VSG 3 year later, update 2 what is the sleeve like 3 years out.

jbskaggs
on 4/23/14 2:01 am - holt, MO

1. After three years I did gain some weight back- but not becuase of sleeve in spite of it.  I switched to drinking sonic cream slushes or java chip frappes everyday.  (BTW becuase they are liquid you can easily over indulge these things, your stomach drains them out very quickly!)

2. I believe You cannot not stretch your sleeve. If anyone could stretch the sleeve it would have been me. I am an aggressive male over eater. I used to eat 2 dozen hot wings in a sitting!  I found you cannot stretch the stomach- but you can can make your self sick and have bad relux.  Almost like bulimia if you overeat- which can occur if you let it. One of the reasons I am on here talking about my struggles.  your head hunger is in your head- an ever present addiction that is managed daily.  Just like your walk with God, you have to decide each day to manage and master your urges to be selfish, so that if you give up trying to master your lust for food fall back into bad habits, you can get back up, change direction, and fight it down again.

3. You can desensitize yourself to the pain of overeating with a sleeve:   One of the problems when you are like me is that I have a hard time knowing when I am full. In the early days after the VSG the discomfort was so intense I could not eat too much.  But after 3 years I had desensitized my stomach to where I could eat alot more than I should. Which amounts to about a cup to a  cup and a half of food.  That much food would actually back up into my esophagous.  and would take an hour to go away.  But oddly enough I actually had started equating that "stuffed" uncomfortable feeling with being full.  So that I had gained back 35 lbs.  I also use to do this BEFORE my surgery- the stuffing myself till I puked thing.   In those days I'd go to MCD's and get 20 pc mcnugget, large fry, large soda, and two apple pies per meal!  Now even if I would overeat at Mcd's (which I don't like anymore) I could eat maybe the fish fillet of a fish sandwich (I threw the bread away), 1/2 a small fry,  and an apple pie.    And that would make me feel sick for at least an hour.  Huge difference!  But still not good as I should not be trying to eat till I am stuffed- it's that head hunger thing:  greed, coveting, lusting after food.  like an old man who has lost his sex drive, but stills wants the young women.  I can not physically eat a feast- but doesn't mean I don't want too. 


4.  You can re sensitize your stomach:  I had read on here a year back about going back on soft / liquid foods to sort of reset yourself.  So Sunday I did that and by Tuesday the sensations in my stomach had returned! :)  That is a good thing.
After going back to soft foods for a few days to reset my stomach's feelings, my stomach is feeling great.  I can also tell exactly when I am full again.  Basically 1/2 to 3/4 of cups of food and I can feel full.  To somebody who has not gone through this I can only describe the feeling as similar to having a tight belt around my waist removed.  I can breathe and I feel nice.  

The temptation is after you are full to take just one more bite.  Each time you do that you desensitize your stomach till you are eating too much and making your self sick.  After you have done this it becomes harder and harder to know when you are full.  AND because you have stressed your stomach you want to fill it more!  Odd that stomach discomfort can make you eat more.  Acid control is also much much harder when you overeat.  So by controlling your acid you also control your hungry because acid irritation can make you think your hungry.


5.  I believe If you follow the rules your weight loss kicks in again, just like the beginning.    I have lost 2.5 lbs since going back to a soft food diet eating around 1200 calories a day.  Mainly eggs, soups, yogurt and pureed fruits. 

6. If you have an addictive personality as you struggle with food- it will trigger struggles with other addictions:  porn  (for men), risky sexual  behaviors (both genders), alcoholism, drugs, workaholism, attention, even specific people, etc  what happens is you can shift your addiction to something different if you deal with your underlying causes and needs of the addiction.

7. This is your monkey not your family's. Don't hold your family accountable for your success or failures.  I know of so many horror stories where food addicts turned thier family lives into living hells, due to mood swings, food fixations, and self projections.  Just because you have a food addicton does not mean your kids, spouse, best friends etc have one.  There is a lady in my church who has kids that get punished for her failings and food fears.  Every week or so she goes to different extreme diets and makes her kids do them as well.  her latest diet: she has gone to a super raw vega diet.  It is destroying her relationship with her kids.  I actually found myself doing things like this to.  It is our job to keep our kids healthy, but unless they are actual food addicts don't treat them like food addicts.


