VSGAnn2014

Oh, @@jinxxy5 ! I just saw this thread. You have done amazing. The difference is like seeing two possible lives in parallel universes. Yours is one of the most impressive WLS changes I've ever seen! R E S P E C T !

Here's what helps me: 1. I plan my day's eating every morning like an OCD banshee. I use My Fitness Pal and log every bite I eat. I use it to plan my meals every morning and then every evening edit the day's entries to reflect any deviations I made. 2. I do not eat popcorn. That's just one of many slider foods (highly processed foods that slide right through your little tummy and don't leave you satisfied) that make you crave more slider foods. Yeah, don't eat those. 3. I always, always, always get my 60 grams of Protein in daily. Most days (on 1,200 calories -- I'm in Month 8 post-op -- I get closer to 90-100 grams of protein. And I always, always, always at meals eat my protein first. That keeps me VERY satiated for hours. 4. I chew more, pause between bites, etc. And don't drink with meals. The usual yada yada yada instructions I actually follow. I would say it might be time to take an honest assessment of what you're doing to find how you're deviating from surgeon's instructions. Chances are if you're not doing something your MD recommended that if you did that you would reduce your anxiety and keep on full steam ahead. Good luck to you. I think you know what to do. You just need a little reset. Here it is ... RESET!

@@AvaFern ... Imma confess that last night you were pretty funny on those drugs. Truly.

Once again ... HOW did I miss seeing this thread until now?! What I'm tired of is people who actually get pissy about those who actually follow their surgeons' instructions because "no one can really eat like that." I'm done with "encouraging" those kinds of folks. F**k 'em.

Your post is a great start. Whatever bugs us can only be addressed if we recognize it's a problem. Speaking purely for me, even though I don't have any (what I'd call) big issues around overeating, I still always managed to regain the weight I'd lost many, many times during heroic weight-loss programs. My PCP urged me strongly to go into counseling before WLS, and I agreed to do so. I clearly needed some new perspectives on how to care for myself. Apparently, my "self care" really sucked. I think that's a fancy way of saying I took care of everyone else's needs before I took care of mine. I found an excellent counselor who works with bariatric patients, among others. And I've resolved to stay in counseling for 3 years: The year of losing weight, The year of maintaining my weight, and The year of boring real life. That's my approach. Very best to you.

Why don't you guys just change your notification settings -- to stop any emails you receive about new posts, etc. And if you don't want your picture here or your name here, you can change those (using no avatar at all). If you don't want your prior posts showing, you can take the trouble to go into posts you now wish you'd not made and edit those by putting in only periods. Those are some work-arounds to meet whatever your new needs are. And if you don't like these suggestions, don't yell at me ... I'm just trying to be helpful.

@@AvaFern ... I just read the thread you just started about your latest plastic surgery, and I'll remind you (and others reading this) that you're on some pretty good pain drugs right now. I have a feeling that once the swelling goes down your new butt will look great.

@@alswifey You look wonderful! Thanks for posting your pix and reporting on two years out. Looking forward to those surgiversaries myself. Ann

I gave one of my sisters the first shot at all of them. And then I gave the rest to our local favorite charity (hospital thrift shop).

Good luck, @@paddrick .

