If diets failed before, what changed?

[Rvamom 19]

If you had tried dieting before surgery and had not been able to stick to them long term, what changed after surgery? How are you able to stick to the new diet now? I've tried Atkins and low cal diets but always slip back into old habits after 3 months at the most. Will surgery help me? How do I get the will power to change? I feel like a food addict. I want help but idk how to get it.

[OutsideMatchInside 10,166]

Well first it isn't a diet. It is a healthy eating lifestyle. You have to make that switch in your mind. A healthy eating lifestyle allows for occasional treats or indulgences.

Your "will power" increases for most people because of the lack of hunger. It is easier to stick to eating healthy and eating very little because very little satisfies you and you are not hungry. Hopefully by the time hunger kicks back in for people (I am 6 months and still no physical hunger), they have learned healthy habits and are pleased enough with their results to continue healthy eating.

If you follow your food plan you learn to eat again, just like a baby. Surgery is a tool to teach you healthy habits and help you by making those healthy habits easier. After weeks of Protein shakes, purees, and soft foods, a bit of soft baked meat tastes like heaven. You learn to enjoy simple pleasures in food because going without for a while retrains your palette.

At least that has been my experience.

If you feel like a food addict, you need to get to the root cause of why you eat. Once you can solve that root cause and find other ways to cope, it is a lot easier to be successful.

[Rvamom 19]

Thank you for your advice! I think one of my problems is that I feel hungry more frequently than I think is normal. I feel obsessed with food because I think about it so much because I'm hungry even after I eat. I'm seeing a therapist next week so hopefully that will help.

[AvaFern 3,516]

The sleeve lets me eat whatever I want to in portions that are small enough that I don't gain weight. Before the sleeve everytime I went on a diet I knew that I could not eat certain things or I would regain, so the appeal of chocolate and cake and ice cream was constant because it was not allowed. Now I know that if I really want some junk food, I can have a few bites and then I really don't need to eat the rest of the plate, or as was the case in the past, the rest of the pan. Because I'm not technically banned from eating anything and for the most part small portions are now the norm, there isn't an urge to overeat since I know it will all still be there any other time I want it.

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

If you had tried dieting before surgery and had not been able to stick to them long term, what changed after surgery? How are you able to stick to the new diet now? I've tried Atkins and low cal diets but always slip back into old habits after 3 months at the most. Will surgery help me? How do I get the will power to change? I feel like a food addict. I want help but idk how to get it.

I think a few things are different:

1) I truly believe the sleeve is physically a re-set for my metabolism. I was noting the other day that pre-sleeve I worked hard with little or no results. Post-sleeve I actually see results from my hard work.

2) I think conventional dieting practice (focus on calories in/calories out for example) is not only wrong but counterproductive. The need to minimize calories while maximizing volume is also counterproductive.

3) Stalls. Pre-op, inevitable stalls were a time to get discouraged and quit. Now, I know that stalls are a normal, natural, and necessary part of the process of losing a large amount of weight.

I am sure there are other differences, these are just the most obvious ones to me right now.

[FrankyG 1,450]

Another thing that most folks don't realize about the sleeve surgery - it removes such a large portion of the stomach that it reduces the amount of the hunger hormone (called ghrelin) that is produced in the stomach. Studies have recently posited that the hormone is over-produced in some people and that absolutely can cause obesity since if you are constantly feeling hungry, you're going to eat more to try to feel sated. Without that hormone overproduction, you get normal feelings of hunger and feel full faster and stay feeling full for longer.

The lack of overwhelming hunger is usually a long range effect; some people never regain the need to overeat due to perceived hunger, but most people do redevelop a normal hunger response after a certain period of time (roughly a year).

Two other ways the sleeve works:

The most obvious is the size and portion control/restriction. You have a stomach that will hold at most 5-7 ounces of food after about one year (it is much less for the first 6-8 months, but will relax (not stretch) after a time. In its natural state, the stomach can hold up to 6 cups, so that is a HUGE reduction of tummy real estate!

The portion control/restriction coupled with the lack of overwhelming hunger means you finally have real control over what and how you eat. You get the optimum effect for roughly 12-18 months, and during this time you have to teach yourself how to eat healthy and make smarter choices. The best measure of long term success is how well you do to relearn how to eat - Protein first, veggies next and then complex carbs in small portions.

My doctor said that anyone could lose a significant amount of weight for the first year or so even if they ate absolute crap the entire time due to the restriction. But they will eventually have major issues (since most bad for you food is also lacking in nutrition and high in fat, sodium and bad carbs) and regain if they don't completely revamp their diet to eat correctly - protein/veggies/complex carbs. And of course eating "slider" foods - things that break down easily like cake, breads, Cookies, ice cream or basically anything that turns to mush easily - that slide right through your sleeve and never really trigger that feeling of fullness. There are many ways to eat around your sleeve and consume to many calories. These are the people that get fat again and then complain about how their sleeved failed; but it didn't fail - they failed due to poor eating habits and not taking advantage of the time to really get serious about getting healthy.

