Poll Question

I'm curious to know which factor listed below do you attribute most of your weight lose to since starting your VSG journey?  Obviously, a good combination of all three will lead to the best long term success.  But which one helped you the most? Or if I'm missing one, please add an "other". 

For me, it's been less food.  I was a classic overeater.  I didn't eat a ton of sweets or junk food.  What lead to me being obese was to much food and lack of exercise. 

1. Eating less food

2. Making better food choices

3. Exercising

4. Mental and/or behavioral changes about food

I think it is an equal combination of all three. At least, that has been my experience with my band and now my sleeve. I use to keep a sign on my fridge (unfortunately, we had a flood and it got ruined) that read, "Diet + Exercise = Success" - for me, that's definitely the case. 

I was the same as you. I didn't eat a ton of junk, except during certain times of the month. I would just eat  A LOT of food. I've always been a pretty active person, so that hasn't really changed. I definitely attribute it to being able to eat less.

D. All of the Above. It takes a combination. Certainly eating less food is the first step, but also not being hungry helps a lot too. But the exercise is critical to success. I don't think anyone on this board who hit their goal got there without it. Making better food choices is important to the long term success.

All three are important yes, but is there one that stands out more than the others for you?

Not to be a pain in the ass, but no. When I had the surgery I was of the mindset that I was going to do everything right and that was a combination of all three. The first one you don't have a lot of choice about. The second two are completely optional but without them I doubt anyone would be successful.  I am still pretty early out and in no way a vet. Wait until the vets chime in on this I would be willing to bet they will almost all say all 3 and they will add something about staying under 40 or 20 carbs. If you follow the successful vets on here (Elena_7, Frisco, RheaBob, and others) the common thread is they had a program and stuck to it religiously. If you follow the people that are 18 months to 5 years out and have gained back some or all of their weight and are on here asking what to do now, if you ask them you will see they let one or more of these slip. In fact the guy on YouTube that sort of sealed the deal for me on VSG didn't post for like a year and he posted an accountability video. Basically he had gained back 35 lbs (he probably needed to gain back10, he got a bit too thin) because he started eating poorly and he stopped exercising. He still could only eat a little bit was STILL able to gain 35lbs in less than a year.

So not only are all three important I would content that they are equally important. I don't think I can contribute any of my current 118lb loss more to one of those factors than the other since I have been doing all 3 since I got to full food.

For me, eating less food was the biggest contributor to my weight loss, as it is in maintenance.  However, making good food choices is a close second.  I can eat a small amount of dense protein or eat the same sized portion of some high calorie/high fat slider food and won't have the same results, nor will my health be as good.  I must admit I'm not as diligent about formal exercise as I should be, though I do move more.  For the long haul, all three components, along with dealing with the issues that made us eat the wrong way in the first place, have to be in place in order to keep the weight off.  

I can't say that I exercise a lot post op.. regularly yes, but not a lot.. it goes in cycles. But I am more active. I don't think that this is what I attribute my loss to so far. I definitely eat less food but if I would have to pick one I would say better choices. I have changed my eating habits and what I eat post op to what I consider to be a long term renewed and 'fixed' relationship with food - as fuel - not as love. So for me it has been mostly mental resulting in the appropriate choices being made most of the time.

Under other, I would like to add one. This is behaviour and attitude change. I was so afraid of surgery yet I came to the point of realizing that it was my last and only remaining option before coffin shopping. So once I did go through the surgery and woke up, I was so incredibly grateful and relieved to still be alive that I think something in my brain changed and I realized that I had to make the most of it and lose the weight for health and that started the rest - attitude, behaviour, good choices, taking care of me, etc.

Thanks for the reply.  Mental & behavioral changes about food are good ones.  I will add those.

Well said!  While I have my occasional struggles, I also knew that this was my last hope.  I have no where to go from here if I want to live and not just exist before dying.  The head changes, for me, started before surgery and built up as I got closer to it.  By the time I went under the knife, those attitude and behavior changes were well under way to being second nature to me.  Having said that, I need to continue to work at keeping and refining these changes, so I don't find myself sliding backwards.  As someone so wisely pointed out, we had surgery on our stomachs, not our heads.  The head is where most of the work needs to be done, especially as time goes on.