VSGAnn2014

Everyone I know who has conquered this frustration has the very same solution: Stop weighing yourselves daily! Instead, focus on your activity stats: grams of Protein eaten, grams of good carbs eaten, 64+ ounces of Water (not other liquids) drunk, exercise minutes or calories expended or daily steps. Use MFP, Fitbits, etc. that keep you accountable for your activities. Pour your obsessive attentions into what you are DOING, not what the scale says every morning. P.S. I know some people who are weighing 4 times a day. (WTF?)

In the last 15 years, my hubby has had two major surgeries, resulting in a "big zipper" scar down his torso from his breastbone to his belly button. If I were sleeping with him for the first time, there's no way I wouldn't at some point in the evening ask about his scars. It wouldn't occur to me that my asking about his scars would be "unclassy." As someone above said, 162 inches of scars on your torso is guaranteed to prompt questions.

Not trying to nag here, but if you're eating sugar (which I assume your chocolates have), that's just setting you up for a sugar up/down whiplash and would activate all kinds of hypoglycemic symptoms, like the ones you described. Sounds like you need to focus on Protein and good fibrous carbs. Sorry to be boring.

Ditto others -- if I plan to eat 4 ounces of something, but eat only 2 ounces, I adjust on MFP the portion size down to 2 ounces (or 0.5 of the 4 ounce serving). It's simple.

Aside from the political rants above, there are two actual issues raised by Rosie's comments: 1. She dissed the lapband's effectiveness, angering lapband patients who found and/or still find the band successful for themselves (whether they still have the band or have had it removed). Should she have done that? 2. She "divided" the WLS community where (I did not know this until Rosiegate) that it's politically incorrect to say that one WLS procedure is less effective or desirable than another. Did she cause a division? My take on Rosiegate is that it's illogical to deem off-limits debates about the relative effectiveness of WLS procedures within, of all places, the WLS community. Every prospective WLS patient has to deliberate about and decide which form of WLS is appropriate for them. It's one of the biggest decisions about WLS we all made. FTR, I'm 6 1/2 weeks post-VSG-op. I've never had a lapband, but it was the procedure I first explored with my surgeon, since I had thought lapband and gastric bypass were the only two WLS options. Until he described the sleeve, I had never heard of it. My surgeon (who has done thousands of all three WLS procedures--and supports his past lapband patients) discouraged me strongly from having the lapband citing these facts, based on his education and experience and the experiences of thousands of his WLS patients over the past 10 years: * The lapband wasn't designed to be a permanent fixture in the human body, * Fills / adjustments can be difficult to get right, * The band works imperfectly for many patients in helping them to lose weight, * Patients find it easy to game/cheat the lapband, obviating the lapband's efficacy, * Most lapband patients regain their weight when the band is removed, and * It can slip and erode in ways that damage patients' stomachs and other nearby body organs and tissue, * Some lapband patients find they are unable to fly due to pressurization changes that may affect the band's fill and cause major discomfort and pain Those of us who are sleeved have met online many banded patients who wish to transition from the band to the sleeve. Some of their stories of banded life are horrific, particularly about stomach damage caused by their bands that sipped or eroded. Therefore, this forum and its members don't want to discourage anyone from discussing WLS procedures' pros and cons, their continuing / changing utility, and their risks. And now that I know more about the three WLS procedures, I agree with the gist of Rosie's comments about the band. What would be very interesting to me would be a civil discussions about which procedure is appropriate for whom and which one(s) are NOT. The decision tree can't be that complicated.

Serious question: Why don't you count your calories? If I were gaining weight and was trying to figure out why, that's the first thing I'd start doing -- finding out how many calories I was eating and whether that had changed. (I use My Fitness Pal, so it's already done for me.)

Yup. Been there. Had my first gallbladder attack 10 day post-WLS-op. Had it taken out 4 weeks post-WLS-op. Recovered easily within a week.

I'm sorry, but this is 2014. Corset-training? No freakin' way.

For the last 17 years I have worked at a home office and also travel on biz some. But I'm lucky that I'm not a snacker. We eat 3 meals a day and always have, thanks to Hubby's desire for a scheduled life ... yeah, he's one of those. Having said all that, one thing that helps me hit my daily targets for nutritious food (plenty of Protein, carbs, and real food rather than lots of shakes) is to plan my day's meals and Snacks in the morning and enter them in My Fitness Pal. Perhaps if you planned your snacks ahead of time, you'd have more success controlling your snack intake?

