Hello Dr. Alvarez!

I'm looking at your website currently. Do you do sleeve revisions? By that I mean a re-sleeve...re-tightening, whatever the terminology is. I'm soooo very much considering this. :)

HEY, LAUR!!!

Am I right in thinking that we had our surgery the same day?? (should have looked before I hit the Reply button :D )

But yeeeaaaahh... here we are 8+ years out. I did great maintaining for a year and a half, and then the sugar grabbed me again. Wish I'd known about sugar addiction then, before I gained better than half my weight back. So I'd gone from a high of 258 down to 172 where I maintained, and up as high as 226 last August when after learning and reading about sugar addiction, so many things made sense and I suddenly felt empowered again. I had a setback from October to January while my dad was in and out of the hospital, but have been doing great again and I'm down to 191...so 35 of that regain GONE.

You know what it takes, and you know what to do! But would strongly suggest you research sugar addiction to see if you recognize it in yourself...once you know what it does, what to watch out for in yourself, it makes it much easier to just stay away from the junk in the first place and not let that "just one bite" turn into a full-blown weekend binge. Proteins, fats, low-starch veggies....you can do this!!

And, great seeing you again! Congrats on your son!!

Diane!! There it is, thanks so much!!

You're doing great, keep up the good work!! :)

As you're seeing...SO MANY PEOPLE find out they have a hiatal hernia going into surgery. I'm one of them also. I suspected, but my surgeon found and fixed a large one while he was in there.

It seems to be that people who have them and who had heartburn and reflux problems before surgery get rid of them. Speaking for myself, for several years I was taking double-doses of medication before bed, just in order to sleep without waking up choking on stomach acid. That went away immediately after my surgery whi*****luded that quick (like 10 minute quick, I have it on video) hernia repair. 8 years later...still not a problem.

I would absolutely get a second opinion. It sounds like your surgeon doesn't have a lot of experience with VSG, prefers doing RNY, and isn't very informed.

At three weeks out, my go-tos were these two things:

1/4 cup ricotta cheese (you don't like...maybe mashed cauliflower instead?) on a plate with garlic salt sprinkled on it, with a little spaghetti sauce, and mozzarella cheese on that, microwaved til melty;

and,

1/4 cup of refried beans, with a little taco sauce on them, and shredded cheddar cheese on that, microwaved til melty.

Amazing how STUFFED you feel on that teeny bit of food!! :D

Get back on it NOW...do not let your old habits take over, don't think that because it did in the first months, your sleeve will do the work for you. Trust me--complacency is your enemy and it sneaks up on you and flips the switch to your "old" self before you're even aware of it. Take control back now!!

From the first cut to incisions closed, mine was less than an hour, with a hiatal hernia repair. Home the next day, out shopping on day 4, back to work day 11 instead of 15 because I was bored.

I'll skip the numbers, but at 5 1/2 years out, I'm 2 pants sizes up from my smallest.  My son's being sleeved this Thursday  the 6th, and I've ordered enough protein that my plan is to go through the entire process again with him, beginning with clear liquids on Wednesday.  Don't know if I'll be able to stay super-strict during the liquid phase (that's much easier when you've got tons of swelling in there!) but I'm gonna try!  I'd suggest you start back at the beginning and maybe move through your post-op food phases a few days to a week at a time....we've still got our sleeves, we DO have restriction with dense proteins, and we can do this!

Do a little research on Dessicated Thyroid products vs. chemical  thyroid treatments (Synthroid, etc).  A GREAT many people find success using those vs. the pharmacutical stuff.

And good luck, I know that's frustrating!!

Definitely both, for me.  I'd eat to capacity, and then as soon as I wasn't feeling stuffed anymore I'd be looking for something else to munch on.  I was never hungry, because I never let myself get that empty.  Sweet tooth, oh boy....

....and as I've learned in the last couple of years, a total sugar addict.   I don't think I'd have been any better off with RNY though.  My aunt's had WLS twice (the first was the old "stomach stapling" so you know how that turned out... the second was RnY) and both times, she's gained every bit of the weight back.  She occasionally dumps on things like ice cream, but still grazes constantly on sugary crap that she has no business having.

No matter what surgery you have, you HAVE to understand that other than the first couple of months, you still have to do the work yourself.... the physical alteration just makes it so much more possible for you to do it. :)

That IS my truth, it's like you're describing me.  Yesterday was my 4-year mark and I'm dealing with a significant regain, which is now almost half gone again.... BUT 2-3 years ago, I thought I had this thing beat too. 

What new VSGers need to understand -- even though you can't really, until you get to this point -- is that you HAVE to remain vigilant, and you CAN'T get complacent.  Sure, the sleeve does the work for you in the beginning, and it's easy to maintain you loss the first couple of years...it's at that point where you reeeeeally have to keep an eye out for the old monsters coming back to haunt you. ;)

Are you on Pinterest?  If you do a search for  "Low Carb" you can find tons of stuff!!   I saw one a couple of days ago where someone made nachos, using wedges of colored bell peppers instead of chips.  Think I might be making those next Sunday! :)