Am I the only one who regrets their Sleeve?

[banksdea 10]

Hey guys,

I know I post on here a lot, but this is my community of support. Adjusting to life after the sleeve has not been easy psychologically for me. Going through the daily routine of taking my Vitamins and eating Protein is taxing. Knowing that my health depends on me taking vitamins everyday sucks. Before surgery, I would take vitamins but there were season were I wouldn't take anything for a couple months at times and I start back up sporadically. Now that I'm sleeved not taking my vitamins will result in my going bald and possibly in the hospital. I feel like I added a handicap for myself.

Going to dinner functions is depressing, because I can't eat. 3 bites and I'm full. That's not healthy. It saddens me that I'm not and probably will never be able to enjoy a healthy portion sized meal. It's not about overeating, but just being able to enjoy a healthy meal with family and friends socially is normal.

I'm not sure what to give credit to the WLS or my effort because I workout 5-6 days a week and stick to the protein diet. In honesty, if I followed the same routine without surgery, I know I would loss weight. Probably not as fast, but the weight will come off. I wish I hadn't of given up on myself all to get what I thought was a quick fix, which honestly isn't.

I hate that I can't drink Water as plentifully as I used to. I love water and would drink 2 liters daily before this surgery. Now I'm lucky if I get in 28 oz, which is not healthy. I get constipated often and my urine is darker. My menstrual cycle and hormones are off.

I feel full throughout the day no mater what I eat or drink. I plan to have children one day and I can't imagine having hunger pains while pregnant knowing I can only eat a couple bits of food. I know women become more fertile after losing weight, but there is still risk of the baby being malnourished, which scares me.

I really hate that I chose a irreversible surgery. I had no idea I would have strong feelings of regret afterwards. I wish there was a surgical procedure to restretch out your stomach for gastric sleeve patients who want to reverse the procedure.

I read a lot of blogs and watch videos of people getting WLS and see a lot of positive experiences. I know there are people who feel similar to myself, but I tend to not see a lot of postings from people who regret surgery. I'm deciding to be honest with my experience even if I'm the only one. I know most people from these support blogs don't like to see post like this, but the truth of what your going to have to deal with for the rest of your life after getting a gastric sleeve should be highlighted. I am someone who has had the sleeve and is having a hard time adjusting to life afterwards. I'm not the only one. I just other people will be more honest about the lifelong challenges.

Praying for hope and emotional health and that I will one day soon adjust to my new way of life.

[fau2nvy 28]

u jus have to deal....its a choice we all made. weigh the pros and cons. one thing u can be thankful for is u did something....it will get better and ur sleeve will be less restricted over time....its ok....u say u dnt want to overeat...that was the reason of doing this? i know ppl who eat six small meals....very saatifying after a year. ...just be patient

[staceymeaux 90]

I can relate to your feelings. I have not had the surgery yet, but recently approved. I do question myself all of the time if this is the right thing. I know that if I could just eat less on my own and follow the same diet plan as the one post-op I could lose weight. So why am I going to have the surgery. I have beat myself up over it. But I have finally come to the conclusion that if it was that easy to do on my own without the tool of the surgery I would have done it a long time ago. I am fearful of many of your same concerns, but I know that I have to do it. I have tried many times before and been successful for short periods of time, but not sustained any lasting weight loss. My prayer is that the surgery will be a tool to help me get the weight off quicker, but not too quickly and that I will learn some lasting new healthy eating behaviors to keep it off the rest of my life. I have so much I want to do, but my weight holds me back. Just think of all of the things losing weight will allow you to do that you could not do before. Stay positive. I know it will be worth it for you and for me and for all of us who are going down this path.

[banksdea 10]

@ fau2envy

How far out are you? I can't wait until I'm less restricted although I it's still going to be a lot less than before surgery for life. Three bites of food is just non-nutritious. I'm in therapy to help cope. It's like they tell you this stuff and you think your ready for it, but once it becomes your life the hard reality of your decision kicks in and there is no turning back ????. I'm surprised that nobody else seems to feel or felt the same way. Everybody seem so happy. I just want to drink Water unrestricted and eat a Healthy proportion sized meal. Nothing bad. Lord help me!

[LaLa Lady 98]

Wow, sorry you are experiencing these emotions and regrets. Are you in a support group or have you considered a therapist who specializes in WLS that can help you through this? You are not very far out so yes you should be able to eat more in the future but remember why you started on this journey, if we could have done this w/o surgery we would have. This is your best chance to learn to eat healthy and avoid all the horrors that come with obesity. As far as vitiamns I use Celebrate brand as they come in chewable, soft chew, sublingual or pill form and they combine vitiamns so you don't need to take so many individually. This has helped me as I also have multiple meds for medical complications due to obesity which are greatly decreasing! Hang in there and focus on the future not the past. Move forward in your new life and give yourself some time to adjust to your new lifestyle. Best wishes!

