Maybe the floor will drop from underneath me.  I am sorry to carry on these last couple of days.  I am shocked that my sleeved stomach is so intact and cooperative after I've been so neglectful toward this process.

I have capacity (crazy me told my surgeon not to make my stomach too small) yet no hunger so the deal is if I listen and work with my body I need not overeat.  I am shocked!  We do things in our own time I guess. 

My Mom passed when I was less than 1yr post-op. I think I cried for a year. She was ill for some time, but the strongest person I knew.  My amazing  right hand.  I fell into food again and maybe this is really real and I can really let go of the food now???

Am I disillusioned - the cravings and crazed obsession for food has subsided.  There is a scary calm that I don't believe I have ever felt.

Let's see. Maybe just maybe I am not dreaming.  I pray this state for anyone out there who is struggling.

by the way if you still have a dream in your heart read "The Alchemist".   Paulo Coelho is the author.

Blessed love, Layla

No magic to it!  You've got to buckle down, straighten up, fly right - no excuses!!!!  . . . But you've got to be ready.  You have got to want the weight off more than your next "fix" of food.

When I posted asking for help here I knew exactly what I needed to do.  The real deal is I was not willing to do what was required for the result I desired.  I wanted to eat and I was not willing to give up what pleasured or comforted me in the very short run.

I had WLS  to lessen my chances of becoming diabetic.  I had WLS because I could find no way to be active without excruciating knee pain.  I wanted out of the rut I was in, and wish granted - how dare me throw that away!  I do not want to blow the blessings.  Life is short and I do not want to grow old longing for the life I could have lived.  I refuse to selfishly be consumed by my eating and weight.  I can stop if I choose. It's time to get it right.  It is time to eat for nutrition and health.

No, we are not robots, as long as we are living life will not be still.  We will experience things that will drop us to our knees and everything in between.  The thing is that there are people who stay trim & fit through it all - the highs, the lows.  We must learn other means of self soothing if food is our automatic "go to" thing. We must love ourselves enough to make better choices and to reach out for help when we need to.

For today I dropped the pretzels lol,  I am logging every morsel that goes in my mouth, am moving more, drinking water, reading and listening to lots of motivational information.

Simply put I am following post-op instructions 100% because 80% will not get me what want right now.

Protein first, non starchy vegetables/fruits second . . .and complex carbs if space . Lots of water and activity.  

People who have not had weight loss surgery lose weight.  So there is no doubt that we who are years out CAN lose excess weight whenever we want. No piece of cake but if we decided to lose, we can!  We are not hopeless.  We need not throw in the towel. We just need to do the work.

Best to you all.  I am so glad that I am back in the game.  I will post updates and I am here for anyone who wants me :)

Layla

All the best to you on your new journey.

I feel better already just putting it out there.  

God, I work with all types of therapists/analysts - many are eating disorders specialists.  The struggle is real and always for many of them still (yep many of them have struggled or do struggle).  When eating is your "go to" thing, it's hard not to do it  especially when life feels unbalanced and you can.

No excuses.  It's just more difficult sometimes than others. I eat 80% healthy. My poor choices are 10 honey wheat pretzels(yep I count like I am in control lol) with a heaping teaspoon of peanut butter or a slice of Kraft cheese (sometimes I do this 2x's daily),  The Lite Choice soft serve with trail mix & a wafer cone (5days per wk - at my lunch break), maybe 1x per month I will eat an entire big bag of white cheddar popcorners(right before my period). Basically I do this every darn day -pretzels, PB/cheese.  I am very patternized.  I have to make a shift. I get nervous not having my pretzel supply - they're gone now and I have decided not to replenish my supply.

I have also incorporated lite wheat bread & non white rices in my diet more often than I should. 

The point is I am not binging or eating horribly but if I want to lose, I MUST clean up & drop the snacks & carbs.  

Thank you and all the very best to you.

So here I am 3+ years post-op never having lost all my excess weight - it's not so much a gain.  I've made myself crazy thinking & half arse attempting many things. And I have failed.  I need simple instructions that I can't jumble up in my mind.  I know nutrition, have read a ton of books, WW, OA, Therapy for binge/ compulsive eating -still I haven't gotten it right. 

I need to dumb down & keep it simple.  Help!  My sleeve is beautiful I just suck at refraining from food.  I am never hungry yet automatically choose to eat.

Tell me what to do and I promise I will do it.  I am ready to lose ALL of my excess weight!

With love & hope, 

Layla

P.S. I felt uneasy (who am I kidding, i was terrified) being thin post Lap Band)  I actually didn't lose the bulk of my weight w. The Band until the 3rd year.  Maybe its my time  with my Sleeve too lol.  Help 😕

You will have to work like hell to lose and maintain the weight loss with a sleeve stomach.  You can eat everything with your stomach sleeved unlike the band.  The band helped me stay away from carbs NOW I am able to eat them and anything else without any issues whatsoever.  The band also helped me fear choking when I layed down - so I stopped eating very, very early (I am a night eater and with my sleeve can eat to the moment I fall asleep if I choose and the food will digest and not come up).  I was afraid to eat with the band.  I think the sleeved stomach and the band are 2 totally different animals.  It has been harder for me to lose sleeved but I love being normal so much better.  I never lost to my low like with the band.  With my sleeve my lowest was -42 and that was when I was only eating to keep nutrition when my Mom was passing.  I have no physical hunger but I do love food and I am able to eat so I do.

