VSGAnn2014

Jesse, best of luck to you. I know your situation is a bit "special." But it sounds like things are really going your way. I don't know if you appreciate how fast this has all gone for you. But it has. That's a great sign. Best to you!

Speaking honestly, I don't like the guilt bit. Intellectually, maybe, I can see how stomach cancer and intestinal resectioning is similar to WLS. And that the scenarios described above could describe someone who's suffering from a kind of "survivor guilt." But I really don't want to validate those feelings in any way. At all. Your continuing to be disabled (physically, emotionally, professionally) doesn't help anyone else who's disabled at all. Your getting better doesn't help anyone who's not doing well at all. Your living -- and living life fully -- doesn't bring back to life anyone who has died or who is dying. Yes, our feelings must be acknowledged. But at the end of the day, at some point before we climb onto the funeral pyre to be consumed with the bodies of those we love, those kinds of feelings that paralyze your good sense should not be allowed to influence your decisions and your actions that can lead to your own survival. If you want to live, you have to choose life. And you don't need to apologize to anyone, including yourself, for your decision to live.

She's gorgeous! Her muscles are amazing. Thanks.

When I was losing weight (before I reached goal) I was extremely regimented about what I ate. Now that I have been at goal and below goal for 3 months I'm experimenting with what I need to eat to STOP losing weight. My nutritionist and exercise consultant and I did our respective calculations and figured out the very same thing: Our consensus is that at my current level of activity / exercise I can maintain at 145-150 pounds while eating 1,750 calories a day ON AVERAGE. FTR, my daily menus now average a little over 100 grams of Protein a day and about 60 grams of fat. That means I need to eat about 200 grams of carbs a day to hit 1,750 calories. But the truth is I can't eat that much every day, nor do I feel like eating that much every day. And guess what -- I'm still losing weight very slowly (I'm now 5 pounds below goal). I guess what I'm trying to say is that what works for most of us during the weight loss phase isn't the same thing that will work for all of us during the maintenance phase. It's already clear to me (by listening to others who are in maintenance mode) that people's maintenance calorie budgets vary dramatically due to a variety of things that seem (and are) sort of unfair. Why can Person X eat more than Person Y and not gain weight? Will what works for me now work the same way for me two or four years from now? Ultimately, it just is what it is. Each of us is a science experiment with only one subject in the experiment -- our self. We have to be willing to experiment and find out what works for us. It's absolutely ridiculous for me to tell you what will work for you. Or vice versa. Yes, there are principles that make sense which we should all follow. But I'm beginning to appreciate the longer I'm post-op that we can't all be handed a pre-written "Diet for Life" that will work for every single one of us. I didn't feel this way at all during the first six months after WLS. But maintenance is teaching me some whole different lessons. And please do not misunderstand that I'm advocating that patients go "hog wild" at any phase of weight-loss or maintenance post-op. That's neither what I'm advocating nor what I'm doing. I plan each day's menus and record every thing I eat and drink using www.myfitnesspal.com, so I'm not guesstimating about what I'm actually doing.

I took great comfort that the bariatric surgeon I chose: * Answered every specific question I asked with specific answers -- re complication rates, his surgery experience and record, his predictions / prognosis about my own long-term success, etc. * His entire team's performance -- nurses, nutritionist, PAs, psychologists available for counseling, etc. * His age (he was neither too young nor too old) * My gut-level response to him (I trusted he was candid and honest in all his responses) * What his staff, prior patients, and online reviews said about him * The fact that his operation / hospital was an ASMBS "Center of Excellence." * Our conversations took us to a "sweet spot" of what I wanted / thought vs. what he recommended. He listened / I listened. I'm happy to report that he turned out to be a great choice for me. Easy surgery, easy recovery, great results (all weight lost and maintenance going well now).

I've been eating healthy (and a lot less) for 13.5 months now (have lost 90 pounds and am below goal). These eat-all-the-crap-you-can-gobble restaurant offerings now make me ill to even contemplate! I certainly wasn't a binger pre-op, but I ate so much more than I can now because (of course) I had a bigger stomach that held more, but also because I ate so much faster and chewed my food so much less than I do now. Completely aside from my new stomach's restriction, eating for 13.5 months the way we all should eat has helped me build a lot of strong, new habits. Hubby feels the same way -- we both eat far less than we did prior to my having WLS. All chain restaurant potion sizes are just too large for normal people. I'm old enough to remember what restaurant portion sizes in the 1950s and 1960s were -- MUCH smaller than they are today.

To the OP ... despite your feelings about what you're eating, your original post sounds a bit vague as though you don't know as much as you could about how much and what you're eating: "I'm active several times per week and with the exception of an occasional night out with friends am a salad and Protein girl ... feel my diet is pretty solid." How we feel about how we're eating may not be the best way to discover what we're actually doing. Are you open to honestly tracking every day what you're really eating? If so, you might (?) discover that your daily / weekly / monthly food intake is a more than you feel that it is. And if you are eating too much or the wrong foods to maintain your weight, you will then know what to do and can avoid a second surgery. Good luck to you!

There are many long-term meta-analysis studies. This morning I don't have time to do a big online search, but here are a few links to some studies: Lapband - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23235396 Single study re VSG - http://www.medpagetoday.com/Endocrinology/Obesity/40490 Discussion of multiple studies re VSG - http://asmbs.org/resources/sleeve-gastrectomy-as-a-bariatric-procedure If you find more links to different studies, please post them here. I'll do some more digging later myself.

