Sleeve Should Only Be Performed as a Staged Procedure

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Ummm...85% of your stomach is removed. You can only eat a cup and a half or so of food a day. I am having surgery next Tuesday so what do I know...but I am guessing that with that kind of physical barrier long term, you could lose and maintain. What happened to your journey? Are those your before and after pix? And three years later...what happened?

I really think it's more like 90-95%, for the stand-alone Sleeve. But even so, trust me, it WILL stretch over time. And while all you can eat is a 1-1.5 cups AT ONCE, there's nothing about the Sleeve that keeps you from eating multiple times a day.

I guess it depends. My surgeon told me 80-85%. That is what he will likely remove depending on the lay of the land when he gets in there. He is a believer of a larger sleeve. He said it does not stretch. OK, the swelling goes down and capacity is increased over the first year, I get that. He also said 2-3 oz a meal three meals a day and two snacks of 1-2 oz. I got my trusty measuring cup out and I get 13 oz there and that is about 1.5 cups a day, not at any one time. But even if it were at one sitting that is still three times less than what I have averaged over the last years. And its also about what you put into those ounces. I could be eating 3 oz of foie gras vs 3 oz of filet mignon....I know where you are going with this and part of me agrees with you. The DS is indeed the Rolls Royce of WLS and the Sleeve is just the first step towards the real thing, but its not for everyone. I don't totally exclude a stage two down the road but I hope it won't be necessary. There is nothing about the sleeve that prevents you from eating multiple times a day....true...is there any surgery or any other weight loss technique that does prevent this? No. It all - no matter what surgery - comes down to not your stomach but your brain in the end. With whatever tool you have. You can fail or succeed with any.

There's a lot of be said for a larger Sleeve---less chance of reflux, for one. How big is he talking about? I have a DS, and my surgical report says mine started out at 3-4 ounces. In the first year, I had a LOT of restriction---but since about 18 months out, I can eat A LOT. My Sleeve has most definitely stretched. No, it will never be anything like as large as my pre-op stomach, but it's no longer tiny.

I can eat enough that I would be huge once again, without the malabsorption the DS gives me. Fortunately, I no longer have the constant, grinding HUNGER that I had pre-op. If I still had that sort of hunger, all the malabsorption in the world wouldn't help. (*grin*)

Since I was about 12-14 months post-op, I've been able to eat a 6-ounce steak, accompanied by a small salad, a few bites of baked potato, a yeast roll, and a little bit of dessert. Yes, that's a LOT less food that I could have eaten pre-op, and it's about what a normally-thin person does eat. But I'm convinced I'm what they call a super-absorber---or at least I was, before surgery. That means that my metabolism was so efficient I could store 4 out of every 5 calories I ate. Basically, my DS 'broke' that super-efficiency back to something like 'normal'.

If restriction alone works for you, great. I just think it's important to understand that a lot of us are not, nor have we ever been, 'normal'. We have thrifty genes---our ancestors were the ones who survived the famines. (*grin*)

Without malabsorption, I know that I personally would have to white-knuckle it to keep from gaining, and I just didn't want to DO that any longer. 45 years was enough!

I don't know exactly but I think he was going to use a 40f and about 3 oz capacity from the get go. 75 cc. Does that sound right? I read folks talk about the hunger they experienced pre op and I really don't know what that is. I never (very very rarely) feel hunger. I don't need to feel hunger to eat. I am really counting on the restriction and the honeymoon period to get to goal and then I think the sheer fear of regain will keep me on track in maintenance. No fluctuation!!! I will be all over that extra lb as soon as it dares to creep in. I am just soooo dang scared stiff of the actual surgery. So irrational....plus I have a really nasty cough and I am worried that they may not operate if I still have it on Tuesday and...it looks like it isn't going anywhere. Sucks...

I really don't understand bougie sizes, and there's always the fact that not everyone's stomach is the same length. As for 75 cc---I have no clue what he's talking about.

It's great that you don't have a lot of hunger! I always did---even after stuffing myself, I felt like I needed one more bite. And it appears it was something physical, because having surgery completely cured it. I even have days whe I'd prefer to not eat---but if I don't eat at least a little I get sick at my stomach.

Have you ever had surgery before? My DS was my first, and it was done open. I'd worked myself up to be prepared for it to be awful---and it wasn't. It wasn't fun, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I'd expected.

Sorry! 75 cc is metric, equivalent to a bit under 3 oz. No never had surgery before. The one and only time I was supposed to have general anesthetic for my endoscopy and colonoscopy, it didn't work and I was wide awake. Talk about no fun....i also don't get bougie sizes especially given that its just a tube to guide the surgeon and some don't even use these.

Well, duh! (*facepalm*) Of course cc means cubic centimeteres. Sorry, I was having a brain fart. Usually when I hear "cc" I think  "common channel", and Sleevers don't have those. (Well, they do, but they're just called "guts". *grin*)

   This isn't true for many sleevers.  If you have a smaller sleeve...it was done correctly...AND  you DON'T over fill it constantly....it will NOT stretch significantly!  It will "mature" as they call it...slightly....over time...as it is SUPPOSED to.  My capacity went from 1.5-2 oz early out.....3-6 months...to 3-4 oz NOW  3 years out (dense protein)  So it doubled.....basically to approx 3-4 oz.  I know many sleevers who have experienced the same.......still have great restriction 2-5 years out.  So will I be eating 1-1.5 cups of food.....not in any future I can see.
   BTW....there is nothing about ANY WLS (DS, RNY, Band)  That will keep you from eating multiple times a day....more important....from filling our tiny tummies with calorie dense.....nutritionally empty foods