An honest question. Why are we here?

[EweLewz 107]

An outsider would look at most of us and assume we are all over-eaters. Although many of us fall into that category, I thought a little self reflection could help us correct some of the things we all do collectively that made the "sleeve" procedure our best option. Speaking strictly for myself, this is how it happened to me:

1. I am a computer technician. I sit behind a keyboard eight hours a day. At night, I am a student. The only physical exercise I get is lifting my coffee cup, or walking to the kitchen to make a sandwich.

2. I have Asthma, so working out is out of the question. I bought bicycles for my wife and I to get a little exercise, but it's hard to pedal for any distance when you are having trouble breathing.

3. I eat the most at night, the worst possible time. I never learned to take a few minutes out of each day for myself.

4. I eat out too often. Restaurant portions are obscene, but I have no problem eating every bite.

5. Anxiety - I take medication that is known to pack on the pounds. I made the decision years ago to be fat rather than drive myself nuts.

Thanks for taking the time to read my story. I'm certain everyone would love to here yours!

[Ladydawg2009 39]

Love this. I work two fulltime jobs. Its not so much how i eat, but what and when i eat. There is no time for exercise or cooking. So many people tell me why dont you just diet. If I could, and keep it off, i would have done it years ago.

[MoonSiren 48]

I was a food addict and still am but the sleeve prevents me from overeating too much. I slipped around the holidays and gained 30 lbs back because I kept eating slider foods. I didn't think I could gain weight back after being sleeved but I sure learned my lesson. Now I track everything I put in my mouth and eat under 1200 calories a day. I make sure that I exercise at least 30 minutes daily as well. I have anxiety too and take meds for it, which increases my appetite.

[Webchickadee 716]

Great post. You will be amazed at how different thing are for you AFTER the surgery and when you're well on your way through your recovery/goal!

1. I too work at a desk all day long. And more at night when I'm home (computer/web geek on hours and off!). There is time to get exercise if you want to (that's the sticking point!). I never wanted to before the VSG and my weight loss (still working on it!). Now I find I can't sit still. Too much energy, and too much desire to keep losing and get fit and healthy! If you had told me it would be like this 10 months ago, I would have called you crazy.

2. I also have Asthma. Except that now I don't! I was taking 3 puffers and 2 oral meds to control my Asthma and it wasn't under control! The slightest bit of exertion made me breathless. Of course I didn't want to exercise! Since very soon after my surgery (with just 20-30 lbs lost), I was able to completely jettison my meds (I still carry Ventolin, just in case). I take NO ASTHMA meds now. And I work out at the gym doing hard cardio 3 times per week, and walk at a fast pace 5x per week for at least an hour. NO MEDS REQUIRED. Again, for me, this is a miracle. I have been on copious ashtma meds for 30+ years (I'm 43 yrs old).

3. I still have evening snacking struggles. But only on days when I haven't been to the gym! I purposefully schedule my workouts for after work 3x per week. This keeps me off the couch watching TV, seeing commercials and feeling like I need/want/must have a snack every couple of hours! Coming home from a strong workout at the gym, even if I do flop on the couch, I am very loathe to put food in my mouth when I just sweated my butt off fighting the extra pounds!

4. Eating out is no problem, if you plan. When I know I'm eating out on a given day, I use the web or my smartphone to do a bit of quick research beforehand, allowing me to make the best choices from the menu and any nutrition info they have posted. I do this BEFORE I get to the restaurant, so that I can immediately choose my meal without all the tempting bad choices and lack of info "on the spot". Then when my meal arrives, I know I'm probably only going to eat 30-40% of it (sometimes only 25%!). So I ask for a take-out container as soon as they bring my meal, and I promptly pack up the portion I know I'm not eating. It then sits on the seat next to me, or on the table. When the waiter/waitress comes around to ask home I'm doing, my plate is mostly clean and I don't get asked "is there anything wrong with your meal?". Also I'm not tempted to overeat because the portion is so huge and make myself sick! And best of all, I have left-overs for at least 1-2 more meals. Very economical!

It's fantastic that you are here reading about the procedures, finding out how people do before, during and after the surgery, and facing the issues at hand! If you choose to have the surgery, it is my sincere hope that it is as wildly successfull for you as it has been for me. It has saved my life, and given me the life I've wanted for the past 25 years (my entire adult life).

I now have confidence and motivation I've lacked my entire life, I'm not held back from doing anything I want, at anytime because of my weight, my size, my doubts, my fears (related to my weight or fitness). I am returning to competitive sport (first time since I was in university), playing my with nieces/nephews. I'm looking forward to a much healthier future (far less chance of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, stroke, cancer, etc.). I've taken back control of my body and my life.

You can too! And I bet it will help with anxiety as well!

Good luck. I'm happy to answer any questions or concerns you may have with more of "my story".

[EweLewz 107]

Webchickadee - Great post, thank you much! My surgery is in 10 days. I am very much looking forward to resuming life as I once enjoyed it.

[VSG_me 184]

-desk job

-can't stick to a diet long enough to see results

-hypothyroid

-i love good food (I'm Southern, what can I say?)

-hate the gym

-lost my confidence when I put on 50 lbs these past few years

I LOVE MY SLEEVE!

[Shawn Morrison 71]

The OP story is pretty much mine too. I am a computer tech and student. I used to be very active but as the pounds packed on over time I had less and less energy and now am almost completely sedimentary. I have been exercising ever sense I started this journey and love it and feel better for it.

[LovinCheryl 22]

Desk Job. Drive a total of three hours a day to get there, (four days a week)

Single mother, always carrying my child to her activities.

Brought up eating SOUL food and church. Church and food.

Exercise never a priority, along with eating right.

Stress.