[Stevehud 1,790]

You need some psychological healthcare. Simply sounds to me like you weren't ready for this and jumped into it way too fast. Too many people don't really think about the consequences of what this surgery means. See a counselor or psychiatrist. You have made some HUGE misstatements. You say you can never eat a healthy portion? and you've done so well, knowing what a healthy portion is, in the past? Healthy is a lot smaller than you think it is, otherwise you would not have been obese to begin with. This surgery takes the fun out of food, with good reason.

food is what you live ON , not what you live FOR.

This may sound like I am uncaring but I care a lot more than many might think. This surgery saved my life, no even more than that, it has given me a life to spend with my wife and friends.

A whole new world has opened before me, and it can for you too.

That life does not include being addicted to, and to run my life around, food.

Think about it, and go talk to someone.

[banksdea 10]

I am in therapy right now. Unfortunately, I now realize that I could have did this on my own. I'm working out everyday, which I wasn't doing before the surgery. Since they recommended I workout daily and eat a high Protein diet, I'm doing it. It's not that I "couldn't" before. A high Protein diet with daily exercise has been proven to aid in weight loss.

If I'm honest, didn't really struggle with overeating, I just chose unhealthy foods and gained a lot of weight. The surgery restricts my food intake only, not the type of food I choose to eat. We all heard of the folks that gain the weight back because of eating bad carbs even if it's 2 oz of something. I beat myself up because I looked at this as a tool to help me get somewhere quicker, but I'm doing a lot of work and it still may take up to 1-2 years. I could see if the sleeve worked well without killing yourself in the gym daily and eating a high protein diet and taking Vitamins for life. All the things most of us tell ourselves we couldn't or tried to do on our own is ironically the same things we have to eventually follow through with if we want to see results with this surgery. I'm realizing too late that this is all mental. Sometimes slow and steady wins the race. I just feel so uncomfortable and beyond stupid for having a irreversible surgery. I wish there was some type of surgical or supernatural way to reverse this. Lord help me.

[fau2nvy 28]

i am almost three weeks post op and struggling as well. i know many ppl close to me who have done this trust me i watched them and wat we are experiencing is no different. there are psychological phases. just kno it will get better.

[Stevehud 1,790]

Yep, you are in full blown denial, sorry but thats one of the first stages, just like the stage of grief your in those grieving over food, and trust me you overate, anyone e who says they didnt overeat they just ate bad things is unable to look at themselves as the cause for their weight problems. You overate, plain and simple accept it, its not some mark against you that people can hold over your head, its just something that you put behind you and learn to be better. If you cant accept yourself as an obese person, and know that only you can make this happen, then you wont get anywhere. Trust me, in week two post surgery i said to my wife that i wish i could undo this. Now id would like t go back and slap myself. Why did i say it? because i wanted to go back to eating my old foods, I wanted to give up. But that is why this works, because you cant give up. You have to see it through. When you get where your going, its a wonderful place to be and im only most of the way there and my life is amazing compared to what it was and I thought it was good before.

Lets see you said "Unfortunately, I now realize that I could have did this on my own. I'm working out everyday, which I wasn't doing before the surgery. Since they recommended I workout daily and eat a high Protein diet, I'm doing it. It's not that I "couldn't" before.

So are you really saying you had no idea that diet and exercise would help you lose weight and only learned that because they told you now? Really?

Here's a hint. diet and exercise help you lose the weight , but keeping it off is up to you! That's how this helps, it forces you to train yourself to eat right.

Remember the start of the journey is always the hardest.

[banksdea 10]

@ stevehud

How far out are you? Are you able to eat more than 3 bites of food now? When did you no longer have feelings of wanting to undo your surgery? The thought of 3 bites of food scares me. 3 bites is not eating to live. My life is more like taking Vitamins to live, because I don't see how it's possible for me to get it from the food.

[rhw94123 115]

@@banksdea

Sorry you are going through this! My view of your profile (that shows up with your posts) only says that you have had LAP-BAND and joined May 2012 (?). In reading others' responses, though, I'm taking it that you are very recently sleeved.

At the risk of repeating others' advice, you WILL be able to eat a lot more as the internal swelling goes down... the metabolic advantage (re-set) you get from being sleeved will also fade (i.e., the changes in your gut biology, hormones, etc.). I can eat pretty normally now and often wish I couldn't

Anyway, sending you good thoughts and I AFFIRM that people like you (who are not feeling on Cloud 9 about being sleeved) need to speak up!