I'm with Cowgirl -- it seems the data requested allows you to correlate WLS outcomes with SES, but that's about all. I could be wrong, but I don't think you even asked which kind of WLS respondents received. I have no idea how you can content code the information solicited.

Like Shustar said, nobody is thinking about you. Like you, they are thinking about themselves.

This statement is true if you want to be fat again. My surgeon and NUT said NO carbonated drinks, NO processed foods, NO processed sugars, NO processed breads, tortilla, and chips......Not strongly discouraged. We can certainly eat most all foods post op, if we want to be fat again. Your doctor is pulling your leg or you have misunderstood her / him. Have you had WLS yet? Have you reached goal yet? How long have you maintained your weight?

To the OP, I lost 10.4 pounds my first month post-op. But that number has absolutely nothing to do with how much you will or can lose your first month post-op. How much you will lose is a function of: * Your gender (most men lose faster) * Your starting weight (heavier people lose faster) * Your age (younger people lose faster) * Specific comorbidities you might have (some of them, like hypothyroidism and PCOS, may slow down weight loss.) * How well you understand and follow your surgeon's post-op eating, drinking and exercising instructions P.S. And to the latest self-appointed forum moderator, @ ... yaaaawn.

P.S. Just found this article that could be useful to you: http://c-hit.org/2014/10/15/years-after-weight-loss-surgery-patients-seek-treatment-for-eating-disorders/

Most surgeons strongly discourage us from drinking carbonated beverages and a few other foods / drinks post-op, but so far as I know almost all foods are allowed post-op, as long as you're in the appropriate phase for that food. But if a specific food makes you sick or makes you feel bad, don't eat it. If it's a trigger food for you, don't eat it. If you really love pizza and you're far along enough post-op that pizza seems an appropriate addition to your daily menu, eat one slice and see how it goes. What one person can eat happily and without harm, another may not be able to tolerate. And what you can't tolerate 3 months out you could handle 6 months or 12 months post-op. So much of our long-term success will depend on our ability to experiment sagely with a variety of foods and, thereafter, to exercise the discipline to eat what nourishes us and our bodies and to avoid the foods / drinks that are harmful for us.

This is a wonderful phase of this journey. Your joy is so genuine. You deserve these benefits. You are earning them yourself.

First, I don't have a BED diagnosis and haven't been a binge-eater for 30 years or longer. So there's that. However, I've seen many posts here and at other WLS forums where posters say their BED behaviors have been modified by gastric sleeve surgery (they simply cannot eat as much at a time), but that they are still binging by grazing, eating "slider" foods (highly processed, high calorie foods) that move quickly through the stomach into the intestine. The meta-evaluation studies (that collapse many studies' findings into a single analysis) say that only half of WLS patients maintain a long-term weight loss of 50% (EDIT ... or more) of their excess weight lost. If you want to maximize your odds of losing all your excess weight and keeping it off, you've got to eat differently than you used to eat: eat less, eat more Protein, eat protein first, eat slower, chew more, eat three meals and no more than two Snacks daily, drink 64 ounces Water daily, move more, exercise regularly, and for some people seek psychological counseling to support the development of new habits and to treat specific diagnoses (like BED and others). This isn't exactly on point, but I personally know people who've gained all their weight back after WLS because they could not give up certain foods / drinks like sweet tea, wheat thins or ice cream. Success after WLS requires discipline and support, and some of us require even more resources. As @@jess9395 says, what each of us needs and must do post-op to succeed must match our peculiar needs.

Rite of passage. Rite.

This isn't addiction you're experiencing. This is something quite different. Enjoyment, enthusiasm, building new habits, and experiencing positive reinforcement for your new behaviors does not equate to addiction. It's not even close. Ask a real addict.

Protip: Find a high-end consignment (used) clothing shop and shop out of that as you're losing weight. There are wonderful choices out there that are a small, small fraction of retail. Besides, you won't be wearing some of these clothes for long. P.S. I bought a St. John suit yesterday for $42. I bet that sucker sold for at least $1200 new. It's still in great condition.

I'm very proud of those of you who have stood up for yourselves and cared for yourselves when those around you didn't volunteer their support or, worse, threw emotional barriers and abuse in your way. This journey offers us many opportunities for many different kinds of personal growth. And distancing ourselves from destructive, toxic persons is a great way to improve our lives. Again, respect to you who've stepped away from the poison you used to tolerate.

What @@LipstickLady said: Stop caring. You can't make anyone love or admire you. You can screw yourself up badly if you try to do so. Your opinion of yourself is what matters. That is the only thing that matters. If you try to change her opinion of you you're agreeing that her opinion of you really does matter. It does not.

Everything bolded above for me, too. It just seems unreal sometimes. It all happened in 0.2 pounds at a time, but it still went by like a fast dream. This surgery is a bloody miracle! My life is nothing like it was before. I'm the "best me" I've been in a long, long, long time. Hallulujah!

What wonderful changes in your life. I love hearing stories like this. Big congratulations re your wonderful accomplishments. You deserve all those benefits.

Elode, you look mahvelous, my dear. Just gorgeous.

Congratulations to you. Thanks for sharing your success with us. Your pix are wonderful.