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I went with the sleeve. It was recommended over RNY unless you had acid reflux (which I didn't). I also think that RNY results in a quicker weight loss thanks to malabsorption. The pluses of the sleeve are: 1. It's less likely to stretch because the stretchy part of the stomach is removed. Since an RNY pouch is constructed from the esophagus, it can stretch. 2. My surgeon told us no alcohol or NSAID'S with an RNY for life. I'm a weekend social drinker with arthritis, so this was my primary reason for going VSG. 3. I love the simplicity of the sleeve. Once I healed, I'm basically "normal" with an itty bitty stomach. Who doesn't love that. Yes, they say that that RNY is reversible, but I've never heard of anyone doing it and why would you? 4. I have also heard that the malabsorption factor goes away down the road and your left with just the restriction of the pouch, which can stretch (at least a little). 5. Finally, remember that VSG was first developed as stage one of a DS surgery, so I suspect you could always go back to get the malabsorption part done later if needed (at least I think this is true). Btw, there is nothing I can't eat - no hint of dumping whatsoever!

Same here, I was told to go with the sleeve because I was going to be taking NSAID'S for arthritis and drinking alcohol. I was cleared for NSAID'S after one month post opt. My hospital was Newton Wellesley, the top wls hospital in Massachusetts.

thanks! I see you're not long past surgery so it's good to get a prospective from somebody who just had it. I've read other posts from those further along in their journey and they are eating fairly normally but small portions. Fine by me. I've done enough damage - time to eat properly. From what i've read 6 months seems to be a turning point. Also - I believe you can have no alcohol for 6 months - fattening anyway!

What have you been trying? I've been supposed to lose 10lbs since January but gained 10lbs instead. I have been trying everything I could think of since April and I finally think I have it right. I've lost 6lbs in 3 weeks. Here's what's working for me. Following my nutritionist's program with some adjustment: 60+gms of Protein, then veggies. I can't do the carbs, I just don't lose if I do. I'm trying to keep carbs under 50gms, all fruit and veggies. 64 ounces of fluids. No carbonation, no alcohol, no caloric drinks. 1000 calories a day or less. My program says 1200 but I just can't lose on 1200. Believe me 1000 calories is not much food. I'm hungry all the time but I just drink Water until my next meal. I can't exercise much due to my arthritis but I added a chair yoga class and an arthritis-focused water aerobics class and I'm trying to increase my average daily steps to 5000 (from 3000). Here's a day's menu: Breakfast- shake with a scoop of chocolate Designer whey and 1T PB2 (defatted Peanut Butter powder), 4 strawberries. Snack- half of a Nugo Slim Protein Bar lunch - 1oz of tofu, 1oz of almonds and cashews, half a cucumber, a few bell pepper slices Snack- 1/4 apple with 1 teaspoon almond butter dinner - Same shake as above with 1/2 a frozen banana, a green salad with homemade low cal, low carb dressing. Snack - my special treat- 1/2 of a homemade chocolate peanut butter cup made with stevia, cocoa, Protein powder, peanut butter and coconut oil. This is 115 of my calories per day but it's worth it as it keeps me from feeling deprived. Hope you can find a way too.