[Stevehud 1,790]

Vitamins are an adjunct and tyou can look at my tickers to see im a little over 5 1/2 months out and down 137 pounds. It took a good month on solid food before i really felt comfortable with my eating. 3 bites is wayyy too little. my day goes like this and has for quite a while, Breakfast 1 egg scrambled with 3 pieces of turkey bacon or two turkey sausages ( i recommend the Johnsonville pre-cooked turkey sausage links, they are awesome and you cant tell they are turkey..really!. ) then about 3 hours later i have a greek yogurt, the dannon low cal sugar free stuff, then 2 hous later i have my lunch either some veggies or a Protein shake with some Peanut Butter ( all natural no sugar type, or use PB2, or fruit or a mix of both) and then 2 hours later a snack usually carrots and so oil and vinegar salad dresssing as a dip kinda thing although there are some great lite salad dessings, just watch the fat and sugar content. but also can have some apple slices maybe, or the like, dinner is chicken fish, beef or pork or turkey, i love indian food type chicken, but ground beef still not having a great amount of luck with steak, or ground beef patties with cheese ( yes a cheeseburger without the bun) you can wrap in lettuce or use a very low fat low cal. no sugar lw carb bread type.

I like the josephs lo carb pita and wraps, very low carbs, and i have about 5 ounces of meat and sometimes a little less than that and some veg or a small side salad, i also like having a salad if im in a hurry with some tuna, and hard boiled i egg in it, or some Protein meat in it. Are my portions small, yep , smaller than i ate before, oh yeah, too small to enjoy, no.

sometimes i wish I could eat more, but i cannot begin to tell you the changes my body has gone through.

You ll get there just dont rush, enjoy the losing.

[banksdea 10]

@ rhw94123

I need to update my profile. I was sleeved on 4/27/15. I have been a member of this site since 2012 because I had been deciding back and forth with getting WLS since then. I actually had my initial procedure scheduled in May 2012, but canceled 24hr before my surgery because I was scared, plus I let my husband and father talk me out of it. I wish I would've gotten the lap band because it's reversible. I hardly seen any negative comments about WLS so I took a chance. Even people I know personally always talked about the good. If I would've read more comments like mine during my research, I would've thought harder about my decision. I'm only 28 and haven't had kids yet, but plan to. I just pray that this feeling will pass. I hate what I did to myself.

[rhw94123 115]

@@banksdea

I don't want to minimize what you are feeling-- it is so hard (and lonely) to be down on something that everyone else is gushing about:/. I will encourage you to have faith that it will get better /way less severe, though. If you do a search on here for "sleeve expired at one year," etc. , I think you will get a lot of reassurance that this "tight" tiny-meals era is finite for most people (although most people seem to be bummed about it since it's often accompanied by some troubling regain:/).

[LivingFree! 478]

Try to relax a little about all these intense and scary thoughts and feelings you are having. Really, they ARE normal for some people and nothing to feel odd about. But right now, please consider that your thoughts are lying to you. You have several stages of new eating to go through while your stomach heals and your body and brain adjust. Stuff you have never come close to experiencing in your entire life. But does that mean you are doomed for life???? NO!! You must have patience and follow your program. Remember you DID just have MAJOR SURGERY. You can CHOOSE to feel sorry for yourself for awhile. And that is ok if that is what you absolutely need to do. (Ask yourself though--is it REALLY?) But please remember that you have to be good to yourself to be successful long-term with WLS. YOU made the decision for WLS. Wishing you didn't is very unproductive thinking and takes away from your precious energy that you soooo need to build that POSITIVE ENERGY and POSITIVE ATTITUDE AND SELF-TALK to view your decision as a FUN ADVENTURE, full of possibilities instead of a lifetime of regret. You have a lot of work to do down the road in learning your new lifestyle and eating habits. You knew this was going to be HARD WORK before you signed on the dotted line. I respectfully must disagree with you--if you could have done it "on your own" you would have done it a long time ago.

I had my surgery one day earlier than you four years ago on 4/26/11. You are probably not ready to hear, must less believe this right now, but my lifestyle and eating is totally normal. I don't think of myself as a freak compared to other "normal" people who haven't had WLS. I eat 3 meals a day and 2 healthy Snacks. The quantity of my meals is very close to what I ate before surgery. Breakfast is often a 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1/4 cup Greek yogurt, 1/4 cup fresh fruit, 1/4 cup All-bran, made into a pretty parfait! Most sleevers by one year can eat an average of 1 to 1-1/2 cups of food per meal. For dinner that would equal about 4-6 oz of some kind of meat Protein, and 2 servings of veggies and/or complex carb. I dine out with friends (although I choose to keep restraunt eating to a minimum because I like to eat the most nutritious meals that I can and those are the ones we prepare at home).

You will learn to not "hate what you did to yourself" because who wants to live their life feeling that emotion? We want to LOVE life. You are way too young to regret ANY decisions you make. You honor yourself, trust yourself, and live in the present, not yesterday. We cannot change yesterday no matter how hard we try and cry!!!

I wish you peace...