Does anyone not loose weight with the sleeve (& keep it off)

I'm hearing you Danahcam..you have just wrote about me with my band for the last 4 yrs...It's no way 2 live and I'm so over the band..I just want a chicken salad roll or a decent meal and fruit what's that :( watermelon even has trouble going down ..but chips,choc,lollies you name it slide down...I hope you find better luck with the sleeve ..cheers

Bands are evil. Get it out!!

Hi i'm new to the forum. I was banded 3 years ago and am just starting the sleeve journey. I think what we all have to remember being ex bandits or soon to be ex bandits is that we didn't start out to cheat the band. Well in my case I actually ate healthier pre band but I ate way too much. I chose to have lapband surgery because I didn't know about the sleeve and the only other option was bypass and I considered that to be drastic surgery. Since having the band my diet is horrible. Not because I want to cheat but because it is just way too painful to eat healthy. I would rather eat a plateful of vegies or salad but now with the band if I want to eat vegies or salad I have to cover it in cheese sauce or salad dressing and still it gets stuck and i'm off to the toilet to remove it. Walking into a food court I'd love to have a chicken and salad roll but even the thought of bread sends shivers down my spine and I'm not real keen on vomiting into a public toilet. YURK. So instead I'll head straight to the fried foods or even worse have a thick shake to fill the gap. Also I think the other thing is that your large stomach is still there. You eat and you only stop eating because it gets stuck or you feel full but you are only full for a few minutes until the food slips thro and falls into your larger stomach then you are hungry again. I can eat a lovely dinner then half an hour or an hour later I find myself snacking cause i'm hungry. I just want to feel full and stay full for longer. I must say that in theory the band has worked for me, I was 100kg and have lost 16kgs which is about 50-60% of my excess body weight. My weight loss has stablised and I have stayed at 84kgs for nearly a year. But and it's a big but I vomit near on every day and for the 1st time in my adult life I am a chocoholic. (Even when I was fat I really didn't eat chocolate). I eat crap food because I'm terrified of the pain I get when something gets stuck. I don't care if I don't loose weight with the sleeve I just want to have a normal life again and not vomit everyday. But I do know that I need something to assist me and after reading this forum I really think the sleeve will help me control my portions and I can return to eating healthy, filling meals.

Sorry about the long post and my venting.

Kaysa, are you getting counselling for the food addiction/binge eating issue? You can't get a "new" brain, but you can decide to change how you do things and how you look at things.

ozipom wrote:

Hi

I was banded about 2 yrs ago, have only lost about 12 kilos and I have put on a couple of kilos the last few months. I feel like a band failure so am considering sleeving. At times I cheat the band, but I feel thats because I can and because I am disappointed with it. Is it possible to be sleeved and not loose weight?

Thanks

Hi There

It sure is possible for me to cheat the sleeve. I am a food addict and in my 6 month after surgery I have lost 30 kg, but recently put on 4 kg due to over eating and bad food choices.
I am able to eat almost the same junk food as before but I have to spread it out trough the day.
My food addiction has unfortunately not gone away for me. Got too keep a constant eye on this eating thing. My sister had a bypass. She can cheat more then me without gaining weight because she has bypassed much of the intestine that sucks up nutrition.
I have let myself down lately and I feel very sad and ashamed about myself and my binge eating, I sometimes Wish I had the bypass as well :-( or perhaps a new brain, lol

Kaysa

Kris_aquarius wrote:

I'm a failed band patient awaiting the sleeve - what's to stop me from eating ice cream and/or chocolate with the sleeve? How will it be different from the band?

What I'd like to know from successful sleevers is this - are you 'dieting' all the time? Do you eat foods that are 'junk' foods? When I emailed questions like this on the banding website, everyone freaked out and replied to me that it's just a 'tool' and you still have to diet and restrict your intake.

I guess I'm looking for an easy fix and no amount of surgery can help this problem I have with food. Very depressing.

Kris.

Yes you can eat all of the above, but only until you are full!
Grazing can be a problem with the sleeve, as you can still graze all day.
I went away for a weekend, grazed on junk food, and came home 2 kgs heavier in 2 days!!
I am very careful in what I eat, good healthy food, with protein first.
I do include treats into my diet now that I am at goal.