So, here are a few things I wish I had known before I had my surgery (I was sleeved 5/23/16): The gas...oh my goodness, the gas. It hurts, it stinks, and sometimes you can't trust a fart. Lovely. Surgery doesn't make it easier to lose weight. It actually makes it more complicated! Protein, carbs, sugar, fat...It's all scientific now. If I don't get my protein, I hold Fluid and don't lose weight. If I eat sugar, I don't lose weight. If I don't get all my Water for the day, I feel hungry, tired, and--you guessed it--I don't lose weight. I even landed in the ER getting 4 bags of fluid and a CT scan to check for complications. And my insurance got a bill for $7,000. After the one they got for $29,000 just a month previous...more on that later... Mood swings from hell will descend upon you, and you will be powerless over it at first. Now, I am learning that I tend to cry right before a stall breaks. Fat stores hormones that have to go somewhere when the fat goes...extra PMS? Yes, please! NOT. Yes ladies, your period may go completely haywire for a while. FUN... Speaking of stalls...the weight won't always come off in a predictable pattern. It may not come off as fast as you want it to. If you stick to your plan, you will lose weight, but along the way you will stall. You may not lose anything for a while, even though you're doing everything right. You will get concerned, you may think the surgery isn't working, but if you stick to your plan the weight will come off. On it's own schedule, though, not yours. The human body is incredibly complex and very good at learning how to NOT starve. Some people believe in starvation mode, some don't, but don't test it. You don't want to get sick and malnourished. You may need to exercise more and log your food to make sure you haven't slipped up, but the stall will break. Eventually... You will become acutely aware that people who know you had the surgery are watching you. Watching what you eat, when you eat it, and how much of it you eat. Watching to see if you lose weight, and if you don't lose weight FAST, everybody has an opinion about whether or not you should have had the surgery and if it will work, and you may hear horror stories about somebody's friend/sister/brother/cousin/coworker who had the surgery and gained all the weight back. Or never lost it at all. Stick to your plan, and remember why you made the decision to have surgery. Be ready to avoid toxic people as necessary. If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. So be careful who you tell. If you are married, consider your spouse's feelings. Talk about it. You will need them on your side if at all possible. If they aren't, it could be problematic. Be ready to have hard conversations and make decisions based on those conversations. You may learn things about your relationship that you never knew, which can be good or bad. You will have regrets. Mostly in the beginning, but be ready to wonder what in the hell you were thinking when you had this surgery. It's hard! There is an overwhelming temptation to believe that this was supposed to be easier. It's not. It's effective, but it's a lot of work and it takes a lot of self-discipline. People may judge you and say that you took "the easy way out". See the previous paragraph. And then see the second paragraph. You may have to educate a few people. Or tell them to get lost, your choice. If you didn't already know it, you may find out that you have a serious problem with food. Get that fixed, and do it before you waste a lot of time and heartache. Go to therapy. The surgery will NOT fix your brain. I cannot stress this enough! You will find out that food is the glue that holds our lives together. We Celebrate with it, we mourn with it, we reward ourselves with it, and sometimes our social lives revolve around it. All of that has to change. Food is fuel. Period. You will not enjoy eating out for a while, if ever. The portions are RIDICULOUS, and most of it is nothing you should be eating anyway. "I'll just have a small salad..." No, you won't, not for a while. You won't be able to eat raw vegetables for a long time, and never before your doctor clears it. It's the last step. And it may be never for certain foods. BECAUSE... Your taste will change. What your stomach can tolerate will (obviously) change for a long time, and maybe forever in some aspects. You may hate what you once loved and love what you once hated. Go with it. And get over your addiction to caffeine, because that has to go, too. Not forever, but your surgeon will have an opinion about when it's okay again. If you smoke, a reputable surgeon will not do weight loss surgery on you. They will most likely test you for nicotine, so don't cheat, just quit. You won't heal as well and it's just plain bad for you. You will have no vices for a long time. Because...you can't drink alcohol either! Not for a LONG time. Just look that one up, because I quit drinking a long time ago and I don't even care about this part. Except: you may trade old addictions for new ones. You may need therapy to fix this. If food was a coping mechanism for you, you had better have a plan for new coping skills. BECAUSE... This is stressful as hell, if you hadn't figured that out. You hair may come out. Be ready. Biotin is rumored to help, but it isn't a sure thing. You will need to take Vitamins for the rest of your life. Don't be cheap and skimp on this one. You need bariatric vitamins. Deficiencies can set you back in significant ways. It's not worth it. Take your vitamins. Now. If you're still reading this, you may think I am one hell of a "Negative Nelly". Nope! I am a realist. You should be scared. You should think long and hard before you have weight loss surgery. If you even qualify for surgery, you've cleared a significant obstacle. If your insurance covers it, that's another significant obstacle out of the way. Soooo...If you have a surgeon willing to do it, and you can get insurance to pay for it (or if you can make it happen as self-pay) DO IT. If you still want to have weight loss surgery despite knowing how much it can suck, then you will probably do well. BECAUSE... IT'S WORTH IT. All of it.

Hi Demon. Wow close on the 40kg mark thats fantastic and this is really the reason we have all had the surgery and why we have to remind ourselves of during the down times. I have been on holiday for the past 3 weeks and so dont think I have lost much during that time (too much alcohol probably) but I have still lost around 33kgs so far. I find eating to be unsatisfying in general and something I do because I have too but its normally over pretty quickly. I also find myself wanting to eat every couple of hours and Im not sure thats a good thing. I have noticed I have gone off carbs abit but can eat most things in moderation. But my stomach never seems to be settled its either hungry or uncomfortable from eating. BUT I love the weight loss and I hope I never take it for granted I do wish though that I had the ability to lose the weight without surgery but that isnt my story. I also have a big wobbly stomach now as well. Sent from my SM-G900I using the BariatricPal App

