3 Years Come & Gone!

Wow, I still can't believe it's been 3 years last week since my VSG.  It has been a really interesting road, and I'm so glad every day that I have had the opportunity to have this done!  My best advice at this point to anyone considering WLS...pick the VERY BEST procedure for YOU!!  Everyone will have an opinion on which one they recommend, but in the end it's your new body & you have to live in it.  Know the follow-up, what is entailed in each operation & recovery, and what you will & won't be able to eat afterwards (not just immediately, I mean down the road).  If you need to be restricted on certain foods, like sugar, maybe the RNY is best for you.  If you need to be able to eat anything just in smaller amounts, it might be the VSG.  Just know what you want and do it!!  It has certainly been the best decision I ever made!!

*Angel

Thanks for checking in and such good advice!

Thanks for your Vet Imput.  Congratulations with 3 years.
How is your restriction now?  How much do you eat in one sitting?
Do you eat as much protein as the first year?  tell me more about
your eating habits...etc...

Inspirational!! Thanks for sharing.

Haha, I don’t know why I always dread the question “How much can you eat now?" I guess because I don’t have a very solid answer for it. Usually I would say if I were having a regular chzbrgr and fries I could have half the burger and a few fries. Maybe 4-6 oz?? I don’t feel like I eat very much, like today I had a yogurt for breakfast (unusual…I’m terrible about eating breakfast most days), and for lunch I had about 1-2 oz of chicken w/some seasoned rice leftovers. For dinner I’m planning on a salad, which will definitely include some lettuce, but probably just as much ham/salami/chz/dressing and sliced almonds, so I get some good fats in there too! Some things like chips go down easy & I can eat more of, some things like rice fill me up fast & I can’t eat much. It just depends, and also varies by day. Some days it seems like I can take in more in one sitting, but I would say those days are few & far between. Technically I’m allowed to drink with my meals now, but I don’t because it makes me feel like I’m going to throw up, and I get full way too fast then hungry in an hour. The best thing I can say about my sleeve is that my attitude about food has changed A LOT!! I used to just eat out of boredom or because of any sort of emotional event (like it was Monday). ;-) Now I can honestly say that if I’m not hungry, I don’t eat. If I find myself looking in the fridge or pantry and I know I’m just going to eat for something to do, I will walk away. That shift just happened on its own, and I’m not sure if it was my surgery or past experience with the OA program (probably a combination) but it has been one of the biggest gifts I’ve been given. I think I could easily put back on the weight if I really wanted to graze all day, but being so much thinner is such a blessing I just have no desire to give that up or ever go back to where I was. Oh, and I think you asked about protein? I do try to focus on that first, and make sure every plate I make for a meal has a good balance. We’re pretty meat & potatoes here, but like last night for supper I had BBQ sandwiches. Because of the bun, I just had a couple, like literally 2, steak fries & then a very small salad & half of the sandwich. If I have to give up something for a meal, like if there is just too much food & I have to choose between what to eat, I will almost always give up the carbs first. Protein then veggies always come first!! I hope that helps answers some of your questions!! And thank you for all the kind words!

Thank you so much for sharing your story.  I'm in the begining of my journey and hope to have VSG soon.  You have given great advice and hearing someone's success is always great  but especially when a few years out from surgery! Thank you again for sharing and congrats on sch an amazing journey!! 

 Great job, you are so right, we have to keep using what we have learned and just because we are at goal does not mean we can revert back or our bodies will revert back also.