Every diet I have been on never yielded more than 20 lbs, only to gain that back plus some.

[PdxMan 4,292]

1. I love food
   
2. I love to cook food
   
3. I love to eat food.< br />

I can come up with a thousand reasons (excuses) why I was overweight, but it all boils down to the above.

[measureofme 175]

An outsider would look at most of us and assume we are all over-eaters. Although many of us fall into that category, I thought a little self reflection could help us correct some of the things we all do collectively that made the "sleeve" procedure our best option. Speaking strictly for myself, this is how it happened to me:

1. I am a computer technician. I sit behind a keyboard eight hours a day. At night, I am a student. The only physical exercise I get is lifting my coffee cup, or walking to the kitchen to make a sandwich.

2. I have Asthma, so working out is out of the question. I bought bicycles for my wife and I to get a little exercise, but it's hard to pedal for any distance when you are having trouble breathing.

3. I eat the most at night, the worst possible time. I never learned to take a few minutes out of each day for myself.

4. I eat out too often. Restaurant portions are obscene, but I have no problem eating every bite.

5. Anxiety - I take medication that is known to pack on the pounds. I made the decision years ago to be fat rather than drive myself nuts.

Thanks for taking the time to read my story. I'm certain everyone would love to here yours!

All this and more... I am a classic "stuffer"... When faced with an emotional situation that was difficult, I'd eat rather than get mad or upset and deal with it. This was a huge part of my pattern in addition to practically everything else you noted. Funny enough, in prep for my Sleeve, my care providers agreed to let me go off my anxiety meds with monitoring. I am now forced to really deal with my emotions, own them and work through it without eating... making my sleeve even more of a tool. Amazingly, this makes me feel more whole than I have in years. Not for everyone I know but working for me right now.

[aroundhky 1,174]

I'm not going to give "excuses" but am listing some "obstacles" that I was not able to overcome for the 15+ years that I was way overweight. Or maybe these are "reasons", just don't want to use the term "excuses", because I want to take full responsibility for my shortcomings before the sleeve.

1-In the past, after SOME weight loss, I eventually would give into the tremendous, ravenous cravings that my body wanted when it thought it was starving and I wasn't able to stay the course.

2-When I did eventually "fall of the wagon" with one bad meal or extra portions, I wasn't able to see it as only that, just one slip up, and thus followed it up with more and more slip ups until I regained the weight back.

3-I didn't plan my meals in advance, so when I got hungry, I just ate and ate, and usually on bad (high fats, high simple carb) foods.

4-Exercise wasn't much of a problem, but I failed at eating to support my exercise or to fuel my exercise. I looked at food as completely having nothing to do with my exercise and I ate food for the taste or satisfaction of eating or how it made me feel. Now, I am much better at eating to fuel my body and exercise rather than just eating because I like to.

The sleeve truly is a "tool" for me and helps remind me of what food is supposed to be for me. I'm not saying I don't eat for pleasure on a rare occasion, but it's very rare that I eat something that's really bad for me. And when I do, I am able to get back on the wagon and not spiral back into continuous pleasure eating. The sleeve has helped enlighten me more about nutrition and I feel more educated on how to eat properly in addition to it helping me control my portions.

[johnlatte 1,232]

It would be easy for me to blame my job, my health or my lack of motivation to exercise, but the bottom line is that I was killing myself with a fork. No one or nothing to blame but me and choices that I was making. I have no reasons, only excuses. I lost a ton of weight over my days and have done every diet on the planet, but never had the resolve (guts if you will) to stick with it. Sure there could be some little issue in my life that I could use as a crutch to reconcile that fact that I put on 70 lbs in a year. In the end, none of those reasons ever picked up a fork and put food in my mouth. It was me and I own it. Now I am taking care of it once and for all. No reasons, no excuses.

[LovinCheryl 22]

Maybe I am off base with this, but some of these replies seem to indicate some of us have excuses as to why we are like this when the bottom line is we all love food. I think people all shapes and sizes love food! What about the people that eat more than we do but are still skinny. Our bodies responded in a different way! Really there are some(not all) underlying causes here that stem from things other than the love of food.

[EweLewz 107]

With all due respect, the last couple of replies that blame food as the sole reason all of us are overweight is simply not true. My wife is 5'7 and weighs 125lbs. She easily consumes more than 500 calories a day more than I do. There are many more aspects to weight than calories consumed. The amount of activity we partake in, genetics, medication and body type are all factors. Unfortunately, the war against weight isn't caused or remedied by one factor. Being able to share our specific stories enables us to learn from each other. While the fork represents a major battle, it does not represent the entire war.

[aroundhky 1,174]

With all due respect, the last couple of replies that blame food as the sole reason all of us are overweight is simply not true. My wife is 5'7 and weighs 125lbs. She easily consumes more than 500 calories a day more than I do. There are many more aspects to weight than calories consumed. The amount of activity we partake in, genetics, medication and body type are all factors. Unfortunately, the war against weight isn't caused or remedied by one factor. Being able to share our specific stories enables us to learn from each other. While the fork represents a major battle, it does not represent the entire war.

I was just speaking for myself and for no one else since you asked for each person's individual story. But in my case, it IS true in regards to food being the main contributor to me being overweight. I could "out eat" almost everyone I met and I ate with abandon almost every day. That said, I have seen people with snail-like metabolisms that really didn't eat all that much but were overweight. But that's not me and I'm just being honest and not claiming a reason that I know deep in my heart not to be true. I KNOW that food (and the amount of food) was my major cause for being overweight. So I can't really blame genetics or a slow metabolism even though I would like to. But you asked an honest question, so I gave an honest answer. This is a really good topic and not one that has been touched on many times in this forum, so I appreciate you starting it and getting the ball rolling with your own story.