Considering VSG..How easy is it to gain back weight after years?

Hi,
My BMI is 45 and I am looking at selfpay surgeries. How effective is the VSG for long term weight loss?

This is either going to be a lot of advice or almost none.  Regardless of surgery type I think;

There is no fate but that which you make.

All surgery types will as effective as you allow it to be.  It may be a cliche; but, the surgery will merely be a tool.  The rest of the work comes from you and your brain.

Good Luck!

Unfortunately, it's true that there is no way to determine which surgery is "the best" at keeping weight off long term.

Each surgery has people who are successful, aren't successful, keep the weight off long term, or gain it back.

The simple truth is that each surgery has different post-op "rules" or guidelines and you have to pick the one that you think you have the best chance of sticking with and following as closely as possible. That will be the surgery that will work best for you.

Hope this helps,
Elizabeth

Preop I went through and made a document, I looked at every post that started "help" or "I am X years and and I have gained"

And here is what I found.

Folks went back to eating for the same reasons they ate preop - for comfort, for entertainment.

Folks stopped tracking their food, folks stopped exercising, folks started allowing back larger and larger portions of the same foods that made them fat the times before surgery.

Mostly people just forgot they were not "normal." They forgot that they have a LOT of extra fat cells STILL and they are waiting to plump on up, as is their nature.  Folks forgot that just because you do not pay the price of indulgences once or twice that the price is not cumulative.  People started being in denial again, stopped weighing themselves, did not stop and reevaluate themselves when their clothes were getting tighter, let eating poor nutritional choices become a habit again.

For nearly all of the regain stories, the ultimate moral to the story is - they became the ***** of their bad habits, once again.

This is not like all the other diets.  There is no stopping, you can gain back every single pound.  This is the truth for ANY of the surgeries. Most of us did not get fat eating dense meat and veggies, ya know?

So - VSG is a great tool, like the other surgeries, but you can definitely eat around it, like you can the rest of the surgeries. Most of us, not all of us, but most, have some headwork to do.  You can start on it (I sure did a lot! for all the years I tried to lose weight) before surgery, but some of the stuff you are not going to touch until afterwards, because before surgery, we think there is always tomorrow.  Something about surgery does (or surely ought to) help you realize - TODAY IS THE DAY!!

Anyway - I am thankful for my sleeve. I see a lot of folks working their tools and while some sleeve folks that are pretty new to maintenance will say "I can eat anything I want to, I just eat less" I found a whole lot of those folks in my research that were gainers later on.  Some food just gets hold of us in a bad way.  Its a chemical reaction. Its like meth, its like cocaine - your its *****

Anyway, I have some book suggestions that really helped me if you'd like, but I just wanted to say, you do not *always* lose your hunger with the sleeve, I did not. You will not *always* be full on 2 ounces of *just anything* (I can eat a ****pot of carby crap, for example - but 3 ounces of dense protein fills me up). 

Seems the folks who have been successful long term are the folks *****member who they are, where they came from, and know what foods are fairly dangerous for them, that their body does not run well on (and craves more of) and steers clear for the most part.

From where I am, which, granted, is not terribly far out, I have been maintaining since December, its not a bad life at all.  I eat clean for most of my days and on the rare party or dinner out, I eat what I like.

I do not drink, because with my family of biology, its just too dangerous *Transfer addictions are real and the danger ought to be respected immensely*  but some folks do and they do okay.

Good luck on your searching!!  This is a great place for information!  Have you checked out the sleeve forum?

Good luck!

I'd lke to hear the book suggestions.   Thanks.  Jody

Sure thing!

For your emotional onion peeling back Shrink Yourself or Beck Diet Solution.  They are both cognitive behavioral books and help you to learn to talk with yourself between your trigger and your knee jerk reaction.  Beck is great, but I like the Shrink Yourself guy a little better.  But both are supergreat.

For maintenance (and for losing but it has been a great help during maintenance) is 10 Thin Commandments.  He helps you to understand that there are not good and bad foods, just good and bad food HISTORIES!

