Regrets anyone?

[maryl256 5]

Hi all!

Im still deciding if i should go ahead with the surgery because im not sure if i will be able to accept eating so little after the surgery.. is there anyone out there that regrets doing the surgery or they feel its the best decision they have made to go ahead?

Thanks!

[orionburn 1,024]

You really have to evaluate your relationship to food. If you take the approach of finding ways to get around the sleeve to still follow old (i.e. bad) eating habits then you're defeating the purpose of the sleeve. I was a binge eater/poor Portion Control person. So that would be like me asking for a smaller crack pipe but still wanting to smoke a bunch of crack afterwards...lol. The bad habits have to go if you want to be successful.

Does it make me a little sad that I can't eat and eat and eat on next Thanksgiving Day? Or go to an AYCE Chinese buffet and eat 3 plates of food? Sure. But those habits is what led me to being so overweight to begin with. I still plan on enjoying some foods from time to time, others I'm choosing to cut out completely because they're a "gateway food" for me. The sleeve is a tool, but without the right mindset you won't maximize its effectiveness.

I may only be 7 weeks out now but I know I made the right decision for myself. My back/joint pain is so much better already than what it was before surgery. I'll take being pain free every day over being able to pig out a few times a year.

[maryl256 5]

You really have to evaluate your relationship to food. If you take the approach of finding ways to get around the sleeve to still follow old (i.e. bad) eating habits then you're defeating the purpose of the sleeve. I was a binge eater/poor Portion Control person. So that would be like me asking for a smaller crack pipe but still wanting to smoke a bunch of crack afterwards...lol. The bad habits have to go if you want to be successful.
Does it make me a little sad that I can't eat and eat and eat on next Thanksgiving Day? Or go to an AYCE Chinese buffet and eat 3 plates of food? Sure. But those habits is what led me to being so overweight to begin with. I still plan on enjoying some foods from time to time, others I'm choosing to cut out completely because they're a "gateway food" for me. The sleeve is a tool, but without the right mindset you won't maximize its effectiveness.
I may only be 7 weeks out now but I know I made the right decision for myself. My back/joint pain is so much better already than what it was before surgery. I'll take being pain free every day over being able to pig out a few times a year.

Thanks for sharing

[blizair09 3,250]

37 minutes ago, orionburn said:

You really have to evaluate your relationship to food. If you take the approach of finding ways to get around the sleeve to still follow old (i.e. bad) eating habits then you're defeating the purpose of the sleeve. I was a binge eater/poor Portion Control person. So that would be like me asking for a smaller crack pipe but still wanting to smoke a bunch of crack afterwards...lol. The bad habits have to go if you want to be successful.

Does it make me a little sad that I can't eat and eat and eat on next Thanksgiving Day? Or go to an AYCE Chinese buffet and eat 3 plates of food? Sure. But those habits is what led me to being so overweight to begin with. I still plan on enjoying some foods from time to time, others I'm choosing to cut out completely because they're a "gateway food" for me. The sleeve is a tool, but without the right mindset you won't maximize its effectiveness.

I may only be 7 weeks out now but I know I made the right decision for myself. My back/joint pain is so much better already than what it was before surgery. I'll take being pain free every day over being able to pig out a few times a year.

I'll echo what @orionburn said. The real question you have to ask yourself is "am I ready to change my relationship with food?". If the answer is yes, then I would go for it. I joined this site many months ago as I was progressing through my six month pre-op diet program. Every day, I read posts from people who have done nothing to change their relationship with food, and the posts make me sad because I know that these folks will likely never be successful long-term.

For me, I have no regrets. This was the best decision I have ever made regarding my health and well being.

[maryl256 5]

You really have to evaluate your relationship to [mention=311187]orionburn[/mention] said. The real question you have to ask yourself is "am I ready to change my relationship with food? ". If the answer is yes, then I would go for it. I joined this site many months ago as I was progressing through my six month pre-op diet program. Every day, I read posts from people who have done nothing to change their relationship with food, and the posts make me sad because I know that these folks will likely never be successful long-term.
For me, I have no regrets. This was the best decision I have ever made regarding my health and well being.

Thanks for ur reply im thinking that if i go ahead for this surgery, maybe my diabetes will reverse and other health problems will go away..

[Danieike 6]

Other health problems will go away or prevent others from coming. I am only two days post op and boy am I regretting it but happy for my new life. I regret it because of the pain and not being able to take a big sip of Water without it feeling gassy. My throat is sore my stomach is sore and all I want to do is sleep. I warn expecting recovery to be this bad. But with all that I am still looking forward to the future and my eating habits to change it I was going to keep going the way I was going I wasn't going to have the life I wanted the kid I wanted I want to be able to play with them go on rides and not worry will I fit. I want to be able to run around with out being out of breath. I just overall want to feel better so it was a good choice.

[Beachbum60 6]

I am tomorrow one week out and I can already tell you that the sacrifice in the big picture long term carries only one regret-I should have had this done at age 50 instead of telling myself I had this
What I have found in a very short time is to educate yourself, read, read and read. Don't try to change the process but adapt the new process . Finally, be sure that what resides between your ears is set in the correct mode mentality. It is a great tool, but the factors many have mentioned, plus my own short term are key for the long term success.
Hang in there .

[PatientEleventyBillion 851]

I regret allowing myself to get that fat in the first place. Shame.

[Megs188 6]

I am 15 days out, the first week for me was hell. I was uncomfortable, thirsty and grumpy. The second week was a million times better but I was still tired. Finally I am feeling normal and getting my energy back. I am down 25 pounds!!!! I love bumping into friends - the reaction of losing weight is amazing. No regrets. Just have some extra help and know the first week sucks. You will do great!

