How do you do it?!

Hi everyone!  I am new here.  Have been reading this board for months now but have not posted.  I very much appreciate your openness and that I am able to learn from your experiences.  I am in the process of getting approved for VSG surgery (hopefully in early June.)  I am a few weeks away from finishing the pre-op supervised weight loss period and completing all of my testing.  As it gets closer, I can't help but wonder how you all have the incredible willpower to eat so little and to restrict carbs so much.  I know I will have to do it to be successful and I am soaking in everything I read.  I am just worried because I am worried I won't be able to eat such small amounts.  I have been successful in losing weight for short periods but then I revert to old habits (sugar, carbs, large portions.)  How are you able to do it??

You will surprise yourself when you start eating real food. I am totally satisfied eating under 800 cals and under 40 gms of carbs each day. I ends up being all about your choices, yes your sleeve is the best tool that you will ever give yourself, but you need to use it well or this journey will be even more difficult. Not ever feeling hungry really helps too!

Good luck on your journey!

Thank you for your reply!

... well, if you do focus on getting your protein in first (after you get through the initial healing part- once you are on solids again..) you will not have much room to work with for quite some time. Now, if you decide to just eat mashed potatoes- you may have some restriction early out for a few months- and will lose.. but likely not have much long-term success at keeping a healthy weight. A couple years out, yeah- I *could* pig out and gain on carbs and such. It's totally my choice not to, day in and out. I can easily eat 2000+ cals of real food in a day if I choose too- you will not be satisfied on 600-800 cals forever, I can assure you.

So, yes- the sleeve surgery does help, but it only helps in that it gives you some time to get some new habits in place and re-train your brain to make healthier choices the vast majority of the time. The reality is, you have a smaller stomach- you may, or may not lose physical hunger for a few months (it comes back for most at some point), you may or may not lose your appetite (head hunger, less likely to be gone).. but the rest is totally on you as far as what you do with it.. change nothing, still eat sugar/overload on carbs and you will eventually regain. It's why the stats for VSG & RNY are in the range of 60% EWL or a bit less, maintained after a few years- not lost- but maintained.  The DS has better stats, but even the DS can show a little regain if you go off on a carb binge for too long..

Yes, you can get to goal, but if you don't take this as a total life reset (how you shop, eat, cook and live, and see those changes as something permanent vs temporary changes)  you may be disappointed. This is why it's very important to fully understand the 3 effective surgeries out there (DS, VSG & RNY) and understand the lifestyle/limitations of each and pick the one you can live with long term.. then set about making sustainable changes to the way you do things.. 

 

Thank you so much for your response.  I am completely committed but am scared and working so much out in my mind still...

Good response!
Do you regret your VSG and wish you would have gone for the DS? I'm asking b/c so far (I'm 7+ months out) I think the sleeve was a great fit for me. My concern is when I'm 2,3,4...yrs out. My husband will be getting a sleeve soon and I wonder if I should encourage him to check out the DS.
Thanks!

Not a regret at all. I also felt it was the best fit for me.. I could always lose easily on a reduced cal/carb diet, just didn't stick with it because I always saw it as a "diet" before.. and self-medicating with carbs is a big downfall as well. I finally had to learn that I needed to change what I fueled myself with and put stuff into me that worked with me and not against me! 

I had very mild metabolic issues, PCOS suspected, not confirmed.. insulin resistant (high insulin numbers) but wasn't diabetic and had no pre-diabetes numbers.. that would have pushed me closer to the DS. If I was diabetic, it wasn't going to be anything but. The recurrence rate years out was too high for me to risk with my family history.

But you betcha I thoroughly (and I mean very thoroughly) understood it, the DS in particular and also the RNY- but I ruled out the RNY very fast as it wasn't a good fit at all for me.. if I thought I needed something more than restriction, it was going to be the DS. 

I got just what I expected and nothing more from the VSG, and so far- it's working well for me.. Is it work, yep. Is it hard work- nope. It's just being sensible and keeping mindful of my head space and food, and being open to change for my own good. My issues with weight were mostly behavioral not metabolic, compounded with the trap that fat causes when you acquire enough of it (fat=hormonal/satiety disruption=more fat accumulates.)

Yes, you should encourage him to look into all the surgeries that have a decent track record (DS, VSG & RNY).. no one should ever have WLS without being fully informed and understanding of the ins & outs of all the options. This is also something he should do on his own.. if his Dr. doesn't do the DS, he very likely will not be giving him good accurate council on the procedure.. Revisions happen for a few reasons, one is getting a surgery that wasn't a good fit in the first place. 

At first, in my opinion anyway, it's not so much will power as it is the inability to eat much at all. When the focus is so much on protein, as another poster said, there isn't room for anything else at first. It's been almost 6 months since my surgery and my capacity is still pretty small, but I understand it will increase. For me the most important part is to make and keep good habits now so I can keep doing it when that happens. It's amazing when 1/2 a cup of cottage cheese fills and satisfies me! I'm lucky and don't really "crave" anything and I don't really feel deprived either. Also, for me at least, when you learn and understand how important protein is for your body since it can't store excess protein like it does carbohydrates and we need it every day then making sure to eat that first becomes a priority. Knowing that the body will use up fat for energy when you eat low carb helps me stay away from "bad" carbs. Good luck and I hope this helps answer some of your questions.

 

Thank you so much!  I read and re-read the posts.  This was a perfect reminder of the fact that I am giving myself a tool and some time to relearn habits.  Thank you all!

You're welcome! I wish I would have known about this forum before my surgery. This is where I have learned the most about how to really eat after the surgery. My sleeve is a tool but the way I eat and what I do is how I'm making the tool work for me.