I love how I look. Seriously. I'm not a hard body or a perfect body. But then I'm 69 years old. Bottom line is I look SO MUCH BETTER THAN I DID 80 POUNDS AGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@@Casey235 ... I'd like to explain gently to you and plenty of others here who think that all fat people are big over-eaters that everyone who needs WLS does not have the same issues with food. There's a lot of variety among us. We're not all like you. And everybody here isn't like me. Or anyone else. Yes, I gained up to 235 pounds pre-op because of the complex, long-term disease of obesity's effects on me (I am now 69 years old). I experienced decades of yo-yo dieting that really fucked up my metabolism (gradually lowering it), some awful injuries to my knees and resulting arthritis that made it very hard to move, much less exercise. But for the last 30 years I haven't had serious problems with binging or eating massive amounts of food. I was a chubby kid and fought overweight all my life. Sometimes I won, sometimes I lost. For a long, long time I could lose weight magnificently. And I could always gain it back, too, but not by binging or lots of "food funerals" -- just by eating a little bit more and exercising a little bit less than would have maintained my weight loss. Turns out, that wasn't hard at all because every time I lost weight my metabolic rate went down a little bit, too. And a few years later, while eating "normally" (as most everyone I knew was eating) I'd regained 40 pounds. Then I'd diet again, and again my metabolic rate went down a little bit more, so I'd regain again--this time 50 pounds. Over and over. When I finally heard about the sleeve two years ago and decided to have WLS, I was deliriously happy for the opportunity. I understood the combined benefits that I would receive from food restriction, ghrelin reduction, a metabolic reset, and the ability to move and exercise more than I had in decades. But I couldn't get my surgery scheduled soon. In fact, I finally had my surgery 14 months after the introductory lecture I attended. By the time I was finally in the surgery queue I was so done with waiting. So, desperate to get this show on the road, I put myself on a self-imposed diet for two months (and lost 11 pounds). I didn't do any food funerals at all. I stopped drinking wine and sodas, reduced my coffee, recorded all my food in www.myfitnesspal.com, bought a Fitbit, stood up and started walking, started chewing more, waiting longer between bites, not drinking with meals, and other things that you're learning now to do after you have surgery. Everything you want to eat now you can eat later -- just not as much as you could put away today. I would urge you not to add on extra weight that you'll just have to lose post-op. Or have food funerals and know that any weight you gain that's extra will come off only at the end of your weight loss phase when the weight may not be coming off very fast. It truly is your decision. But please don't put down those of us who were so enthusiastic about this opportunity to change / save our lives that we didn't choose to pig out prior to surgery. (Thanks for listening.)

No, doesn't bother me. And the weird thing is that, 5 pounds from goal, the loose skin is actually starting to shrink. And I'm losing the fat around my tummy and even some from my underarms. I would NEVER have bet that these changes would happen. Am wondering now what it'll be like a year from now.

Awesome post, @@B-52 . I appreciate your continuing presence here and the common sense and wisdom about WLS that you dispense.

Do it. You need your health back soonest possible. That will come post op.

Inspiring thread.

Never watched it. Never will.

@@Elode ... wow! You really are special. What a beautiful family you all have created.

Of course not. You're too mean for me.

How did I miss seeing this thread? From now on, I'm coming in here to vent and beat my head on the wall among friends.

You're doing just great!

Anything that makes willing sexual partners of any genders happier is fine by me. Proceed.

What's amazing and wonderful about boards like this one is that anyone ever answers another person's questions or offers advice that was requested. It's amazing and wonderful that knowledge is exchanged in this way. And every online community like this one finds its own equilibrium. Those balances change over time, but in social media a balance is always struck. @@ProjectMe is also right that almost everyone here is living a life with challenges that others cannot see. Since my own WLS (seven months ago), here's a short list of my new challenges, in addition to working full time and being the family member responsible for the care of my mother who has advanced Alzheimer's disease: * I also recovered from gallbladder surgery. * My hubby was diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing radiation and chemo. * Our sweet, beloved dog died. * My husband's adult son died of a stroke after a month's hospitalization and hospice care. * My father-in-law was just diagnosed (last week) with cancer. No one stays on these boards any longer than they wish or any longer than they receive value or any longer than the effort to contribute exceeds their enjoyment. I would urge everyone here to look for the fun in life, the cloud's silver lining, the joke that brings a smile ... and to quit being so outraged at stuff that really does not matter. None of us is getting out of here alive, so in the meantime let's try to do our best and have some fun before we go.

Well, you're on the right track to find out what's going on. Soon you'll have your answers from the doc. I hope you return here and post what she/he says. Best to you!

Great topic. And those are some great questions you're asking yourself. My shrink has brought up these issues with me already. (I'm 5 pounds from goal at this point.) So I look forward to this discussion.