UPDATE!!! TIPS/ADVICE FROM A 7 YEAR SLEEVE VETERAN!!
Indeed! I am 6 years out and gained back a rather large portion of what I lost and it all boiled down to two things. Straying off track and lying to myself about it. It is humbling when you can finally come to the point with yourself when you no longer lie or rationalize to yourself what ever it is you are doing that is keeping you off track. I hope that makes sense.
On that note, the sleeve is a wonderful tool and will work if you work it. I got back on track with the 5 day pouch test (going through the post op diet phases in 5 days) and it helped tremendously. I started in the beginning of March and have lost 23 pounds so far. I am doing little to no exercise, which I take full responsibility for and have no excuses for not exercising.
So newbies, read the posts in the various forums, ask the questions, do the research, become informed, and most important...be brutally honest with yourself. YOU are the one responsible for your actions. Best of luck to everyone!
True Story! I lost my mom less than 2 months after surgery, and I FOUGHT to over eat. I felt I needed it to stop the pain. Long story short, I lost my "50" in 8 months, stopped losing, and started gaining. I find it just as hard to fight the food battle as if I have never had the surgery. However, it is still a tool that just needs to be taken out of the box. When I work at it, and do what I am supposed to do, I lose and feel good and it is much easier to win the battle with the surgery. So, I still believe in it, I just know that when you wake up in recovery, your head has NOT been operated on;)
So sorry about the loss of your mom! :( Yes, you are correct... the old eating habits are NOT operated on... so they are always lurking. Honestly, I have really grown less and less hungry since starting back eating the proper way. :) I still cook for my family what they want and I will cook something else for myself. (And I work full time and am a mom to 12 kids, 10 still at home). :) :)
Thank you for this post and stating realistically what can happen. I believe many that no longer visit the sites especially when they are in the losing phase, you know the ones who complain, say I am no longer losing, but I am sticking to the program; these are the ones who aren't and probably are now gaining weight. The truth of it is, to be successful we need to stick to the same low carb, low calorie regime for the rest of our lives!! Maybe a treat once a week but that's it. VSG is a wonderful tool, I too at one point thought about getting the DS; but like you got back to my basics and have now lost 37 pounds of the 50 I had gained!! I am very proud of myself and it can be done. I hope that all of those thinking of getting the surgery read this post; I am not saying that we can't all be successful but like all programs out there it is a life long commitment!!