[clc9 644]

Right now I'm 3 weeks out, so keep that in mind. I'm mourning normal portion sizes and missing healthy vegetables. It's nothing I didn't know about, but right now it makes me a little sad. With time, I'm sure it gets better.

[clc9 644]

Right now I'm 3 weeks out, so keep that in mind. I'm mourning normal portion sizes and missing healthy vegetables. It's nothing I didn't know about, but right now it makes me a little sad. With time, I'm sure it gets better.

[LittleLizzieLilliput 919]

So I feel like it's perfectly natural to have a period of regret for many of us post surgery. Look, we had our stomachs removed. lol! It's not a small thing.

I didn't do the 6 months pre-surgical therapies and sessions and classes. No, I was dying instead and had this done along with the removal of my gallbladder in order to save my life. I'm not even kidding, I was in and out of the hospital from February through August of last year. Once they determined it was my gallbladder that was destroying my pancreas, which was destroying my kidneys, liver and life, they asked if I would also like to have the VGS. I was unsure but my doc said this to me: Do you want me to make it easy for you? Get the surgery, recover and live. Don't get the surgery and die within 18 months.

Well, can't argue with that.

So I didn't get all that time for my Come To Jesus moment and acceptance. Not all of us do, and even those of us who DO go through all that might STILL feel a sense of regret.

For me it was between week 5 and 6 I think. I'd been sick for almost a year at that point, I depressed and ready to be feeling whole again. I was emotional and realized that the ONE thing I'd always had as my last resort, food, was gone for me now. The last hold of control I had on my fears and regret snapped and I started crying. Actually, it was nurse that started it. I had a specialist appointment and they were checking my blood sugars. I had explained to her that it takes me hours to finish a Protein Shake and so my numbers would be off. She came back at me and held the meter in front of my face and asked me why the numbers were elevated. I tried to respond and all I could do was start crying.

I'd been sick for a year, I'd struggled with almost dying, keeping work up and running, keeping my house/family up and running, I'd been doing everything I could to meet all the post surgical protocols, I was still so sore from having so many organs removed at once. I was a mess and I couldn't handle it. So I snapped. I started crying and couldn't stop. For 7 days. When I met with the doctor that day I apologized to her and explained I was pretty sure I couldn't control it and she was quite kind.

It took me that week to mourn my old life. And not just that, mourn that I would never be a "normal" person. I'd always hoped one day I could be and with having my stomach removed I realized I never could be "normal", not ever, not now.

Well, flash forward 4 months...I'm the happiest I've been since maybe childhood. I don't regret a single moment of the surgery or my decisions, I don't even feel bad that I regretted it. I had to go through those emotions and many of us do I believe. I feel like my experiencing the regret helped me tremendously. It allowed me to be honest with myself about my fears, my hopes, my needs, my expectations - not about my weight but about my LIFE. Why did I regret it and how do I come to accept what's been done? I was able to explore those things. Sure, would have been easier to do ahead of time but I'm not sure it would have been truly authentic for me. I don't think I could have conceived of life, what it's REALLY like, without 80% of my stomach until I was on the other side.

So, yeah, you might have some regret, and that's ok. This is, by far, the best thing I've done for myself regardless of any sense of regret I experienced. I hope you don't hold back your own future in order to avoid a sense of regret. Because the regret I'd be living with right now is that I'd be dying and I'd regret not doing everything I could to live longer.

[QueenOfTheTamazons 634]

I am 5 months post op and halfway to goal.

I no longer need to use my bipap for sleep apnea.

I am no longer diabetic. My last A1C was on the border of prediabetic and normal, so soon. I won't be prediabetic either.

My knee pain is 90% gone (losing weight doesn't bring back cartilage unfortunately).

The tendonitis in my elbows that has been plaguing me for the past two years has resolved itself. I think the main reason it wasn't healing before was because I was always having to push myself out of a sitting position.

I haven't had an edema flare in my feet in months, even though I don't take meds anymore. I don't take prescription meds at all anymore.

Do I regret not being able to gorge on the foods I loved? Sure... But that's a passing thought. I also allow myself a few bites of foods I am craving. 2-3 bites of sushi rather than stuffing myself at an AYCE. One egg roll from my favorite restaurant in San Jose (when we drive down to see the surgeon) rather than the 6-12 I use to put away. I splurge on high quality ingredients, like fancy cheese or expensive cuts of steak. food is about quality not quantity now.

[maryl256 5]

Other health problems will go away or prevent others from coming. I am only two days post op and boy am I regretting it but happy for my new life. I regret it because of the pain and not being able to take a big sip of Water without it feeling gassy. My throat is sore my stomach is sore and all I want to do is sleep. I warn expecting recovery to be this bad. But with all that I am still looking forward to the future and my eating habits to change it I was going to keep going the way I was going I wasn't going to have the life I wanted the kid I wanted I want to be able to play with them go on rides and not worry will I fit. I want to be able to run around with out being out of breath. I just overall want to feel better so it was a good choice.

Thank you! All the best in your new journey!

[maryl256 5]

I am tomorrow one week out and I can already tell you that the sacrifice in the big picture long term carries only one regret-I should have had this done at age 50 instead of telling myself I had this
What I have found in a very short time is to educate yourself, read, read and read. Don't try to change the process but adapt the new process . Finally, be sure that what resides between your ears is set in the correct mode mentality. It is a great tool, but the factors many have mentioned, plus my own short term are key for the long term success.
Hang in there .

Im not sure if doing this surgery at a young age is better and forgo all buffets or enjoy the buffets then go for the surgery at a much later age.. :/