inch by inch

Well, I already tried to post this but it disappeared??  Anyway, I'll try to remember what I wrote...I guess after reading so much on the internet, scouring the forums here, including regrets/revisions/failures...I'm still having a hard time understanding HOW people regain such large amounts of the weight they have lost...I'm not stupid...I've lost and regained lots of weight lots of times in my life...but not after having over 1/2 of my stomach removed.  Can someone give me some clear and simple feedback about HOW this is even possible, physically?  I understand habits may slip back into place, but, ie if I'm only able to physically eat 1/2 of what I can eat now....I'd still be significantly smaller than I am now...right?  Is it even possible that the stomach can stretch all the way back out to what it was after VSG - and what would it really take for that to happen? If it took me 40yrs to get my stomach in the shape it's in...how can it seem to happen even faster AFTER wls?
I'm getting really stuck on this and needing some thorough, realistic feedback

thanks again folks!  I am now awaiting my orientation pkg from the hospital - inch by inch
Kerry

 I think they gain it back because they eat slider foods. Foods that don't fill you up can make you gain the weight back quick. That's why everyone says stay away from the bad carbs, eat more dense protein foods because they keep you fuller longer. So that's why it's important to learn new healthy habits and try not to go back into old habits. Oh and I think our stomach can stretch, but never to what it originally was. 
Im still a newbie, and hopefully one of the vets can chime in and help me out a little:)

 the sleeve is a newer procedure so not as mch data out there,  but from what i have seen the sleeve had a better long term wt loss than RNY.   i know a few ppl with RNY and they gained the wt back. and it was all fat and they looked worst than before.    I excerize alot, i am changing my life style,  and i eat more protien.     I dont crave sweets, and if i take a bit of sweets i dont want more than  a bit, it dosnt give me the saitisfaction as it used to.      and carbs make my sugar go up fast so i dont fell good eating them.

the sleeve is a tool, if you working it it will work for you.

Everyone I know, myself included, that has had weight loss surgery and is very well healed has learned what foods slide right on through their stomachs or pouches and don't cause any feeling of fullness. From what I can gather, everyone is different. One of my RNY friends grazes on and off during the day and drinks calories in the evening (wine!). She has trouble maintaining her weight. I know that carby food slides right through my sleeve. Cookies are my nemesis. If I choose to eat a cookie, I can eat 4 or 5 with no problem - so I don't!  And I'm talking good, homemade chocolate chip cookies that are gooey, chewy, yummy - You know the kind that cost 150+ calories a pop. During weight loss 5 cookies has about the same number of calories as I eat in an entire day. And 5 cookies really isn't all that much food. It sure wouldn't fill me for an entire day.

If I were in maintenance and ate 5 cookies regularly and went 750 calories over my maintenance calorie allotment each day, I'd gain 2+ pounds every 10 days. In one year's time that's over 70 pounds gained back. Believe me, it happens. I know a woman who had RNY several years ago and she's pretty much gained back about 100 pounds.

Any WLS really just gives you a tool to use to help you lose the weight and tehn maintain the loss. You still will be in charge of what you put in your body. The beauty of WLS is that because of the "honeymoon" period when hunger is minimal many of us learn new eating habits an are able to stick with those new and  healthy eating programs after the loss period.

Hope that helps.