You just need to quit eating sweets. That includes all "fake" sugar too. It only takes a week or two and then you're home free! Sugar is like a drug, the more you consume, the more you want it. It's highly addicting. I kicked that habit quite a while ago, along with caffeine and alcohol. Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

I have no idea what percentage actually fail, but likely the majority of the ones that are deemed failures or have significant regain are the ones that did not use the time right after surgery to relearn how to eat properly. They expected the sleeve to do all the work and all they'd have to do is "eat less" of the same foods they've always eaten. My doc said that anyone can lose weight the first year, even if the eat crap foods all the time. But when the body's metabolism adjusts over to how you eat after surgery, it will make it possible to regain easily if you're still eating high carb, high fat/sugar/sodium low quality/nutrition junk. The weight loss is not permanent unless you throw out all your eating habits and crutches and start learning how to eat proper portions, healthy, whole foods and limit bad/crappy foods to very occasional times. Junky foods should be eliminated from your meal times for the rest of your life - bread, crackers, alcohol, fast food, fried foods, high sugar/fat/sodium prepared foods... all banished to every once in a while, and only in small portions then. You can still have them, but not in the quantity or frequency you used to have. Some things might need to be eliminated completely if you have a serious addiction and you can't control yourself, or if they are a "slider food" (where you can eat a large amount of a food/drink without it being restricted by your sleeve - like crackers or ice cream). You have about 1 year or so where the portion control from the sleeve and the lack of hunger allow you control to adjust how and what you eat. It really is all about a stripping of old habits and establishing new ones. Good Proteins - fish, chicken, turkey, dairy - should be the bulk of your meal time, followed by healthy vegetables and a small portion of complex carbs if you have room (brown rice, whole wheat Pasta, beans). There are almost always healthy recipes and workarounds for most of the foods you love, and you can be happy having small portions (like 2-3 bites) instead of eating the entire thing (if that's what you used to do), but you have to commit to changing your relationship with food to make WLS work for you. Exercise is also an important part of the process, but the food relationship is the main thing to get figured out ASAP.

No alcohol. Sorry. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

My surgery is scheduled for 8/17. I stopped drinking on 7/12. My reason is I want to lose as much weight as possibly before my surgery to make it safer and I can't lose if I'm drinking. Just a fact for me. I also wanted to eliminate the inflammatory effect of alcohol on my liver.

@ I asked my surgeon this very question! I have almost tapered off drinking completely but I like to enjoy a drink now and again. I have a wedding 3 weeks pre-op, and it's open bar so I wanted to be sure ahead of time before I did anything I shouldn't! He told me that as long as I'm not doing it during my "pre-op" diet, and not doing it consistently, I should be fine. But he did say no alcohol what-so-ever during the 14 day pre-op diet. I know every surgeon is different, but that's the answer I got if it helps! Best of luck!

The point of the pre-op diet is to reduce the size of your liver to make surgery easier and less dangerous. Alcohol increases the size of your liver. The higher your BMI, the larger your liver is likely to be and the more likely it is that your liver is going to be blocking your stomach. Alcohol affects the size of your liver for *two weeks* after you drink it. That means drinking this weekend will make your liver be enlarged at the time of your surgery. So....drinking this weekend will make your surgery more difficult and dangerous.

The OP is talking about drinking alcohol BEFORE the liquid diet starts. Seems to be a bit of confusion there. If your surgeon gave you no restrictions for prior to the start of the pre-op diet, then I don't see why you couldn't drink alcohol.

I'm sure your doctor gave you the instructions. I don't know anyone's pre op diet that makes allowances for Alcohol. You may as well start taking this seriously NOW.

My doctor said no alcohol 24-48 hours before surgery.

Hi everyone need some advice! I officially start a 8 day strictly liquid pre op diet on August 3rd for surgery the 11th... Is it safe to drink alcohol this weekend before the pre op diet starts? I'm in Chicago on a little trip and my doctor never said anything about alcohol before the pre op diet starting but wanted to hear any one else's opinion on the matter. Thanks! Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Lol, sorry, but it's funny to me, because my husbands grandmother is totally rude and she asked me why I wasn't drinking alcohol (she doesn't know I had surgery) and I told her because I was trying to lose weight and be healthy, and she said "oh ya, well how's that working out for ya?". I was floored. Sooo rude! I've lost like 21 lbs since she's seen me last, and your post just reminded me of her. Since I agree that most people can't tell until you've lost a huge amount of weight. At least in my experience I also have a snatchy friend who refuses to comment in a nice way about my weight loss. So I feel your pain!!!!! Just don't say shit to them anymore about your weight loss journey, and if they ask, just tell them you are on track according to your surgeon and unless they have a goddamn medical degree in Bariatric Surgery, they need to STFU and mind their own business. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using the BariatricPal App

