Weight loss surgery....'I want a gastric sleeve next'

I'm curious - of those of you who have had the procedure - are there any of you who regret the decision? It just seems like a huge amount of change / adaptation for the rest of one's life. I couldn't do it, and nor would I want to. I love food. To each their own and I wish all of you the best with your respective choices.

I'm curious - of those of you who have had the procedure - are there any of you who regret the decision? It just seems like a huge amount of change / adaptation for the rest of one's life. I couldn't do it, and nor would I want to. I love food. To each their own and I wish all of you the best with your respective choices.

My only regret is that I didn't have it sooner.

Same here. Also, it's easy to say you'd never have surgery when you're 20-odd pounds overweight. Go gain 200 pounds and get back to me on that.

I'm curious - of those of you who have had the procedure - are there any of you who regret the decision? It just seems like a huge amount of change / adaptation for the rest of one's life. I couldn't do it, and nor would I want to. I love food. To each their own and I wish all of you the best with your respective choices.

You can expect people to be proud of their decision, while there are many that are now dead because of their decision to get WLS.

...and cutting calories alone would not have been enough.

You can achieve any level of thinness you like by "cutting calories".

Everybody has to make their own choices in life. If someone makes the choice for this type of surgery, as long as it's an informed choice, so be it.

Well no. That sounds crazy. But what is a gastric sleeve? I have heard of by-pass and band, but not sleeve.

I am always jealous of people who have weight loss surgery. It seems to me they have it easy.

I am overweight even when I consider myself at a healthy weight, but I am never obese enough to get surgery.

I take some offense to this comment. I just had the "sleeve" 8 weeks ago. I have been overweight my entire life. I have tried all of the diets and exercise plans out there and will lose some weight and then gain it all back again plus more. The "sleeve" or Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy, is a major surgery and permanent option for weight loss surgery. My surgeon removed about 75-80% of my stomach. He literally took it out of my body. I can never have that back. I don't want it back, but for someone to think that I "took the easy way out", you have no idea what you are talking about. I struggle daily with trying to get in the amount of water that everyone needs in order to stay hydrated. I struggle also to get in the minimum amount of protein that we need to survive also. There is little room for anything else, including healthy options like fruits and vegetables. I will be on vitamin supplements for the rest of my life in order to get these nutrients that I am not able to consume on my own.

And for those of you that think that the lap-band is something you just have removed when you have lost all the weight, that is a common misconception. No surgeon will risk going in to remove it, unless there is a problem which has put the patient in jeopardy.

I know that you didn't mean any offense, but I just think you should really think before you say something like "they took they easy way out". Ask any WLS patient and they will tell you, it is definitely not easy way out. It is very easy to slip into old habits and gain all the weight back, but with this "tool" many people have achieved lifelong weight loss and if they stick to their diet, they keep it off for life.

I have lost 48 lbs so far, but still have a long way to go. VSG 6/25/13

I believe you... i know its not an easy way out.. its very hard.. like is it true that you have to chew food about 20 times till it liquifies in your mouth to make it easier on your new system? and you cant eat everything you crave? and your new stomach may be smaller but did your emotional cravings go away? i dont think so? when you saw something that you craved before surgery, and then saw the same food after, did you crave it less? but before surgery, you could have a large piece of pie, now if you ate that piece of pie, you'd get very very sick,, am i right? so its no easy way out? at least, this is what i learned for the old WLS surgery which I forget the name , they dont do it as much anymore, rats, I forget the name... it was the one they were doing in 2003, i learned aobut it, but got kinda scared to go for it because of the after-effects.

I got a Lap Band in 2008. I lost close to 100 pounds. I have kept most of it off for the 5 years but it was never easy. The band is a tool. But I soon learned I could eat around it. Which means I would look for soft foods that went down easy. Ice cream, sugar drinks and so on. My daughter also had the Lap Band. She had it removed last year in Oct. and has already lost 100 pounds. She's doing great with it. She had 85% taken out. She eats all the foods she needs to get in her vit's and only takes a multi-vit. every morning.

I'm having my band removed 10.10 & sleeve done 11.14. No WTS is ever easy. Its not a quick fix and you have to learn it's a tool to help lose weight.

I worked at a Weight Loss Center for 3 years before working in an ER. I was just talking to my doctor the other day. They used to do band over by-pass all the time. People would stretch their stomach so much it wouldn't go back. Sleeve has only been around in the states for what maybe 5 plus years and now they are doing band over sleeves. So whatever WLS you get you have to follow the doctors directions or you'll end up back to gaining the weight again.