If I have NEVER been able to eat 2 cookies and 2 cookies ends up equalling a bag of cookies plus whatever else I binge on - then it doesnt MATTER how many calories 2 cookies has - if I WILL eat the entire bag, see?

There are some things I enjoy OUT, and once a month MAXIMUM, cuz in my home they equal trouble, and stopping by the store to get me "some" equals trouble, those things are Lime Flavored Tostitos, house fried rice and pizza. 

I have the chips (once a month max - cuz that seems to be all my brain can handle before it starts to whisper I could get some and just not TELL anyone which ya know? If i have to HIDE it, then I dont need to be DOING it) at party functions - and again, only once a month.  We dont go out to eat much so I dont have the Chinese food or the pizza even nearly once a month - but I KNOW if I bring them home - then I will start the old ugly cycle.

You know, alcoholics have to DRINK - they just need to CHOOSE to not drink booze.  Folks with food sensitivities have to eat, they just need to CHOOSE not to eat the things that cause them to binge.  Its the same kind of deal.  It helps you to see what is an okay all the time food, sometime food and keep it iin the box because once its out - your its ***** kind of food.

And the latest helpful book has been The End of Overeating. He really, for me, helps to pull the curtain back and show you the science behind "You cannot just eat one" that the food scientist folks are designing things to appeal to the junkie gene in us.  its just been really helpful to see behind the curtain and realize that some stuff that I do not have "willpower" about has nothing to do with my willpower, just like meth, would not have anything to do with my willpower - I might just have the FIRST choice, to indulge - or not to - and the rest of it, is history. 

Maybe you can find them at your library or on half dot com?  They are really so very helpful.  I will go through one of them once a month - because a huge danger for me (maybe for everyone, but definitely for me) is forgetting the guards I have to have in place!! 

Thank you!     I've gone through the Beck Solution (actually - I like the workbook, but couldn't seem to stick with it - so I bought the audio version from Audible and made myself listen in the car..  somedays I swear I am like a small child refusing to do the hard work!)

I've also really liked The Emotional Eating Toolkit, and "It Ain't over 'Til the Thin Lady Sings."            I've discovered the head work takes time, practice, perservence and sometimes just an "I will just do the right thing" attitude.      And in the mean time life and all of it's distractions just happens.

I"m about 22 months out.     I've been down about 135 pounds - and have regained about 15.   The exercise is going well - some of hte gain is probably muscle.   However, it is so easy to slip aback into craving junk ...even when I know it will make me feel awful.     The further out I've gotten - the more I recognize the sluggishness that comes from carbs, and more recently I'm starting to experience more severe dumping (or it could be gall bladder - either way it's food triggered.)    I'm trying to 'detox' today by sticking with protein shakes and lots of water.   Hopefully with a few days of effort - the carb cravings will quiet themselves.

I appreciate those of you who are with me on this journey.   I think we need to celebrate the successes we've had, while recognizing that the work doesn't end and we need to keep digging.

Jody

The headwork is definitely the biggest part!  And the longest, and the trickiest!! 

It is so easy to slip back into the junk, we do not plan, its just there, or its at work, or its just good, or we're just tired.. or whatever!!

Yea, after I indulge in some stuff, or go to my mama's :} I have to just push protein for the next couple of days.  After 2 or 3 days of protein pushing, I am definitely on a better, more even keel.

How is your vitamin D? Are you supplementing? Because honestly, low D is a bad MOFO for causing carby cravings!! 

I am sorry about your more severe dumping or gallbladder attacking!  Yikes! 

Going back to protein shakes makes me crazy and insane.  I just have to go back to dense protein. 

Good luck!  I am thinking calm thoughts for you!  :}

Holy  wowser, this is going wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy back, I didnt look at the dates, hope you have recieved the "help" you need!!!

I am close to 4 weeks post-op and struggling with food choices. Thank you for the valuable information. I plan to check out the suggested books!!