I saw the surgeon in his office twice pre-op. While in the hospital, I saw him before surgery (in surgical holding) and the following day. I also saw his PA the day after surgery. I saw the surgeon and the PA 10 days after surgery. Then saw the PA 5 weeks after surgery. My next appointment will be 3 months post-op with the PA. Thereafter, I will see my surgeon and/or the PA quarterly throughout the first year post-op. I know I will be expected to see him regularly thereafter as well, but I don't yet know the frequency. He expects to see all his patients forevermore post-op. He says research shows that the more follow-up WLS patients have, the more successful they are (as a group).

I like especially the after-care they offer. That seems to be different from other Mexican surgeons' practices.

@@mokee , that's an incredibly impressive success story. Congratulations!

I see posts like this all the time that say, essentially: "I was just sleeved. I hate this. I can't deal with the rest of my life being like this! Why didn't I understand it would be horrific like this?" Protip: Your life won't always be like this. You're two weeks post-op. You're recovering from major surgery. You'll feel better every week, maybe every day. A month, two months from now you probably won't even remember how uncomfortable you were two weeks post-op. Buck up. It's going to get a lot easier -- faster than you think. And the way it gets easier if you just do today what you're supposed to do today. And tomorrow do what you're supposed to do tomorrow. That's all.

She talked about it after keeping it on the down-low (as was her right) for nine years post-op. http://www.today.com/health/star-jones-her-weight-loss-i-wasnt-plus-size-i-1C9381962

First, congrats on getting rid of a bum lapband and considering the sleeve. However ... Lots of people feel hungry after the sleeve -- 6, 9, 12 months or more post-op. The ghrelin hunger hormone that the stomach produces certainly declines for most (but not all people) post-op for several months. But that little hormone is sneaky -- apparently after a while, some people's bodies figure out how to produce it elsewhere, e.g., the pancreas. And yes, the sleeve is permanent. But you can still game it / cheat it / find work-arounds -- like some people do with the lapband, especially when the lapband doesn't function well for them. I am saying these things because I resist the 25-word nirvana version of what the sleeve is like. The sleeved experience is more nuanced than the things you listed above and not nearly as "absolute" as those sound. The main reason people lose weight post-VSG surgery is because they eat a lot fewer calories, and eat Protein first, then veggies, than (if there's room left) a few carbs. And they exercise. And take their vitamins/minerals. And if they're smart, they work on new behaviors they'll need when, as happens with all WLSs, the WLS initial 6-month honeymoon ends. Best wishes.

You're making progress.

It actually doesn't matter how many people feel this way or have felt this way or will feel this way. The question is, are you now going to medicate with food your bad feelings that you started out feeling and are now just adding to with your negative self-talk: "I feel bad about feeling bad, which is making me feel even worse, so I'm now focusing on how bad I'm feeling, while feeling worse and worse all the time!" No one can tell YOU how to "feel better." That's something only YOU can figure out. But chances are, whatever will work for you is something different than what you're doing now. If you're looking for someone to tell you it's OK to eat bad stuff and that we all do it, maybe someone else can help you out. But if you want someone to tell you to get up off the floor and stand up for yourself, then: Get up off the floor and stand up for yourself.

What if the Frontier Airlines person comes over to an executive who's 6'6" and an ex-football player who's not "fat," but just built big, to say they'll have to buy another ticket if someone sitting next to them feels crowded? What if the college basketball team that's traveling to an away game (most of them are over 6'6" tall with legs and arms that stick out far in all directions) gets the same treatment from the Frontier Airlines person? How does that play? What if a mother is traveling with an active one- or two-year-old child who will be sitting in her lap as the plane flies across North America. Should the mother pay extra to get the kid his own seat so he doesn't crawl across the other two passengers in that row or kick the seat of the unfortunate passenger sitting in front of them for six hours? No? Only fat passengers should have to pay extra?

Oh, and you know what was a WAY easier way to lose weight than WLS? Diet pills and speed. Now, THAT was the easy way to lose weight.

