I had a gastric sleeve about 18 months ago. I paid for it privately because I was seriously obese, BMI of nearly 40. I had variously been normal and over weight, but had never managed to maintain a normal weight. Due to the nature of my (shift) work I have a sedentary lifestyle, accompanied by very irregular meal patterns. I also was a habitual eater: not because I was hungry but because I was bored or tired and wanted something to do. I also enjoyed the sensation of being full, so often overrate (3* huge portions per meal).
So I had the sleeve and I won't sugarcoat it- the first 3 months were AWFUL. I thought I had made the biggest mistake of my life, I was initially in pain, but then it was constant discomfort. However, once I started to adapt my eating patterns, and got used to taking the various pills I needed to, I got used to it. They the weight melted off me. I went from 127 kgs at my maximum to 68. I've now put back on a bit of weight (I love and am still able to consume vast quantities of crisps), but it's slow and manageable if I control myself for a few weeks at a time.
Now 18 months on, I am unable to eat a full meal of carbs- pasta, potato, rice, etc I can eat but only very small quantities. The same for meat. I find curries the easiest to eat- I eat a lot of chickpea and lentil curries. I can eat chicken if it's thigh- breast is too dry. Red meats I can eat but only in very small quantities- although mince is ok. To clarify- it's not takeaway curries which are too high on fat content.
To give you an accurate picture- if I make curry and rice, I will have 2 large tablespoons of cooked rice for a meal, with lots of sauce. It will take me around 90-120 minutes to eat that meal (I find eating at work much easier). It makes family meals difficult, and I often serve myself a small portion and then don't really eat, but just to sit at the table and talk to my family. So the takeaway is that small portions of normal meals still take a long time to eat.
If I eat very high fat content foods I am sick. If I eat too fast, I'm sick. If I eat too much, I'm sick. So basically the surgery has had the consequence that I'm far more cautious about how much I eat, and I eat far slower, and am far more sensitive to the sensation of being full- the second I feel a little full, I stop until it passed (often 20-30 minutes). This ensures I'm not sick.
The result now is that I tend to make much better quality meals than I used to. I make curries from scratch (because I like them and they go down easiest, and because I'm autistic and like eating the same thing over and over- drives my wife mental to come home to curry again). I eat food I like, rather than eating cause it's there, because I essentially don't feel hungry any more (the Dr said that by cutting away more than 80% of my stomach he had essentially removed my ability to feel hunger- any hunger I felt was psychological). I have lost all the weight I need to and now sit smack bang in the middle of the healthy weight range. My knees don't hurt, I can run when I want to, I have the energy for major projects (recently built a 30 m2 deck). I think the surgery was, on balance, the right thing to do, however I won't deny that when I'm not paying attention and then overeat, the sensation of nausea rising and spending 30-40 minutes wondering if I will vomit, and eventually having to dash to be sick is horrible. It makes meals out hard work, and I can only really go a few places to eat. But I've lost a lot of weight on top of quitting smoking, so the two major cancer risk factors have been removed, which means I stand a much better chance of seeing my daughter's grow up, and being with my wife for a long time.