Does the sleeve ever NOT work?

[sherri3388 36]

Does the sleeve surgery ever NOT work?

[johnlatte 1,232]

The sleeve is a tool, it is simply a reduction in the amount of food your stomach can hold. It reasonably possible for someone to be sleeved and continue to consume the amount of calories that would prevent significant weight loss. It would be difficult, but not outside the realm of possibilities. It is also possible that over time, if bad eating habits aren't changed, that weight would return. This is true for the sleeve, band or RNY.

[TheGamer 406]

If you feed yourself a steady diet of ice cream, cake, Cookies, chips, fried treats and other high calorie, low nutrient food, you're going to put weight back on. liquids, especially, are a sneaky source of empty calories because the sleeve does not generally restrict liquid intake. This is one reason we're advised to give up on sugar sweetened beverages.

If I recall, my doctor said somewhere around 20% of the people with the sleeve will outright not have success. For others, weight creeps back on during maintenance when stomach capacity is higher. If you look around, you'll find some posts where long term sleevers have documented the struggled to keep weight off long term.

[NurseGrace 509]

well, in what sense of the term "not work"? There is a small section of the population that will have this surgery, experience major complications and therefor maybe not be as successful but if you have made it so far as to join a site like this you probably know that the sleeve is one of the safer surgeries in terms of complications.

It is also true that some people have a higher capacity for food, even early out than others. So regardless you have to commit yourself to being mindful of calories, carbohydrates, Protein and fat to some extent.

That being said, the sleeve is not likely to stretch on you. There are different schools of thought but my surgeon is of the opinion that you would basically have to be trying really hard to actually stretch it out. Of course, there are things you can do to facilitate that, like drinking beer, soda, and other carbonated beverages but even then, some people will tell you that its not possible. I take the middle of the road stance on that. I really frown on people talking about drinking soda here because I wonder why they had surgery if they want to still do things like that, and I do regard it as detrimental to some degree, but I don't think of it as the end of the world either.

So I guess to sum it up, NO, I cannot give you any type of reasurance that no matter what you do, you are guaranteed to lose weight with this surgery, because you can fail. It's comes down to the choices you make. The "It's just a tool" line is so tired and I hate hearing it, reading, it and saying it, but there is truth to it. You're choices matter more than what surgery you decide to pick. If you have this surgery, then continue to eat the way you used to eat, push yourself total maxed-out capacity every single time you eat I am certain that anyone doing that would fail.