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Trust your saner self....the self that worked for months to make this surgery happen. The self who is kinda terrified today...is understandably under some stress:)

First I want to say that at 2 year currently I don’t consider myself a success because, losing weight is easy, maintaining is the hard part. I really hope that some people that have maintain for some years post here. Most of the posts from long term WLS patients are about their failures, regain and trying to “get back on the wagon”. We need more positive posts for people that are doing well and enjoying their post-op life. Hopefully this can be a resource for other people. I followed my post-op plan to the letter almost for the first 6 months. I did not heavily experiment, I did not push limits. I did not advance my food stages. This provided a mental reset that completely changed my outlook and relationship with food. The mental reset from following the food stages and changing my relationship with food in the first 6 months was the most valuable experience. I do not feel deprived. I found a way of eating that does not feel like a diet. I can eat food that I enjoy and I still really love and enjoy eating food. Food enriches my life, it doesn’t control my life. Weighing my Food Tracking my Food Weigh myself every morning, record it once a week Staying calorie aware and spending my daily calories like currency Planning for eating out. If I am going to eat out for dinner, I allot extra calories for dinner and cut back on my food earlier in the day. If I eat lunch out then I cut back on dinner. I exceed my initial goal for myself pretty rapidly (250) and I have gone further in my weight loss than I ever dreamed I could when I started this. All the benefits from being so close to a normal BMI motivate me to defend my weight loss diligently. I know the difference between being morbidly obese and just being overweight and being overweight is far more comfortable.

I had my lap band placed in 2010. I have lost and gained a lot of weight. Sometimes, no restriction, sometimes with extreme. I also had all my fluid emptied by one Dr because of emergency and then my regular Dr removed 4.5cc and it was yellow. She then added 1.5 for a total of 6cc. I can home in terrible pain ended up returning and when the Dr went to pull all fluid out he was only able to remove 1cc. So where there was 6cc and it was slightly yellow now there is 1cc. I dont understand. I keep having a pulling and pinching on my left side. The radiologist said that the tubing inside was too long and could maybe causing a bend or kink in it. It has also been said that the metal at the top of band could have eroded at the place it joined. Has anyone had a similar situation? I am lost and debating on having the lap band removed and gastric sleeving.

Since I'm a pre-surg noob and can't post to your Veterans forum, I just want to say thank you to each and every one of you for answering thousands of questions from us newbies! Thank you for sharing your journeys through the ups and downs. Thank you for giving me (I'm not gonna speak for anyone else lol), the opportunity to witness your scale and NS victories. I've learned and will continue to learn so much from your challenges and journeys. You wouldn't even believe! I hope one day to be able to pay it forward to others. And I really, truly hope that I'm now mature enough to learn from your experience, without having to reinvent the wheel through personal trial and error!!! Again, huge debt of gratitude and thanks to you all!

Congrats to you!!! Hope things go quickly and without complication and you're back posting with us soon!!!

My wife and are both post op and prior to were heavy pop drinkers. Both if us being recovering alcoholics we have resigned to treating pop like alcohol. Not taking a sip is the best way to avoid reforming bad habits. Good luck. You can do it. Sent from my SM-G900V using BariatricPal mobile app

Ok sorry for leaving you all hanging. I do not have cancer, that dr was being an arse. I went to a Hematolgoist and my Iron just was super low. I had an infusion and was great. I didn’t get my surgery right away since I had to give my body time to recover from the infusion and then my son has brought home every germ imaginable Lol. So after I’m well from this flu I’ll be going in. Again. Apologies about running off for awhile. That dr had me a mess.

I love that - ‘practice self love’ I’m going to make it my new years resolution

I'm 3 yrs out, down 130 lbs and maintaining!! I lost 40 pre op on my own. I think this was key for me. As it helped prove to myself that I was ready and could do this long term. Like most above, I followed the program to the letter for probably a solid year. That really helped me totally changed my eating habits and it's "just how I eat now" so I don't think I'm on a diet. I exercised as soon as possible. Walking shot distances at first and adding distance and speed gradually. Now I do 8-10 miles a day 5-6x weekly at a pretty fast pace. Exercise too is just now part of my life. I need it to maintain and feel good. I still track everything, Eat protein first, drink all my water, alcohol only on rare occasions and then one is plenty, and I'm still and hopefully permanently off pop. I also control the food that enters my house. So I don't keep junk food in the house. I know that isn't realistic for all. But really nobody living in your house is gonna die without junk food. The result, if I need a snack or mental eating...it's still a healthy choice. I don't deprive or avoid any food group or type. If I want pizza I get it, I make sure it's my favorite (no point eating bad anything) I have a small piece or two and move on. The great thing is a small amount always satisfies me so I don't have to feel guilty. And guilt free pizza tastes soooo much better. I always say.... the second bit doesn't taste any better than first. (Really think about that) So often one bit of something "bad" takes care of my craving. I hope this helps a newbie if I can do it anyone can!!!! Best wishes all

I'm 7 years out. I'm 116 pounds. My body picked my goal weight for me and really likes it here, so maintaining is easier than it could be. But I do have rules I live by. I weigh at least weekly. I do not worry about tiny fluctuations but nip anything out of my maintenance window immediately. Complacency leads to larger regain. I don't avoid food groups, but I do put protein first. I will usually choose a protein snack. I indulge when I want, because I believe forbidden foods lead to binges. I don't want the yo-yo. It works for me. I never graze. I either portion food out and eat it, or I don't, but no mindless or emotional eating. I still have a ton of restriction, so maybe that's made my journey easier. And my tastes changed a lot. I don't care for potatoes, or sweets. I can't have milk or eat ice cream due to lactose intolerance. But just being mindful is what keeps me successful. I think before I eat. I don't have to track anymore, it's just second nature. The scale is my tracker. And it hardly moves. I think this is the ideal. I'm happy, can't complain. Cheri