Getting too small - oh man, this will not happen like magic, it will take lots of effort on your part.  I assure you you won't just melt away.  If you don't have a super small sleeve you will have to really just diet after awhile when your stomach naturally begins to mature and gain capacity.  I never had a tight sleeve and I am so glad as I have absolutely no issues with reflux and such.  I just have to work at my food choices and exercise to see actually see results - I am just like any other normal person without WLS.

 All best on your new journey.  I love my sleeved stomach!

I love this post!  You look fantastic.  Thank you so much for sharing.

All best,

Layla

Please no offense to anyone who has posted on this subject I am struggling with 2 people (who keep enlisting my help)  in real life both are 300lbs and better and claim they eat "very little" and don't get why they are overweight. So can this be true?  I've mostly seen them in action at family functions where they pile up their plates like mountains -  always counts as 1 meal or "cheat day" as they hardly ate all day/week.  They won't track their food like I suggest.

I am truly puzzled by the many posts of people who have BMI's in the low, mid-40's and 50's PLUS and state that they "don't eat much".  Is this really possible?  YES, I get that people have PCOS,  thyroid conditions, mobility issues, water retention etc.  that slow their ability to lose weight - but they who are able to lose obviously contribute to their overweight condition IF a restrictive WLS alone helps them lose weight (that proves that caloric intake has much to do with it- right?).

Most times I convince myself that I have a harder time and struggle so bad (well BooHoo) than others with losing weight and have to restrict my calories more than the normal person but I know the truth is when I make the right choices the weight comes off.  Maybe there are people who do not eat much and are obese.  Maybe I am being judgmental.  What is the real deal?  Did you not eat much and have a restrictive only weight loss surgery work for you - how did it work if you did not eat much before?  Most of us - at least me can eat a ton of junk food post-op (I don't but can.  I've enjoyed myself trying). So how could VSG help someone refrain from "junk food" especially once the "sleeve" matures?

What in the world do I know.  Just that it never is easy and harder for some.

So you not eat much pre-op? What were/are your stats?  Is it possible?  

I was 267lbs - I ate too much and had mobility issues that cause the final 30lb gain.

Good day!

Sorry I would not feel comfortable putting my life in your surgeon's hands  - "she ain't the one"!!!  I say this because you go to her office and you present with lupus and RA and she suggest a bypass!  That is wrong.  I have a form of RA - it is no joke.  You need to be able to take NSAIDS when you need them.  We NEED "anti"-"inflammatories" for stiffness and pain.  I refrain from any meds but as my surgeon says "take it if you need it".  He said that to me at a couple of weeks out when I was experiencing a "flare".

At your weight though I would consider the VSG with DS (duodenal switch).   Yes, many people have done well with the sleeve as a stand alone but there seem to be a great deal gaining (as soon as their sleeve matures and they are able to eat more, they do and the weight comes on the same as pre-op).  I know that is possible.  I can eat anything not just sliders.  So it is a constant monitering of your intake and exercise - just like pre-op.  This is a no slacker allowed WLS lol but true.

Good luck to you and please do not have RNY.

Best,

Layla

Wow hun, many people spent there time to give you their advise.  So you are choosing the band with the knowing.  Here is my old post, please take a look PLEASE!

Take good care!

https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/failed_wls_second_time_around/4424291/How-many-of-us-have-had-to-need-to-be-revised-from-the/&sa=U&ei=-7gsU5vGM6aU0AGFkoGACA&ved=0CAoQFjACOBQ&client=internal-uds-cse&usg=AFQjCNG0YakbKvvIwnLsU3Vp6HNOYUF4yg

Oy!  Hope there will not be nofurther complications and that you get to feeling better soon.

Best,

Layla

For me,  I would not do.  You said you've gained from emotional eating.  Why not get some help and work on that?  You can get yourself in a program or do yourself.   Read books, listen to tapes on Compulsive/Mindless/Binge/Emotional eating go to support meetings (OA, WW, TOPS etc) Just take the time to work on yourself.   You said your stomach is not huge - you've seen the pictures.  You said you still have restriction! I would not possibly compromise my quality of life especially before I truly worked on my issues.

by all means get the hiatal hernia fixed.   That will relieve you of any symptoms you may be having like reflux?  

I wish you the very best and I hope that you do consider just changing your lifestyle, getting the help that you need.   Adjusting your diet.  What would happen if you follow the post op rules?

And me I am NOT one of those super successful sleevers in fact I never meet goal. I still have a lot of weight to lose but I work on it everyday.  Every single day I work on it!  I attend weekly meetings at Weigh****chers which I love.  We have a very special group going and I totally love it. I will always need to work on my food - I never had a super small sleeve nor any reactions to food that physically stopped me from eating so no disillusion here!  I did not experience the super WL window and now OMG i can eat because i have the stomach capacity and no adverse symptoms and i am gaining because I can eat over 1000 calories (really come on, what human being eats this little forever???).  It sucked at first but now I am glad I always Had to make the choices for myself and not have my stomach make the choice for me.  I'm so glad that I got a dose of reality immediately  - almost immediately post op.

Whatever you do, I wish you the fullest success possible.

L