36 Years Old 425 Pounds 5'11" Tall - Sherman, TX

I was really worried about those things too but with the sleeve, in my experience, when you're full, you are full. Absentminded munching is the last thing on your mind.
Especially if you stick to lean grilled or baked meat you stay full

I'd like to address your concerns as they are truly valid. I'm a year and nine months out from my VSG, lost about 100 lbs and I'm at the stage where the "honeymoon" is over essentially. I still can not eat as much as I did before my surgery but I can certainly eat much more than I could in the beginning. Initially I had tremendous issues with nausea that lasted quite a while. Needless to say, when you're semi nausea is most of the time, you don't feel like eating a lot. The nausea has diminished over time thank God and now only hits me occasionally.

Your concern for the fact that bariatric surgery (especially the sleeve as it changes your anatomy the least) does not curb your ability to eat things that are poor choices or still over eat is a very real and wise concern to address.

WLS is truly only a tool. It does not do the work for you. In a way it does in the beginning as your appetite is severely diminished as well as your capacity to over eat. From my personal experience and from what I have observed in others however, these effects do not completely disappear; especially the more you stick to your eating plan, but they do lessen. I think this is why so many people do so fantastically initially only to regain the weight later.
My advice to you is to view the time prior to your surgery and the year or so afterward as a very focused time for internal mental and emotional change. You need to use this time to truly change your habits so that when the initial effects dominos somewhat you aren't likely to simply return to your presurgical diet and regain all the weight that seemed to fall off so effortlessly previously.

When I was going through my presurgical classes and support group meetings I heard the stories of many patients whom were there for revision all surgeries. They had done well initially but then returned to old habits once they were physiologically able, and were there to have their tiny stomachs which they had stretched through overeating made smaller again. This really impressed upon me just how much the surgery is genuinely just one tool that we can utilize to change ourselves.

Do I "cheat"? Sure. But I sure as hell didn't go through something as radically life altering to let myself return to the miserable state in which I once live. Not ever. Walsh does not give you self control. I do believe that if you embrace the process with eyes wide open for what it is and truly do your work, you can utilize it and be successful.
Some people mistaken think that those of us who've chosen this path are cop outs. That we have this surgery and all our troubles are over. This simply is NOT true. Forgive my repeating myself here but I will say it again. WLS does not change your head. It's a tool that can be just the thing to help you adopt new habits. But essentially it's nothing more than a surgically induced diet that you must follow for the remainder of your life.

Am I sorry I had it. Heavens no. It helped me save my own life. But it's not effortless by ANY means ... Especially for the long run.

One other note. I don not mean to diminish the success that the men I've seen on RS have enjoyed. They deserve all the credit as they e done the work and it's paid off for them. I'd like to say however, as I saw this with the men that I went through classes and support with that envy the rapidity of their weight loss so very much!!! All of us women did / do. If you are female, with extremely rare exception, you simply can not expect to see weight loss this rapid. I lost on the higher end of the spectrum according to my surgeon but by no means did I loose anywhere close as fast as any of the men. I'm okay with that because I'm in it for the long haul. It's not a marathon and keeping off it my goal.

This ended up getting a bit long. I apologize. I hope I've helped address your concerns and should you have any other specific questions I could possibly help with feel free to ask. You may even pm me if you like.

I wish you the very best on your own personal journey.

Please forgive all my typos. I'm writing from my phone and I'm a terrible typist to begin with. Please ask if there's any part of my response that just doesn't make sense to you.

❤️

Morthanalittle, your post is exceptional. I haven't had surgery yet but I agree with you 100% and what you speak of regarding the control over our minds is the one thing I think about all the time during my journey. You said it perfectly, after a while you feel great and used to the new life style but can very easily fall into bad habits. I fear this myself but want hope that the journey in losing the weight and learning to eat better lasts a long time. Like any other "diet" the struggle and the process is ALL in our heads.

Thank you so much for what you wrote and for taking the time to be very honest and up front. It is absolutely necessary to think about these issues in the long run as they are very real and very possible.
i'm very realistic and I personally don't like to just hear the good side of all this like Gavin the surgery and not be able to eat and lose tons on weight....because 'and then what?" So I'm glad you talked about what life could be like a year or 2 Or more down the Road.

Yeah, on my arms and a little on my legs.
I'm down to a 2X shirt and 42" pants
From a 5X shirt and 56" pants.
424 pounds down to 275
I was fat as hell and have lost a lot of weight in 5 months so I've got some skin all over :)

Is* a huge achievement...... typo....oops my bad :?