I am a food addict who was overweight for 40 years, and I can't believe how the sleeve has changed me. Its the best decision I have ever made. I reached my goal 8 months after being sleeved, by following the guidelines given to me by my dietician re diet and exercise.

Good luck with your journey and surgery.

Kris_aquarius wrote:

I'm a failed band patient awaiting the sleeve - what's to stop me from eating ice cream and/or chocolate with the sleeve? How will it be different from the band?
Kris.

Nothing can stop you except yourself. I can almost eat as much icecream, chocolate, chips, crackers, timtams as I did pre sleeve. I could eat all this when I had the band too.
However I can now eat healthy food- eg any meat, any fruit, any vegetables, rice, bread - which was difficult with the band. So now I dont need to eat that crap that goes down so easily. Eating healthy food does fill you up quickly so you CANT eat anywhere near what you could before weight loss surgery. I ate too much the other day and some returned. (erk) But its still up to you to make good choices and not to snack on junk food every day.
There are some people who have had the sleeve, lost some weight then haven't kept losing or have regained purely because they snack frequently & eat high calorie food every day.
I haven't lost any weight for 6 weeks, haven't put any on either, because I have been snacking on crap at work and eating too many carbs. Thank god my head is back in the right space now & I've started eating sensibly again.

withy the band chocolate icecream and other foods like that slip straight through the band pouch straight into your still there huge stomach and bang more room for more food. with the sleeve even when fully healed the max you can fit of any food is 250ml. there is simply no where for the food to go it has to be digested fully to leave the stomach into your intestine. eating this amount leaves you stuffed think how you felt pre band after a huge cant fit another bite in christmas dinner.

I am nearly 3 years out went out for lunch friday ate until I was close to full an hour later while shopping seeing everybody else was having an icecream cone I got a baby cone. I droped some of it in the bin as I was to full to finish it.

applesauce

I'm a failed band patient awaiting the sleeve - what's to stop me from eating ice cream and/or chocolate with the sleeve? How will it be different from the band?

What I'd like to know from successful sleevers is this - are you 'dieting' all the time? Do you eat foods that are 'junk' foods? When I emailed questions like this on the banding website, everyone freaked out and replied to me that it's just a 'tool' and you still have to diet and restrict your intake.

I guess I'm looking for an easy fix and no amount of surgery can help this problem I have with food. Very depressing.

Kris.

Have you considered Gastric bypass surgery ??? I had the band for 14 yrs, and lost a heap of weight at first, and kept it off for a few yrs......but then I had problem after problem with it, to the point ,where all I could eat was liquid foods, which tend to be really high calorie. Surprise, I put all the weight back on !! When I had the band removed, I had severe eosophogeal ulceration, caused by the band, and was in alot of pain.....

I had RNY bypass in May, and havnt looked back. Its the best thing I ever did. And the really good thing is ,If I eat anything high in fat or sugar, I will get violently ill ( I havnt tried though, and have no intention of it ) this is called Dumping.... and is a fabulous deterent for icecream and chocolate lovers like me ...... There are definately negatives with the bypass, that arent there with the sleeve, but it is an option.......

Lol - I've had the sleeve and my arse DOES look good in size 10 jeans! ;)

Not all at once, anyway, Caz! LOL

Thanks everyone for your replies. I am still in two minds about the sleeve, think I will have to do some more research. Thanks

True Chris - but you definitely can't eat a 450g steak!!!

You can cheat the sleeve too - most easily by having sugary things that go down all too easily, making poor food choices often, and 'grazing' throughout the day.
It's important not to expect the sleeve to be a magic solution. Yes, in the beginning it does seem that way, but there are lots of us who eventually find that if we're not careful, it's very easy to put on a few kilos. The good thing, though, is that those extras do come off a lot more easily than before - but if you didn't deal with it quickly, I'm sure that it would keep climbing.
Be realistic about this before you decide - but good luck, whatever you do.

shortsleeves wrote:

Not being a pre-bander, curious to know how you could 'cheat the band'?

thanks B

Simple..........!

