Help me to understand VSG
Most days I eat a salad for dinner. Biscuit or oatmeal for breakfast and will probably skip lunch. But I dont lose weight. I don't gain either.
How can the VSG help me with this? Is it just because I can't eat as much? Is that how it will cause me to lose weight? I'm hearing that filling a sleeve with the wrong thing will cause you to not lose or even gain. But I don't eat chips and cookies and stuff anyway. So please help me to understand how this might work for me
What's your current weight? If you really only eat a biscuit/oatmeal and a salad all day then i can't see how you would be large enough to need this surgery if looking at food alone. What are your portions like? Is the oatmeal very sugary do you use creamy salad dressings?
Have you ever managed to lose weight through diet in the past?
I'm asking because from what you have said alone it sounds like your weight problem may not be related to lifestyle choice. Have you been tested for health complaints such as:
- Under active thyroid
- Depression
- Digestive issues
- Cushings Syndrome
Are you on any medication (such as steriods) that could have made you gain weight?
Personally I wouldn't consider surgery of any kind until the above questions are answered.
Age: 29, Pre Op
Instant oatmeal. From Quaker oats
Biscuit from McDonald's
Salad from McDonald's or Wendy's or I'll make one or something. Or I'll bake some chicken.
For lunch I usually skip. If I am hungry I may get a v8 and some crackers or go get a chicken pita.
No meds other than hypertension meds and accutane which I just started. I've always been fat tho. Since I was in 2nd grade
I'm English so I've no idea what a Macdonalds biscuit is!
I think some of the Mcdonald's salad dressings can be quite calorific, plus it depends what kind of salad you order (the crispy chicken one for example would have more fat/carbs than the grilled but again I'm just guessing I'm more of a burger king girl myself ;-)
Quaker (if the ingredients are the same as the UK) is pretty good, but the portions in the premesured pots/sachets are small so if you're making straight from the box and not measuring then it will be a large amount of calories.
From what I understand VSG is purely restrictive so it works by forcing you to eat small portions, other methods are not only restrictive but also alter the digestive system (to stop absorption). The VSG can be cheated by liquid calories (milkshake etc) so you do need to change your diet too.
If you can get your thyroid tested and rule out any other reasons for excess weight.
I've been big ever since I was a child as well so it all came up slowly.
Also for a week keep your food habits the same but log everything you eat (measure, etc) and see what your actual calorie/carb intake is. That should give you a better idea of whats going on.
Age: 29, Pre Op
I'm pre-op ;-) but my problem is definately the amount I eat, I tend to cook from scratch and in general I'm fairly good with what I'm eating but I eat so much of it that I put on weight.
Its rare I have junk food but again if there's a full bag of sweets/chocolate in front of me I will eat all of it. I'm not one of those people who can have a square of chocolate and put it in the fridge (I do try but I tend to be at the fridge every 5 mins until its gone).
For me its going to be key to eat less, eat slower and make sure I don't have certain foods in the cupboard.
Your thyroid can be tested with a normal blood test.
Age: 29, Pre Op
I think if you were to make a few small lifestyle changes, you could avoid having surgery. One change I would make is, eating more. I know this sounds stupid, but it's true. Skipping meals will lower your metabolism and make your body store fat. By eating 4-5 smaller meals a day, will help balance that out. The second change I would make is, not eating fast food. Even just a biscuit or salad from there isn't good. I know those places are convenient, but the food just isn't good for you. I would make a salad from home. That way you can control what you are consuming. The third thing I would change is incorporating in some daily exercise. Even just a 30 minute walk would help burn some calories and lose some weight.
With all that said, I know how hard it is to make those changes. I was unable to make them until I decided to have surgery. So if you do decide to have surgery, there are a lot of aspects that help you lose weight. First and foremost, your stomach will be small and therefore you will be eating less. Second and just as important, are the physical and mental changes you must make.
What I mean by physical changes is the food that you eat and exercising. You even said it in your original post. If your diet doesn't change, you may not lose weight or even gain. Also, exercising is key to losing the weight and keeping it off.
What I mean by mental changes is coming to grips with why you are overweight in the first place. Some of us use food for comfort, to relieve stress, because we are depressed, etc. Making those mental changes will help with long term success.
I'm not an expert by any means and these are just my opinions. Take them as just that. Good luck!
Part of the problem could be that you're skipping lunch. You need to feed your body in order to lose weight. The other could be where you're getting your food. Fast food salads are horrible in calories and fat for the most part. I have looked at Wendy's menu and noticed that some of their salads can have up to 1000 calories depending on the salad and dressing. I would start by paying attention to your daily calorie intake and see what you are actually consuming.
Yes, VSG will cause you to eat less but unfortunately I am not able to eat lettuce for some reason. But you will also need to make other changes such as eating lean protein and some vegetables while cutting out carbs. Fast food should be the exception, not the norm. I had my surgery almost 6 months ago and have lost 95 pounds with less than 30 to go....so VSG does work if you make it work. It is not a solution, it is a tool.
