VSG or RNY

[Purple Frog]

Yes, @southernlady! I didn't think about that, but I do need them now, and will in the future. Yes, my older family members did/do have arthritis.

 

[southernlady]

Yes, @southernlady! I didn't think about that, but I do need them now, and will in the future. Yes, my older family members did/do have arthritis.

Then you ONLY have two viable options, VSG or DS.

 

[Larra]

If you have RNY, NSAIDs are contraindicated for the rest of your life.

And if you choices are VSG or Ds, you are more likely to do well with a more generous sleeve with a DS. Just sayin'.

 

[Purple Frog]

That helps!

 

[JackieOnLine]

People who are successful longterm with restrictive only procedures pretty much live on a starvation or close to a starvation diet.

that isn't true for me - I have regain due to eating HUGE amounts. not adding a bit to my starvation diet.

 

[Purple Frog]

@JackieOnLine, before your regain, can you give me an estimate of how many calories you'd eat a day? Were you happy/satiated with that amount of food? Did you feel like you were starving either mentally/emotionally or physically?

When we say "starvation diet", how many calories are we really talking?

 

[JackieOnLine]

Frog, it's going to vary for people - for me, I binge eat for reasons other than hunger. in fact, I have to eat MORE than I want - eat to the point of pain, in fact - to gain. if I only eat when I am hungry, I do not gain.

I have not counted calories for a long time. but while re-gaining I would typically eat eggs and cheese for break fast and good, healthy lunch and dinner PLUS 3 or 4 donuts or 1/2 a frozen pizza - etc.

seriously, my metabolism is fine. that is not true for everyone.

 

[star0210]

Froggy...in the early days of my VSG when I was in the active losing phase I was eating anywhere from 600-800 calories a day and I was very satisfied. I never felt like I was starving on any level. I never felt deprived.

As time went on though I could eat more and got hungry more. It was a very gradual thing. I went back and looked at some of my entries on MFP from those days and I can tell you no way I would be satisfied with that little bit today.

I still can't eat as much now as I could before the VSG...not even close. I think the biggest difference to me is that I get hungry a lot faster. The satiety doesn't last as long. But a big part of that has been my food choices. And I'm a picker or a grazer and found myself too often making bad choices such as not walking away from whatever goodies it may have been. Someone is always bringing cakes or cookies or donuts the office. It was always oh I'll just have one little taste of whatever....then I'd go back for just one more little taste and so on and so forth. I didn't do that in the beginning and not for the longest time. Not sure when it happened but it did. Yes, I'm very angry and disgusted with myself about it.

 

[Purple Frog]

@star0210, please don't be disgusted or angry with yourself. It is a real struggle every single day.
I wouldn't be satisfied on 600-800 calories a day either. Nobody would!
((((((hugs)))))

 

[robs477]

RE: It was always oh I'll just have one little taste of whatever....then I'd go back for just one more little taste and so on and so forth. I didn't do that in the beginning and not for the longest time. Not sure when it happened but it did. Yes, I'm very angry and disgusted with myself about it.

All I can say is this.....The Skinny people do THE SAME THING, or actually more, yet they remain skinny. IMHO....You should bear little or no guilt at all! We always blame ourselves because that is what we've been lead to believe. Someone with a normal metabolism thinks, "Holy Crap, I eat bad food all day everyday and I don't gain weight, those fat people must really pack it in".

I have lived and studied this subject for 40+ years and I assure you, I LIVE on about 6,000 calories per week and if I go over that, I can gain a pound or two a day. So, don't be too hard on yourself. When medical science does finally understand (50-100 yrs from now), the survival store genes that obese people have controlling their metabolisms and weight, our archaic societies way of thinking will be known as the most significant prejudice of our time.

 

[star0210]

Thanks @robs477
You're absolutely right...thanks for the reminder.

 

[DSRIGGS]

I get hungry every hour or two with the DS and focus on protein first, but I also eat a good amount of carbs from complex to simple (yes I have some absorption issues going on right now and am not typical so be careful with me as an example). I eat 250 grams of protein a day and 200 in carbs probably as well. You WILL get hungry with the VSG (DS'rs have a sleeve too so that is no different for us) the difference is that if a DS'r gives into the hunger and does over eat, we have a cushion that the VSG patient does not. I had no desire to diet the rest of my life and that is what the other surgeries require...just the facts.

There was no way I wasn't eating a VSG diet the rest of my life (as a male, living on 1,200-1,500 calories a day is not just a long term choice I would ever make or even contemplate that I would be successful at it). If other can that is great, but I simply can not. I like to eat too much.

