Does WLS ruin your metabolism?

 Meh.

I don't diet anymore.

For the first time in my LIFE -- I am maintaining a normal body weight -- and losing weight.

Eating -- it works.

157 lbs today -- I eat anywhere from 1200-2000 calories a day.

We are all born with a certain number of fat cells.  As we get older, those fat cells increase in SIZE.  If we get really fat, the NUMBER of fat cells increases.

When we lose weight, the fat cells get smaller, but we will NEVER, NEVER, EVER lose any of the fat cells.

If we lose weight, the fat cells actually produce a hormone that makes us eat more, therefore, gain weight.

Crappy, huh???

I'll have to pull the references, but there's research  that suggests that calcium will actually help destroy fat cells.  I know our Nutritionist told us that during my pre-op class, but I've also seen some of the research form myself on PUBMED. 

In that case, I shouldn't have any fat cells left. (*grin*)

I had a DS - it FIXED my metabolism after years of yo-yo dieting damaged it.

Wow. How did it fix it? Was your metabolism actually damaged? How do you know when it's damaged? I don't think mine is, I just eat way too much! I'm definitely going to check out the DS. But I'm bad about taking vitamins etc. I absolutely hate taking pills. That's my main worry. 

WLS "fixes" our homeostatic system. These are the hormones that control our appetite and satiety. Ghrelin gives us an appetite and two other hormones give us satiety. (Well, that's a bit simplified, but it's close enough for the purposes of this thread.)

DS is the most metabolically active of the WLS types. It lowers ghrelin and has malabsorption of calories so that 2000 in isn't 2000 digested and used.

Second most active is the VSG. It's enough more metabolically active than RnY that VSGers tend to lose as much as RnYer even though we don't have malabsorption. VSGers get a major reduction in ghrelin while the ghrelin reduction with RnY is more variable -- some don't get any, some get some but not as much as with VSG.

Lapband is the worst. In one study, lap band patients had 2x as much ghrelin post-op as pre-op! There is hunger control with the lapband but it requires getting to the "sweet spot" in your band and not everyone experiences that.

When they put the lap band around the upper part of your stomach, the lower stomach still sends signals to the brain that " it's hungry " even though the upper banded stomach is fed. I believe this is why those with bands still feel hunger.

The same is true for RNYers. Ghrelin is initially suppressed, but the blind stomach possesses the entire fundus, which over time will start producing ghrelin again (usually with a vengeance). This is one of several reasons you see RNYers complaining of lack of satiety.

Also note that ghrelin is just one of many hormones involved in the role of hunger and satiety. The metabolic affect, particularly its effect on insulin sensitivity, that the DS surgery provides is what truly gives satiety (rather than just the removal of much of the ghrelin hormone with the sleeve).

I spoke will a well respected, vetted DS surgeon who told me that the brain is actually getting two hunger signals, one from the pouch and one from the blind stomach. This makes so much sense to me.