Wow, I think it's kind of unrealistic that your bariatric team provided no guidance initially on what or how to eat, then got disappointed in you for not eating the way they want you to. So I wouldn't even call it getting back on track, it's just finding a way to eat that will maximize your health and your weight loss. I'll provide my team's plan in case it might be of interest to you if you are looking for a healthier way to eat. This is for the first six months: Eat 3 meals per day, no more than 3 ounces per meal Maximum 800 calories and 60 carbs per day. Minimum 75 grams protein per day. Acceptable food to use to fit within those goals: meat, fish, eggs, dairy, beans, legumes, nuts, nut butters, protein powder, fruit, green/low carb veggies Unacceptable foods: sweets, any grains (including all forms of corn), high carb veggies such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, and peas; soup, alcohol No snacks other than protein shakes and non-caloric liquids At 6 months out, if not at goal, increase calories to 1000. Meals may be up to 5 ounces. Carbs may be bumped up to 75 grams. Okay to have one serving of grains or sweets weekly if it fits in your daily nutrient goals. No drinking with meals or for 30 minutes after All food must be weighed (preferable) or measured and tracked via MyFitnessPal or similar food diary. Aim for 30 minutes of exercise daily but do not log or "eat back" exercise calories unless you do more than 30 minutes exercise. Log/eat back no more than 50% of calories burned for those minutes over 30. Good luck!

I agree with other posters here and encourage you to get professional support. There are also treatment plans available that work differently than AA if that doesn't work for you. Not knocking AA because it has saved untold numbers of lives. It just doesn't work for everyone. I found out about the Sinclair program through some sci fi circles I run in, and like to pass this along to anyone struggling with alcohol. http://www.onelittlepillmovie.com/about.html Good luck, and please get some professional support with this.

Get PROFESSIONAL Help! In support group I met a woman who started drinking wine and became an alcoholic. She lost her husband and children in 2 years of this addiction and decided to attend AA Meetings to reestablish a relationship with her children. In the AA Meetings she polled the people and found out 15 in the group had WLS. 1 DIED a slow miserable death. So her warning to us was NEVER drink, it can cost you everything. Sent from my SM-G530T1 using the BariatricPal App

Quick response ... The 85% of the stomach that is removed during VSG surgery is the FUNDUS. This is the part of the stomach that stretches. The rest that is left is the non-stretchy part of the stomach. That's a good thing. The other thing the FUNDUS does that the non-stretchy part of the stomach (your new sleeve) will NOT do is to produce ghrelin -- the hunger hormone. And believe me, you will be so grateful for the lack of / reduced level of ghrelin post-op. Immediately after surgery, your new sleeve will feel like the surgeon removed 95% of your stomach. She/he did not. However, right after surgery your remaining non-stretchy sleeve will be traumatized, inflamed and swollen terribly, making its capacity incredibly tiny. This inflammation and swelling will go down gradually as the severed edges of your new sleeve (which are stapled together) start to heal, repair themselves and grow / knit back together. This healing takes months. The severed nerves have to find each other and make new connections. So do the stomach muscles and other tissues. And that's why you have to be incredibly compliant and careful about what you eat during the early months post-op. This is when complications can occur caused by eating inappropriately at that time. One of the hardest things for some patients to learn is that post-op they are NOT on *just another diet* and that eating inappropriately is not *just cheating*. This is also why vets and well educated newbies have such strong reactions to people who want to eat cheeseburgers and tortilla chips and drink alcohol and what-not a week or two or three post-op. How long does it take for your sleeve to fully heal? I'm sure it varies from patient to patient. But in my case, I had the sense that by six months my sleeve was intact again. I know that when I and other family members have had other injuries / surgeries of various kinds that we've been told by surgeons that it takes a full year for our bodies to recover from severe injuries / surgeries. This would be a great question to ask your own surgeon. Keep learning about the sleeve. The details about the surgery and its aftermath really do matter and your self-education will improve your compliance. And teach your husband what you learn. The more he knows, the more effective his support for you can be.

I never considered anything but the sleeve. It took me years to creep up to an "entry level" wls weight (BMI high 30's). I had researched wls online for years and always got scared off by all the plumbing rerouting required. The more I looked at the sleeve, the more it looked like minor surgery. And clearly, after 6 months of healing I'd be physiologically normal again except my stomach would be the size of s skinny little girl. Then at the orientation, it became clear that the sleeve would be better for people who expected to go back to drinking alcohol (me) and NSAID'S. I had fairly serious arthritis and knew I'd need Advil once I started moving again. Finally, I was shocked at how minimal the surgery was. I recall being wheeled into the OR at 10:15 and waking up at 11:00! This was faster than my knee scope. Good luck!