I had my surgery for three reasons(the first being 95% of the reason):

1. To cure my Type II Diabetes (check) and be healthy (working on that as I am having malaborbtion issues currently but being addressed and I am confident will be resolved long term...I can be revised if I have to but not even remotely an idea now)
2. To be able to eat what I want, when I want and be relatively healthy (I didn't care if I ended up 25 pounds heavier than otherwise...still would be much healthier 220 vs 200 than at 350 pounds - currently I am 178 which is too effing skinny for my big 6'2 frame)
3. To lose weight

 

[veteranDS]

Let's see here, this is my first post. I feel really strong about this subject. Forget about how much you get to eat or what you can eat. Who are you? What are your truths? What's wrong in your life? Debt? Bad marriage? Unresolved trauma? These will all be left after the surgery and any weight loss. I'M 15 years out and I'm thin and my body came out better than anyone I know. I can eat what I want, but none of that matters. When you free your mind and live life to its full potential, good food choices and constant movement are a no brainer. These last two are essentials, WLS or not, it will always be calories in and calories out. Our wonderful surgeons, as much as I think of him as my God, they are not. This decision to implement this TOOL into our life is small potatoes compared to what you'll do with it. Yes, I'd do it again in a hot second, but I'd start fixing me before I had the surgery. Please don't let this discourage you, my hope is that it encourages you to do better than I did. Denial is strong in a lot of people. No one could have convinced me that just being thin was the answer to being happy. It was not. I've heard others say the same thing. I failed my own surgery in so many ways. I did all the damage to my body, before and after WLS. I'm happy and positive, but I know see things as they should be. If your focus is on anything else prior to surgery, IMHO, is a mistake......and no if you fix yourself, you won't be denied the surgery, unless of course you fix you so good, you lose it on your own!!! LOL....the short version is to spend more time with your therapist, than you surgeons. I expect those in deep denial to passionately disagree with me. I know there are exceptions, but the numbers are to small to calculate, and those people are not on message boards looking for answers.

 

[brooklyngirl]

Let's see here, this is my first post. I feel really strong about this subject. Forget about how much you get to eat or what you can eat. Who are you? What are your truths? What's wrong in your life? Debt? Bad marriage? Unresolved trauma? These will all be left after the surgery and any weight loss. I'M 15 years out and I'm thin and my body came out better than anyone I know. I can eat what I want, but none of that matters. When you free your mind and live life to its full potential, good food choices and constant movement are a no brainer. These last two are essentials, WLS or not, it will always be calories in and calories out. Our wonderful surgeons, as much as I think of him as my God, they are not. This decision to implement this TOOL into our life is small potatoes compared to what you'll do with it. Yes, I'd do it again in a hot second, but I'd start fixing me before I had the surgery. Please don't let this discourage you, my hope is that it encourages you to do better than I did. Denial is strong in a lot of people. No one could have convinced me that just being thin was the answer to being happy. It was not. I've heard others say the same thing. I failed my own surgery in so many ways. I did all the damage to my body, before and after WLS. I'm happy and positive, but I know see things as they should be. If your focus is on anything else prior to surgery, IMHO, is a mistake......and no if you fix yourself, you won't be denied the surgery, unless of course you fix you so good, you lose it on your own!!! LOL....the short version is to spend more time with your therapist, than you surgeons. I expect those in deep denial to passionately disagree with me. I know there are exceptions, but the numbers are to small to calculate, and those people are not on message boards looking for answers.

Very well said! I was in denial about it beforehand as well, so much so that the first shrink I went to for clearance wouldn't give it to me because he thought I was putting too much emphasis on surgery fixing my entire life. In hindsight, I should've been in therapy all along, not starting 6 months after surgery. It may have fixed my body, but definitely didn't fix my thinking! Don't get me wrong, I'm in a much better place in many different ways, both physically and emotionally, but I still suffer with many of the things I did when I was big, plus others that have come from tying to figure out how to not identify as "a big person" any longer. Weird, but true!

 

[southernlady]

Let's see here, this is my first post. I feel really strong about this subject. Forget about how much you get to eat or what you can eat. Who are you? What are your truths? What's wrong in your life? Debt? Bad marriage? Unresolved trauma? These will all be left after the surgery and any weight loss. I'M 15 years out and I'm thin and my body came out better than anyone I know. I can eat what I want, but none of that matters. When you free your mind and live life to its full potential, good food choices and constant movement are a no brainer. These last two are essentials, WLS or not, it will always be calories in and calories out. Our wonderful surgeons, as much as I think of him as my God, they are not. This decision to implement this TOOL into our life is small potatoes compared to what you'll do with it. Yes, I'd do it again in a hot second, but I'd start fixing me before I had the surgery. Please don't let this discourage you, my hope is that it encourages you to do better than I did. Denial is strong in a lot of people. No one could have convinced me that just being thin was the answer to being happy. It was not. I've heard others say the same thing. I failed my own surgery in so many ways. I did all the damage to my body, before and after WLS. I'm happy and positive, but I know see things as they should be. If your focus is on anything else prior to surgery, IMHO, is a mistake......and no if you fix yourself, you won't be denied the surgery, unless of course you fix you so good, you lose it on your own!!! LOL....the short version is to spend more time with your therapist, than you surgeons. I expect those in deep denial to passionately disagree with me. I know there are exceptions, but the numbers are to small to calculate, and those people are not on message boards looking for answers.

While saying once is fine...repeating yourself all over the board is not good protocol.

And please introduce yourself in the Say Hello forum.