VSGAnn2014

Everything in due time. When you're still losing weight, it's not time for a lot of indulgence. Or at least it wasn't for me. For the formerly obese, learning to "indulge safely" without falling off a cliff is a big, big lesson. However, we manage that trick (and it will vary person to person) is a good thing. But I'm with the OP. I'm very much up for learning how to indulge safely and enjoy the pleasures that some foods can bring, but without focusing on that pleasure more than the nutritional aspects of food. What an interesting trip this is. The longer I'm in maintenance, the more respect I have for all the vets who've made this work for them -- in many different ways.

Great OP, @@Inner Surfer Girl ! And double-amen, @@The Candidate , for your line bolded below: Finally, I've learned that even at 54, starting your life over again is still a viable option, if you're willing to work for it. That I'm a lot stronger and determined than I've ever given myself credit for. And that complacency is an easy trap that if fallen into, can lead me right back to where I started. I'm now 69, was sleeved almost a year ago at age 68. Since I was sleeved I've learned more than I could possibly express here -- about nutrition and eating behaviors (eating slowly is now not only possible, but very enjoyable) and so much more. And the lessons don't seem like they're EVER going to stop. This surgery gave me the opportunity to learn how to change. Somehow, even as the smartest person I know , before WLS I couldn't learn these lessons well enough to turn them into the lifestyle I needed to become and remain healthy. Again, great topic and thread! Thank you. P.S. I wish I could explain to newbies how they cannot rely on the sleeve's restriction to change their lives. There are so many lessons they must learn and put into action to make the changes permanent. And they may even have to keep changing what they're doing to remain successful. This is a lifelong project. So, so interesting!

Sure, I've been bullied. Not sure I'm a bully, although (like you) I usually say what I think. Sorry you're angry. I hope the OP will tell us what happens if she takes this issue to the boss to resolve.

My reaction to your question is a bit different. The surgery doesn't MAKE you do anything. YOU have to make yourself do everything. If you aren't willing to make and aren't even excited about making some significant lifestyle changes, I dunno how your post-op life is going to produce a significant different result for you than you've already got. I'm not being snarky. Post-op success is not just about eating less junk food. It's about eating healthier food. And staying more dehydrated. And taking your Vitamins and meds and supplements every day. And moving more and exercising regularly. It's about caring for yourself. Self-care, it's called. Making yourself and your health a priority. That means nutritional education -- learning what foods your body needs. That means changing your schedule that probably isn't working very well for you right now. Having the surgery won't solve all your problems. Not even close. But it does offer you an opportunity to approach your life in a holistic way and figure out how you need to change your lifestyle in ways that will let address those things. A phrase used around here often is: "They only operate on your stomach, not your head." The stomach part helps a lot. But fixing the head is the important part. At least that's the way I see it. Very, very, very best to you!

My biggest challenge while I was losing 90+ pounds was not breaking the bank while acquiring clothes I knew I wouldn't be wearing very long. Like many of us, I shopped out of my closet for many months as I dropped from sizes 18-20 down to 14. But below that, the pickings got thin, so to speak. As I shrunk down through sizes 12, 10 and into 8s, I found some magnificent pieces -- and not just for work or "dress-up" -- at shockingly low prices at high-end consignment shops. Casual and weekend clothes (jeans, workout clothes) came from Target, JCPenney (a surprising good source of "yoga clothing"), and T.J. Maxx. Here are few good online fashion sites for grown-up women: https://www.pinterest.com/SusanKHaynes/stylish-over-50/ http://fiftynotfrumpy.blogspot.com/ http://www.fashionafter50.com/

'Tis the ice cream season. And Labor Day it'll be brats and burgers. And Halloween it'll be trick or treat. And November it'll be Thanksgiving. And all of December it'll be sweets, sweets and more sweets. And January it'll be the Super Bowl (the highest calorie day of the year). And February it'll be Valentine's. And March it'll be St. Patrick's Day. And April it'll be the stress of doing taxes. And May it'll be Memorial Day barbeques. And June Ice Cream Season starts again. Unless we live under rocks, we'll always have temptations. YOU DID GOOD!

News alert: The last thing your boss wants to do is to arbitrate this bitch fest. She wants you both to STFU and get back to work. So, no, don't make this your boss's problem.

Jeez Louise! You spent $30K on new clothes in two years? That's a helluva bigger problem than not being able to figure out your "personal style."

Uh, yeah ... three reasons: Major surgery General anesthesia Pain meds Just get plenty of rest and keep drinking lots of Water to help flush out the toxins from surgery and from your rapid weight loss. Your kidneys are working hard right now.

I've long drunk skim milk and continue to drink it post-op. I don't mind the carbs, and 8 ounces has 8 grams of Protein. It's also easy on the tummy if you have any reflux. I haven't tried the Fairlife (higher protein) milk. I'll try to find it and try that out.

I hope that old age doesn't predict WLS failure! I had VSG surgery at age 68. Am 69 now. The impression I have, from reading WLS boards for almost 2 years, is that older people are incredibly determined to change. After all, at our age WLS isn't something we're motivated to do by vanity -- but by a last-ditch desperation to become healthier. That's true for me. However, I doubt a single trait predicts WLS patients' success.

I lost 10 pounds the first month and 11 pounds the second month. And I'm not on any antidepressants. I dunno how big you were when you started, but if you were anything like me (I was 216 day of surgery -- having already lost 20 pounds pre-op), you're losing at a pretty fast clip already.

IMHO, you're losing way faster than the average WLS patient. Be grateful. And do what your doc said -- stop comparing yourself. You could stall for a month. But if you're eating / drinking / exercising right, you shouldn't worry about that either.