Drink water or wine while eating anything. I could eat as much Chinese as anyone with the bande. It slips right through. Eat Twisties, chocolate, milk, sushi, noodles, calamari, prawns, crab claws, any seafood actually..... I could go on.

Realistiacally I could eat anything I wanted when I was prepared. In my job I had to eat out a great deal so a primed my band and made sure I was in a position to eat what other did and not bring attention to myself.

I will not go into it here as I would not want others to know how it can be done, but I could eat a 450g steak and sides with the band and it was at 6.5mls.

You just have to know how to get around it.

shortsleeves wrote:

Not being a pre-bander, curious to know how you could 'cheat the band'?

thanks B

Agreed, drinking something with your food so it slips through the band emptying the top stomach..so you can eat again.

All bad foods go down easy.. cheese, icecream, smoothies, flavoured milks, alcohol, crackers, chocolate, lollies

Some good foods would get stuck and it's painful so you just go back to the easy foods as above..

Now that I have my band out I"m finding I'm eating so much better.

Bring on my sleeve!

The sleeve is designed for morbidly obese patients to get them to a weight that can make their health better. It is not nor ever will be cosmedic surgery. So as long as you do not think of it as how to make my ass look good in size 10 jeans and set a realistic goal of a bmi of around 27 and understand a couple more points you will be fine. The couple more points are that getting 10 to 15kg from a realistic goal is pretty much normal. Getting further than that takes diet and exercise for the VAST majority of people or a VERY lucky few. Expecting yourself to be one of thos lucky few is setting yourself up for failure. A great number of people settle quiet happily that 10-15kg from as I said a realistic goal.
The second point to understand is a late regain of 5-1okg is NORMAL and expected for just about ALL weight loss surgery as good habbits give way to bad ones. Tho losing back again to a realistic goal is realitvely easy.
Like all surgery there is a tiny tiny percentage of failures and 99% of those are known in the first month a tiny few might show later yet we have not seen on this forum that happen. I think the count is 2 failures so far and I suspect 2 more. Considering lapband failures are 20% straight up and long term well over 60% it is very good odds.
The other people who can struggle with the sleeve are those who started well above about 180kg and want to get much below 100kg. Usally their metebolic rate is pretty difficult to make that happen. This can also happen if long term diet and lapband abuse has occured. Or at the least make it more difficult. We are talking long term here of your body living on very little calories.

applesauce

Have some food, get full or get something stuck and then have a fizzy drink and flush it through the small pouch to the larger stomach. Softdrinks and icecream and things like that just slip right through as well.

Not being a pre-bander, curious to know how you could 'cheat the band'?

thanks B

Hi Ozipom,
I had the band prior to getting the sleeve and initially lost 15 kilos but managed to put it all back on. I cheated the band every day. You CANNOT cheat the sleeve. Once you are full you have to wait for your stomach to digest the food, not like the band where you can flush the food through the small pouch into the larger stomach. If you push the sleeve by eating too much you will vomit.

I think most people that were previously banded worry that the sleeve won't work for them. I know I sure did. But 1 year later I am 44 kilos down. You still need to keep an eye on food and excersize (a small majority don't have to). It is a tool not a magic weightloss solution. Having said that, it is WAY more easier to keep an eye on your weight and the food you consume.

Good luck with your decision making. If you decide to go ahead with the sleeve you won't regret it.

Hi Ozipom,
i too had the band before i was sleeved and i used to cheat the band allllll the time.
I've found with the sleeve i can't cheat it. Once you're done, you're done ! And i hardly ever snack.

Another thing i found with the band was i had to literally work my a$$ off to make the scales move even a teency bit. I had my sleeve on the 02 June and i can tell you i've been walking about twice and i've lost 20 kilos. Sometimes i feel like i'm plateauing but my results say the contrary. If you reAd the other thread everyone i've read about has had success.

I really thought i'd be the one to have the sleeve and not lose weight but boy was i wrong !
Have the sleeve,
you won't regret it !!
S =)

Hi

I was banded about 2 yrs ago, have only lost about 12 kilos and I have put on a couple of kilos the last few months. I feel like a band failure so am considering sleeving. At times I cheat the band, but I feel thats because I can and because I am disappointed with it. Is it possible to be sleeved and not loose weight?

Thanks