summerset

I recommend books about "normal eating" or "intuitive eating". These books usually deal with emotional eating quite a lot. Different strategies work for different people.

That's quite different from telling a lie when asked about what you did to lose weight and I don't know why so many users on here react in the same way you just did. Nobody suggests that you wear a sign around your neck stating you had WLS and I have no idea why so many users jump to the conclusion that anyone who doesn't lie about WLS is actually suggesting "telling everyone" and get quite defensive about this issue. The way I see it is that people will be gossiping about your weight loss anyway. Do you really and honestly believe anyone buys this "Oh, I just exercise and eat healthy" schlock? Especially when people know your for years and witnessed your past weight loss attempts? If someone suddenly loses e. g. 100 lbs of weight and eats very little I'd suspect two things: 1) the person is very sick 2) the person had WLS with 2) being more likely when the person is actually behaving like usual. If that person runs around telling everyone who wants to know how he/she did it that it's just exercise and "eating healthy" I'd think to myself "Yeah, right... tell some more fairy tales". I personally wouldn't confront a person with weight loss (unless we're quite close and the person seems to be generally open about the topic), asking how he/she did it because I think it's not my business and I personally prefer not to be asked about weight loss but when I'm asked, I don't lie.

People are so different. I prefer people asking directly and then I give an honest answer.

Do you think you have to be more vigilant than other people your age/weight?

Recently a colleague said that I don't seem to eat that much in general and I was like WTF??? Not more than any other eating disordered community, LOL.

Nope, I see no benefit in going keto or low carb. I'm more of an IF person I guess.

Conquering black-and-white-thinking was one of the most useful things in life I ever did. It affects everything in your life.

From the ingredients list it looks like a bread you can buy at every grocery store in Germany (Mestemacher is a German company) . Try their Pumpernickel bread if you can get a hand on it. However, I'm wondering why you thought it's disgusting when not toasted. Never thought of toasting this kind of bread so far.

I think it takes time. In the beginning it's hard to see because you have so much fat to lose. Later on your can see and feel the differences more clearly, even if you're losing just a bit more like e. g. seeing the tendons on hands and feet when moving them or feeling certain bone prominences.

There are always other hospitals. However, you have to keep in mind that foreign materials in the body have their own problems and complications. Getting revision is a hard decision to make. I postponed for about a year before I finally had the courage to get MGB.

No, really. It tastes good, LOL. 😂

I love my LaVita drink. 🤤

I'm a bit surprised that (at least some?) sleevers don't need to take vitamins? Another example of different hospital, different protocol I guess.

Fear never seemed to help me in the past when it came to weight/food issues. The fear only made me feel helpless and powerless and did nothing good to me.

Why do you have to do the liver shrink diet with a BMI of 25? Interesting.

Naturally. One has to find the balance between being too careless on the one side and the scaremongering on the other side.

This would put you at a BMI of 25. I don't think this is unrealistic. It might not be very likely considering the statistics but I don't think it's impossible.

Might be, might not be. I personally think you can't be prepared for "after surgery". There is no realistic simulation of post-op life. And there will always be people who won't feel "prepared". However, I fear a lot of them won't even feel "prepared" after going through supervised diet for 6 years instead of 6 months. This feeling of "lack of being prepared" reminds me of residents who're diving head first into their first on-duty-night alone. They almost never feel "prepared". I didn't feel prepared for many things on the job as well - and I mastered things anyway. Just like (most of) the residents that are now in fear of their first on-duty-night will master them. Not that unrealistic I fear. However, enough people are already gaining back their weight and some more on top of it, despite the waiting and preparation period. Of course one can draw two entirely different conclusions out of the fact that many people are gaining back weight: 1) patients need longer preparation time so results will be better 2) preparation time is wasted time, there will always be people who're going to gain back the weight, no therapy works for 100% of the patients For me it was length of time. We have wasted so much time already on stuff that didn't work long term, why waste more? Look at the studies on morbid obesity and conservative treatment. Not one seems to come to the conclusion that non-surgical treatment is successful.

When patients have blood pressure issues the blood pressure is measured over a time span of 24 h in (IIRC) intervals of 15 to 30 min.

A weight loss of 68 lbs in 4 months can mess up a already rather low blood pressure. It's pretty normal to have blood pressure going down when the weight drops fast. Anyway, 80/40 is definitely too low and June is a long time to wait. Does your GP 24 h measures?

Did you have blood pressure issues before? Just how high/low was your BP before surgery and how high/low is it now? Did you already have a 24 h measurement of BP taken? The cardiologist might be the right one to talk to, not your surgeon.

Being able to compare yourself to other patients is one of the worst features (or rather bugs) of WLS boards and it's the main reason I deleted the majority of my stats.

People are different. This day-by-day thing never worked for me. Well, it worked for a while when I was white-knuckling something temporary through (e. g. studying for exams after work) but it never worked longterm. I personally think it's an interesting mind game when you're asking yourself: "How does the thought of going to the gym six times a week for the next 30 years make me feel? Do I feel exited? Do I want to run away and hide? Do I want to scream in horror? Am I in doubt that this will work out? Do I really think it's possible considering my daily schedule?" "How does imagining never eating food xyz feels in my body? Is my heart rate going up a bit? Am I getting nervous? Am I afraid that I'm not "strong enough" to make this happen for the next 30 years?" I think these mind games are very eye opening in many situations, not only when it comes to eating/exercise/weight. Of course it's not a foolproof 100% working method but I find it to be very helpful, especially when it comes to longer term commitment.

Whatever you do: ask yourself the question if you're willing/able to do that forever or at least for a very long time.

So you've lost 35 lbs and maintained that 35 lbs loss? If that's the case you're still far better off than those who've lost a ton and regained that ton. How's that for starters? --- If your pouch is "shot for good" or not, nobody here can now. Do you still feel some restriction? What and how much do you usually eat?