Onmyway, I don't have any advise for you, just my story which is not complete yet. I too hesitated to get a revision because of my experience with the band. My current doctor told me in January, "it's not your fault. The band doesn't work". I didn't believe him because I knew I had eaten around my band at times, was totally out of control with cravings at times. But I started the process toward revision because I knew I had to do something. I was desperate. I lost 60 pound slowly with the band and have now gained it all back after having an empty band for 3 years due to complications. I was very conflicted, trying to figure out what to do. I had to go to a nutrition class once a month for my insurance to cover revision and I started going even though I wasn't sure I was going to have surgery again. When I got there, I thought "I've been through all this before. I know all this". And I thought "I don't have to practice. I can do it when the time comes. If it comes". By the third class, something changed for me. I started believing that there was a chance I could be successful with the sleeve. I got 3 books about the sleeve and started reading. The truth is that I am a carb addict and when I am able to stay off of them for a period of time, I don't crave them as much. I just have never really committed myself to staying off of them before. Now I have. I need to. I decided to go for a sleeve. I took an optional fourth nutrition class to finish learning implementing all the new behaviors I would need to follow after the sleeve and I would need to start practicing now. Stopping alcohol was hard as it had become my replacement behavior after the band, one thing that went down easy. Getting down to 1200 calories was hard. Cutting out carbonation was hard. Increasing exercise with my arthritis was hard. But slowly I have implemented everything including going down to 1000 calories a day and 50 gms or less of carbs from veggies and fruit. I'm not losing an ounce yet but I am sticking to it for the first time because I have committed to doing this. I need to lose some weight before surgery to make it safer. I am hoping for the experience that a lot of sleevers have: not being hungry and not having cravings. But even if I don't get lucky with that, I'm going to be as good a sleever as I was bad a bander. All that said, I haven't got my sleeve yet and haven't been successful with it yet. But I think if I can start to believe in myself, you can too.

NBD at all! Let me know if it says I'm post op somewhere and will change it. Looked at my profile from the phone and can't tell--will double check the desk top version shortly! Trust me—alcohol is going to be a no-go post surgery whatsoever. Am so effing worried about trading addictions that I won't risk it. I have the binge-eating well under control two years into BED psychotherapy at this point, but the only addiction that I'll risk trading for is bringing back my passion for surfing a decade ago. I have a "**good food** bucket list," plan—Mostly I eat very well now, but every once in awhile since I've elected to pursue the surgery indulge with something on the list ... ehm, "with awareness," if that makes sense? The citrus, crunchy, chicken, and spicy food off-limits items post-surgery is incredibly saddening, so on my bucket list I have tangerines, jalapeños, chicken, and nuts 5x per week pre-op scheduled into my calendar HAHAHAHA. The bucket list isn't fast-food filled, just stuff that I'm going to have to give up totally for at least 18-24 months post-op. Long gone are the days of eating a whole extra-large greasy pizza, but did have a few slices of that gluten-free pizza last night (picture here so you can see what I made at MOD. Very thin, funky pizza, 11-inches across)--in fact, throwing the rest of it out was upsetting a bit. Am still learning the "leave food on your plate," thing. I do it, but for some reason it inherently upsets me—thankful to have almost six more months to work on this mindset. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I'm currently in Pre-op classes until December 31st; my surgery should take place in mid-January. The weight I've lost so far pre-op (386➡️331.8) has been on my own full-food. The doctor said I won't have to go on liquids until 48-hours before surgery. I think with the surgery I would have not been able to consume even 1/3 of this!? Does it say somewhere that I've had the surgery? I'm pre-op right now. Maybe I messed up an option? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App All right, girl... I have been rooting for you since your bathing suit post for real and I am so happy for your success!! That said, I would not be me if I did not say **based on my experiences** to slow your roll a bit. The bread, alcohol, ice cream, all in one meal at four months out? No. You should not deprive yourself (that's why I got the sleeve vs bypass), but maybe pick ONE of the three vices? The servings of all are teeny, but put together, that's a pretty big meal -- one I couldn't handle at 3 years post op. Added all together, that is certainly over my 1500 calorie range, and at four months, I was still at 500 - 800 calories, but again, that's just me. YOU DO YOU. You know what's best for you. Just consider my opinion. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App