I got a Lap Band in 2008. I lost close to 100 pounds. I have kept most of it off for the 5 years but it was never easy. The band is a tool. But I soon learned I could eat around it. Which means I would look for soft foods that went down easy. Ice cream, sugar drinks and so on. My daughter also had the Lap Band. She had it removed last year in Oct. and has already lost 100 pounds. She's doing great with it. She had 85% taken out. She eats all the foods she needs to get in her vit's and only takes a multi-vit. every morning.

I'm having my band removed 10.10 & sleeve done 11.14. No WTS is ever easy. Its not a quick fix and you have to learn it's a tool to help lose weight.

I worked at a Weight Loss Center for 3 years before working in an ER. I was just talking to my doctor the other day. They used to do band over by-pass all the time. People would stretch their stomach so much it wouldn't go back. Sleeve has only been around in the states for what maybe 5 plus years and now they are doing band over sleeves. So whatever WLS you get you have to follow the doctors directions or you'll end up back to gaining the weight again.

So you have a band and figured out a way around it with soft foods and now you are having that removed and are having the sleeve instead, how will you make sure that you won't find another way to 'cheat'?

I think a lot of y'all are being really judgmental and disrespectful, though I can understand why you would think that WLS is an "easy way out" if you don't have a close relationship with someone who went through it. My mom had gastric bypass surgery a few years back after struggling with her weight for 30 years, and it was a major ordeal. If she ate too quickly, mixed liquids and solids, or ate anything that wasn't sugar free during the first year or so, her body would completely go into revolt. She would get violently ill from things that you and I take for granted. It's been at least three or four years since her surgery, and she still cannot (and never will be able to) drink anything carbonated, chew gum, or eat more than a tiny amount of pasta or rice. She is a hundred pounds lighter now, though, and her quality of life is vastly improved because she no longer feels like she's at the bottom of a pit she can never escape.

My point is that unless you actually have any facts to back up your opinion on weight loss surgery, you probably shouldn't have an opinion on weight loss surgery.

You can expect people to be proud of their decision, while there are many that are now dead because of their decision to get WLS.

And many more who are now dead because they didn't. Your point?

it has saved more lives than people who have died my surgeon has been doing WLS for well over 10 yrs and has never lost a patient most surgeons haven't lost a patient and have been doing it for a long time more people die from obesity complications than die from WLS death from WLS are few and far between where as death from obesity related diseases is extremely common

My little sister had WLS earlier this year. So far she has lot a lot of weight (not sure of the exact amount) but she has returned to a much more "normal" look. One that I haven't seen on her since she was maybe 16 years old. That part makes me happy, but the frequency of relapse, common issues, etc... they worry me. She's my little sister, and I'm about as protective as they come. Not that I would try to tell her what she should do, but there is nothing I can do to stop myself from being genuinely concerned.

WLS has never really been on the table for me, but I've also never been more than 40%BF. Before she told me she was considering the surgery, I had never really done much research on it. I knew enough about it to be concerned (it is a major surgery, after all) but not enough to really understand the risks. So I read. A lot. I also found out that another two acquaintances of mine had WLS in the past couple of years. Not close enough friends that I felt comfortable approaching them for information about the process, but around enough that I could see it wasn't working very well for either of them. The more I read the more I sort of decided on my own what red flags I wanted to look for before really letting myself worry about my little sister.

Reading the success stories here from multiple people who have had WLS gave me the other side of it. What to look for to ease my mind. This part has been really helpful. The people I see here who have taken up a more active lifestyle, and have really used the WLS "tool" to their advantage (instead of trying to work around it, subconsciously or otherwise) are the ones who have really changed themselves for the better.

The other day my sis and I had a chat about working out, running, etc. I learned she is starting the C25K program and is interested in all sorts of physically active things she never would have considered even a year ago. She lives about 6 hours away by car, and I haven't seen her in person since the surgery. She's coming to town for Thanksgiving, and we have a "workout date" planned. I can't tell you how happy that makes me. I think she's on the right track. Nearly all of my concerns over her opting for WLS have gone away. In fact, she's a big part of the reason I've gotten so inspired recently to lose weight myself.

Here's to WLS. When it works, it can be a beautiful thing.