more sugar /carbs person eats - the more body can get used to that. And crave that. I know. From experience.

The only way to maintain weight loss after WLS is by following good, proper diet, of dense proteins, followed by some veggies, and maybe little bit starches.

Unless you can change your eating - getting revision only can make you sick in a long run.

I had RNY over 10 years ago. When I eat dense proteins - I get restrictions. But carbs - I don't. I am a dumper, but over the years I learned how much and what foods I need to avoid to not get really sick. And in reality ,- even being very sensitive to sugars, there are not foods that are really forbidden for me. Probably the worst is ice cream.

I know eating sugars and simple carbs can make me uncomfortable, and it will make me gain weight very fast. So I try to avoid that. It is not easy. But it can be done.

Maybe getting therapy to find out why you can't stick to plan may help you?

I know I can be a stress eater. So I have different ways to deal with stress. And if "I need to" stress eat - I pick foods that don't cause too much blood sugar spikes.

I can understand why you are looking at revisions. Serial re-gainer right here! I decided long ago that I wouldn't be having any more weight loss surgeries. I've watched and learned here. The type of surgery never has dictated success. Neither has the number of surgeries someone may or may not have had. Believe it or not, more surgeries seem almost counter-intuitive. Revision surgeries done for other than acute medical conditions such as GERD appear to be no more successful in the long run than virgin procedures.

My high weight was 347 pounds and after surgery I lost down to 177. The regaining started in year four - each time I would lose down to the 170's, maintain for a couple of years and then start gaining again. The regains got smaller, but I was so over repeating that awful process! By January of last year I was ready to lose it for the hopefully last time. My goal was simply to get back to 177. A normal BMI for me would put me at 164.

This morning I weigh 148. I was 10 years out on the 9th of this month.

Here's the point: New surgeries aren't the answer. In the end we will always, ALWAYS, be left with calories in vs calories out. To lose weight you must eat less calories than you burn. Any WLS is going to make that relatively easy the first few months. After about year two or so, and certainly into year five plus, it's all you.

It's all you. And you can do this. You HAVE done this. You've slipped. But you've done this once and you can do it again now. Revisions are risky and have a historically low return on investment when done for reasons other than medical necessity (it's not uncommon for a revision to result in minimal maintained excess weight loss after those first early months). There are successes and we have a few of those here. Obviously the choice is yours. I'm only asking you to think long and hard before you go that route. Because no matter how many surgeries we have, we will always end up right smack back in the same place. There is no "cure" for eating more calories than we burn.

New surgeries may delay that moment of reckoning, but it will come.

Just some things to think about as you explore your decision. Good luck to you, whatever it is that you choose. Stick around a bit and maybe post on some of the main boards too. You may get more responses over there.

I wish I had some special formula or technique or plan! The bottom line for me though is the same as it is for anybody else: I ate less calories than I burned. Last year when I lost re-gain #3, hubby went keto at right about the same time. It's not for me (full/true keto) but apparently I was eating way more than I realized of the goodies we kept around here for him. So my goal was 177, but when the snacks and extra bites and such were eliminated the weight kept coming off.

Somewhere around here is a post I wrote about losing my regains. It's long and unwieldy (sp?) but it's still my best answer to the regain question. You've been around awhile so you've likely seen it. If you haven't, let me know and I can repost or PM you.

Good advice

Your comments are just about the wisest I've ever read here! Honestly spoken.

Sometimes we get away from the basics that got us to goal and helps keeps us there. Ditto to what everyone said and here is a list of the basics that helped me, hopefully it will help you too. YOU GOT THIS!

Planning/Preparing

Remember when we were preparing for surgery? How many meetings, classes and such did we attend? We were told the more prepared we were the better our chances were for success. And they were right. Go through the house, car and work place and get rid of trigger foods. Stock up on foods that will keep you on track. I removed every bad carb/sugar temptation and replaced it with lots of protein, veggies, grains and fruits.

Journaling

Get back to journaling. This will help you identify when you feel like eating, stress factors and any triggers in your life. Once you identify these factors, this will help you put tools in place to keep you from eating. It became clear I was not taking time for me anymore. I worked my day job and then spent the rest of my time caring for my husband. It was easy to reach for fast, prepackaged food. Since I purged my home I have to eat clean as there are no other options LOL

Use a tool to track you're eating and exercise like Getting Started with Health Tracker. Once I started to track ever bite and drink it became clear why I had gained.

Goals/Rewards

Make a list of goals for yourself. Make them realistic and small. Some of mine were move more, purge all junk from my home, eat more protein. If you didn't make a Weight Loss Surgery bucket list when you first had surgery do it now. GREAT reminder of all the things you can enjoy in life after losing weight.

Food

In general, a long term post-weight loss surgery eating plan includes foods that are high in protein, and low in fat?, calories, and sugar. Important, vitamins and minerals are provided as supplements. (if you had a different surgery adjust this to your food plan).

Water

Water is our Best Friend. I have to say I never went back to pop or any bad drinks, however I was drinking tea like crazy. What is wrong with drinking tea? I was either using sugar or 3 equals and 3 sweet n lows per 32 ounce glass. I found once I started carrying one of the metal bottles of water to keep it cold I drank water all day.

MOVE!

I can't say enough about how key this was for me. The reason I kept my weight off for almost 10 years was no matter what, I kept moving. If I could not go to the gym I would walk. Grab a cart and walk all the isles at your local box store. I loved Zumba, bootcamp workouts, lifting weights. When I stopped, the weight started coming back. So for me I am starting slow to avoid injury by walking and using some of the workouts on my Demand TV. Find something you love to do and it won't feel like a pain in the *** to do daily.

Support

If it's an option "run" don't walk to a support group. Come here on OH daily for support and participate in one of the food threads. It helps you be accountable and also great ideas for food prep.

Keep me posted on how you are doing.