Love the GNC Lean 25 shakes. I buy them pre-made in the plastic bottles. Swiss chocolate is my favorite. We have a GNC membership (it's free, I think). And we usually buy a case, get 50% off the second case. Calories - 170; Protein 25 grams. Can't beat that! Nearly a year out, and I still have one for Breakfast most mornings.

Yeah, magic wands. When you find one, get me one, too.

Not sure what you mean by this comment ... ? Who said "magic wand"? LOL ... yeah, I think you did.

Tia, my final advice would be to seek out and consider as many different perspectives as possible. Try to remain open-minded as long as you can and not get so ideological about any one perspective that you aren't willing to hear (and appreciate) someone's different story. And don't be afraid to experiment a little bit to see how something different will work for you. You know I'm not saying "go hogwild" or anything like that. And very best to you.

To all the newbies ... (Grinning here) ... Yes, all this discomfort and inability to drink like you used to and the panic at the temporary (yes, temporary!) newness of everything is going to go away. And yes, you will be able to eat a lot more food in the future than you can now. And then you'll have to rely on the new behaviors and skills you have to learn in the meantime. The first month is nothing -- NOTHING -- like what the rest of the journey is like. Just try every healthy, non-caloric stress-reduction technique you have ever learned about. You're just having a reaction to this (I'll say it again) temporary situation you're in. Also ... your "hunger" is probably just acid in your stomach that's not going away because you're not eating anything. You won't feel any restriction at all either until you start eating real food. If your surgeon didn't prescribe a good Rx antacid for you (or if s/he didn't prescribe a stronger one for you than you were taking pre-op), talk to them and ask for a new Rx. Extra stomach acid mimics the feeling of hunger. Hang in there. This phase will be over soon.

I'm also pretty sure that the maintenance "diet" (calories, proteins, carbs, etc.) that work for Person X may not work equally well for Person Y. So serious experimentation really is required to maintain well. "Get WLS surgery and never have a weight problem again" is not the way it goes for almost anyone. I think you just have to keep figuring out what works for you -- food wise and behavior wise. I'm sorry you think therapy couldn't help you or that it rings "hollow" to you. Just for the record (and the benefit of others reading this), my therapist has been quite helpful to me during the last 13-14 months. I started seeing him a few months before my own WLS (in August 2014). I'll also say in response to your inferred question ("If eating less is the solution, why did we have the surgery?") that WLS gave me the opportunity to lose weight quickly and get back my ability to move my body a LOT more than I could pre-op. That extra movement alone adds hundreds of calories to my daily maintenance diet and gives me a much better fighting chance to maintain my weight than I could pre-op. At the end of the day, no matter how we do it, weight loss and weight maintenance are not easy-peasy.

@@reallyrosy Blueprint? Why would you assume we ALL have the same issues that led us to gain weight? I'm dealing with my issues in therapy. No way would I tell you what your issues are -- or accept it (if you tried) to tell me that my issues were the same as yours.

There is no universal carb limit prescribed by surgeons after WLS that I know of. My surgeon / NUT / bariatric PA never mentioned any carb limits at all. Just Protein limits. Therefore, I never, ever focused on low-carb during all my weight losing phases. Also, I read early on posts by the very small percentage of folks who developed post-bariatric reactive hypoglycemia. It seemed to me (just a theory here, no serious research about it done that I can find) that these posts were all made by people who'd gone significantly low-carb for most of their weight-losing phases. So I decided I didn't need to lose weight super-fast anyway and would just eat plenty of healthy, unprocessed carbs. And I did. Coincidentally, I wound up matching my protein and carb levels. Early on, my Proteins / carbs were around 60, with daily cals around 800. Then in Month Five I ramped up to 1000 cals, and proteins and carbs went up to 80. Then in Month Seven I ramped up to 1200 calories, and my proteins and carbs went up to around 100. I reached my weight goal (150 pounds) 8.3 months post-op. I've lost another 6 pounds since then (in the last 3+ months), but I think I'm now stabilized. By now, my daily maintenance calories range from 1300 - 2000, and my weekly averages are over 1600 cals. I think my final maintenance calorie budget will be 1700-1750. Honestly, looking back, I think I lucked out by not going super low-carb or super low-cal during my weight losing days. I have online friends who ate a lot less during the weight-losing phases, and some of them (not all) are struggling to maintain their goal weights at 1200 cals/day. And who knows what I'll deal with in the coming years as I work to maintain this weight. So that's been my experience. Take from it what you will. And realize that our bodies don't all respond the same to food. If we were all alike, this whole weight loss / weight maintenance business would be a helluva lot less mysterious.

Here's what I have never understood: Why in hell do you folks tell people about your upcoming WLS -- particularly those who are family members -- who you KNOW up-front are going to give you grief? You're not compelled to invite that kind of verbal and emotional abuse. And yet you do it. And then you act all shocked and offended that they gave you grief. Did you really expect those asshats were finally going to be supportive?

People have seen you diet all your life, right? This time, you're just dieting again. That's all there is to it. FTR, I didn't tell anyone (except my medical team) but my hubby and 2 friends who live 1,000 miles away, in opposite directions. No family members, no sibs, no other close friends. And before your mom bakes you a birthday cake, you say, "Please don't make me a cake this year. I won't be able to eat it." And if she bakes it anyway, do what you told her you were going to do: Don't eat it.

No way would I eat those Rusk dealios. Based on the nutrition info on the label, that's a slider food of the first order.

You're not going to lose weight in a "straight line." You're going to lose in fits and starts. The sooner you get used to that idea, the less stressed you'll be. Weigh each day ONLY if you aren't going to be stressed out when you stall and don't lose every day. Because you certainly won't. Nobody does.