You can eventually eat the junk again - there won't be anything you can't technically eat. But you should cut out all of the garbage foods and only eat them rarely and in small portions.

If you take the time to plan meals, revamp recipes to remove the high carb/sugar/sodium, eat healthy small portions of good Protein like fish and chicken and get some nice veggies... and you eat that way 90% of the time, in addition to exercise and getting in your Vitamins and Water, you probably will be successful for life.

It is a total lifestyle change - ditching the bad habits and excuses and embracing the healthy. If you get your head straight and are able to do this, it will work for you or anyone.

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

This is different due to my restricted stomach capacity and (at 18 months post-op) I'm still feeling the effects of reduced ghrelin (the hunger hormone). I do still feel hungry when I'm hungry. But the runaway hunger that demanded food now isn't nearly as strong as it was pre-op.

Also -- and this is key: This time with WLS I didn't lose just 20 or 40 pounds, which wasn't even halfway to goal. I lost ALL my excess weight! And that has made so much difference. Because now my knees don't hurt and I CAN walk farther and more often and faster than I have in decades. My daily routine is so much more energetic -- housework, errands, fidgeting.

All these things are self-affirming. My increased activity level keeps me calmer. The fact that I eat more Protein and complex carbs (and fewer simple carbs as a lifestyle, not just the weight loss diet) also reduces my appetite by keeping my metabolism burning steadier, not up/down.

Finally, when you actually engage in healthy behaviors for 18 months, you actually do build new habits that, together, are a very different lifestyle that reinforces itself because it makes you feel so good. Habits are very, very powerful -- including the new habits you will build after WLS.

Good luck!

[Miss Mac 6,262]

A stroke scared the living daylights out of me and I don't want that to happen ever again. It was caused by my obesity and 53" belly, which caused my high blood pressure and multiple other co-morbidities.

As I was coming back on to regular foods, I was shocked to realize how little food the human body needs to survive. When I see other people eating the amounts of food I used to eat, I just want to kick myself in the seat.

So, the major thing that is making this work is the fear of dying if I don't. I just did not take my health seriously enough before.

[OutsideMatchInside 10,166]

This is different due to my restricted stomach capacity and (at 18 months post-op) I'm still feeling the effects of reduced ghrelin (the hunger hormone). I do still feel hungry when I'm hungry. But the runaway hunger that demanded food now isn't nearly as strong as it was pre-op.

Also -- and this is key: This time with WLS I didn't lose just 20 or 40 pounds, which wasn't even halfway to goal. I lost ALL my excess weight! And that has made so much difference. Because now my knees don't hurt and I CAN walk farther and more often and faster than I have in decades. My daily routine is so much more energetic -- housework, errands, fidgeting.

All these things are self-affirming. My increased activity level keeps me calmer. The fact that I eat more Protein and complex carbs (and fewer simple carbs as a lifestyle, not just the weight loss diet) also reduces my appetite by keeping my metabolism burning steadier, not up/down.

I had to quote this because it illustrates how I feel so well. When I went on diets I would loss 30 to 50 lbs and it felt a little better and my clothes fit better but it never made a huge difference. Now 7 months out I am only 1/2 to goal but I have lost over 100lbs. Losing 100lbs has completely changed my life. If I never lost another ounce I would consider this a success. I want to keep losing and I am still losing and I am very hopefully I will make my goal. This first 100lbs has made my life so much easier and me more active overall, I have no doubts I can make goal.

On my own it seemed impossible, because of constant hunger and rarely feeling satified.

Also like someone else said now I know one bite of something can be enough for me. I never had that kind of control before.

I was skeptical the sleeve would work for me. The first few weeks I felt I was losing slowly for my start weight and I was discouraged. When this happened in the past with diets I would just quit because I was hungry and deprived and not seeing results. With the sleeve, I couldn't quit. Not quitting forced me to push through stalls and "slow" results to ultimately get great results. Being sleeved isn't easy but it makes everything easier.

[Rvamom 19]

Thank you so much everyone! I wish I had time to reply to everyone individually. These replies make me feel much more confident for my initial appointment on Tuesday. I've used appetite suppressant rx drugs before with limited results while on them. I'm on them now but not feeling results so that has me worried. But I'm thinking my dose isn't high enough because I was 190 last time I took them vs 260 now.

[Invictus 56]

Rvamom, I don't want to discourage you in any way. I still feel this surgery was my only option to not follow in my moms footsteps of morbid obesity and multiple health issues, 15 prescriptions, etc. BUT, it is not an easy journey. I spent many hours on this site reading post after post how the weight just falls off without any effort. It's not like that for everyone. I am glad you will be seeing a therapist. I feel that is my next step as I still have too many unresolved food issues. I wish you all the best!

Edited February 15, 2016 by Invictus

[jhbeck 29]

Rvamom-are you in Richmond va? I had surgery 2/4 in Richmond. And have 2 kids. If you want to connect locally.