8. I avoid diet foods- the studies between cancer, diabetes, and other health issues related to the artifcial sweetners and chemicals used for diet foods is frightening.    I gave all diet foods up and only eat real foods. Which is hard, because factories can even turn bacon into a processed food with a paragraph of ingredients.   We really don't know what all these chemicals do long term, so I try and eat foods that are real.  One of the best things I did in this process and the hardest was kicking my soda habit.  After reading so many accounts of the side effect of soda and how diet soda was even worse for you than real soda I gave them all up.  Haven't had anything carbonated in 3 plus years.  It was hard!  I had to actually order the soda when I got my meals in the beginning and look at it and hold it even though I didn't drink it.  Till I was able to actually get rid of it altogther.


So there you go.  My thoughts for whatever they are worth to you.

      
 
KevinBacon
on 4/23/14 2:50 am
VSG on 03/10/14

I liked this. Thank you for sharing!

HW: 318 Date of Surgery: 3/10/14 SW: 270  CW: 154

  

(deactivated member)
on 4/23/14 3:14 am

Thanks for your honesty. It's not easy to put your truth out there - especially if it's not all rainbows and skittles!

 

cajunlady1958
on 4/23/14 3:25 am - Broussard, LA
Revision on 12/30/15
thank you for posting this. you opened my eyes to what i have been doing for the past month. wish we still had a like button on the website, i did copy this so i can print it out and keep it with me. thank you again for being so honest.

You survived what you thought would kill you. Now straighten your crown and go forward like the Queen you are!

Tracy D.
on 4/23/14 3:38 am - Papillion, NE
VSG on 05/24/13

Thanks for a very honest post.  It's good to hear from people who've been in the trenches longer than me about how hard and ugly it really can get.  

Glad to hear you're back on track - hang in there!  

 Tracy  5'3"     HW: 235  SW: 218  CW: 132    M1: -22  M2: -13  M3: -12  M4: -9  M5: -8   M6: -10   M7: -4

 Goal reached in 7 months and 1 week

 Lower Body Lift w/Dr. Barnthouse 7-8-15

   

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

freckles1973
on 4/23/14 3:52 am - Canada

Great Post! Really paints a personal and accurate picture on how on how regain can happen. So glad that you have a self awarenes of your weaknesses and triggers..helps in trying to keep them at bay. Good luck to you :-)

   4.5  

HW : 246 PW:220 SW:208 CW:130

VSG surgery on 09/10/2013 with Dr. Henri Atlas

    

    

  

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

 

  

  

  

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

    

GingerJen
on 4/23/14 3:52 am
VSG on 03/07/14

Very wise...

37 y/o female 5'8" HW 355 consult 329 SW (3/7/2014)301 CW 168 goal 170

M1- 26 M2- 14 M3- 15 M4 -13 M5 -16 M6-12 M7-2 M8-5 M9-6 M10-8 M11-1 M12-5  M13-10 Goal reached 4/5/15 total lost 187 lbs total; 133 in the 13 months since surgery

jbskaggs
on 4/23/14 3:56 am - holt, MO

Thanks all for the kind words.

      
 
Spencerella
on 4/23/14 4:02 am - Calgary, Alberta, Canada
VSG on 10/15/12

Thank you for your honesty. I hope that your fresh start is grounding and that you can stay on course. Stick around - we'd love to hear how you're doing!

 

LINDA                 

Ht: 5'2" |  HW 225, BMI 41.2  |  CW 115, BMI 21.0

jbskaggs
on 4/23/14 4:17 am - holt, MO

well being a pastor Im all to familiar with the battle to change human habits and behavior.  Most people's battles are like a stock market report full of up's and down's.  The goal is a long term trending of over all profit inspite of the losses. I think battling any bad habit is the same way.

      
 
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