I am only 42 days / 6 weeks post-op. So I'm a WLS newb. But I see so many newly sleeved people -- on this and other forums -- who (as soon as they recover from surgery) start strutting around, pontificating how this surgery is the EASY way to deal with weight problems, proclaiming that they now have this baby licked, swearing they will never gain another pound ever like those weak people who don't keep their weight off. Obviously, some of these folks are losing significant weight for the first time in their lives and think they've died and gone to heaven. Some of them are just young and stupid (sorry, kids). Some of them of them are on an emotional high from the no-ghrelin/no-appetite phenomenon, which they assume will continue forever. Not me. I've been up and down the scales via serious diets 30-40 times in my life. Each time I've lost 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, nearly 70 pounds. I've done everything you've ever heard of. And now I've paid someone to cut out 85% of my stomach. When you have that kind of lifelong dieting history, having dared to hope each time that it was the miracle cure, you develop a healthy skepticism and, of course, start to see patterns in what sent your weight right back up the scale: * Personal, family and job stresses * Physical disabilities (which increase as you age) * The idiotic idea that you're doing this to "reach goal" -- when there actually is no finish line * The idiotic idea that when you "reach goal" you now deserve a prize (usually one with calories) * The sugar and carb and fat addictions that were non-existent while you abstained, but become roaring monsters after you eat the first Pasta dinner, ice cream, hamburger with fries, etc. * The feelings that spur your compulsions to soothe those feelings with food (usually carbs) * The shame and the disappointment that you've regained (so quickly!) 5 pounds, which sends you another 5 and then 10, then 20, then more. Anyone who imagines that WLS will hold at bay the effects on us that future illness and death and bitchy people and rainy weather and financial problems and bad haircuts and the election of idiots and terrors on the evening news is due for disappointment. So the only things I'm really counting on WLS to do for me is to give me (I'm guessing) close to one year to practice eating less than I used to eat; eating Protein first, veggies second, and (if there's room left) some more highly processed, but still healthy carbs; drinking at least 64 ounces of liquids every day; taking my vitamins/minerals; moving my ass significantly most days, and one more thing: learning to recognize what makes me reach compulsively for food to soothe myself and learn some new ways to soothe myself without food. I wasn't this smart over 60 years ago. But I'm smarter now.

Well, I don't think the airline industry caused the entire problem. Airlines didn't cause the flying public to gain weight. For that, we can thank our increasingly sedentary jobs and entertainment options, our older ages and longer lifespans, and our faster, cheaper food. But a lot of other for-profit monster corporations get significant credit for the obesity boom. Although with their shrinking passenger seats, smaller seat pitches, and less leg room, airlines are definitely contributing to the problem. What offends me the most is the airlines' industry-wide, coordinated and thus far successful campaign to IGNORE their customers' needs for basic service. It goes against every healthy economic principle. They can do this now ONLY because they can manipulate their monopoly on the fastest way to travel. I may not live to see it, but one day travel technology will offer human beings better long-distance travel options than the misery of airborne cattle cars. </rant>

Do we all need therapy? I don't know. But at 68 years old, I certainly knew I needed to do something differently than I'd done before. Most people think therapy is primarily for people with mental health challenges. And, of course, some WLS patients do have mental health challenges. But therapy is also useful in helping anyone inspect and evaluate their behaviors, responses, habits and the stimuli that precipitate them. I'm finding my therapist very helpful as I try (this last time) to conquer my lifelong struggle with obesity. Finding a therapist who's effective for you may be hard, but it could be worth the effort.

Evolution and natural selection did not create those fucking shrinking airplane seats. They are not that size, nor is the legroom what it is, because of any reason other than because they are designed that way to pack in more and more passengers and to encourage (especially on international flights) the sale of much more expensive business class seats. While the general public has grown larger (yes, the same general public that the airlines sell tickets to), the airlines have actually shrunk their seat sizes and legroom. See: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304384104579141941949066648 http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/columnist/mcgee/2014/09/24/airplane-reclining-seat-pitch-width/16105491/ It is not only overweight and obese passengers and their neighbors who suffer from the current shrinking airline seat situation, but anyone who is taller than the average human being. When airlines acknowledge that their customers DESERVE not to be in agony while they are traveling and start to outfit their airplanes to make their passengers actually comfortable, they and their customers will be rewarded. As someone who travels constantly on business, I know just how horrific the current airline travel scene is.

I'm no WLS expert. And I have the sleeve. I started this journey expecting that I would get the band. But after listening to my very experienced surgeon's reasons for why he does very few bands anymore and doesn't recommend them and learning about all the lapband trial-and-error maintenance required post-op, the long-term post-lapband complications, that it's not a permanent tool (when lapbands are removed almost everyone regains their weight), and that many post-lapband patients are being sleeved -- it was a pretty easy decision for me to choose the sleeve. So I guess I just said what Rosie O'Donnell said.

Have you thought of using sleep aids? At least for a while?