summerset

Worth a signature.

What exactly is your reason for IF? Weight loss only or are there other reasons (like inflammation reduction)?

No help here but I have a feeling that I could have written the same rant. Thinking about being in the "dating pool" or having to fish there doesn't give me good vibrations at all. How old are you, btw? Is that 86 in your name the year you've been born?

I'd say sweet potatoes are a "natural" food, not some artificial stuff. If one is not into low carb - sweet potatoes shouldn't be a problem.

If a food is considered "healthy" or not depends on the dietary religion one if following.

I personally think sweet potatoes are healthy. That's a question only you can answer.

At least it doesn't seem to be that you just go out and have a revision like you can have an appendectomy when a surgeon says it's necessary.

Why should they? They simply refuse to pay the revision. Seems like quite a few insurance companies don't pay for revisions just like that.

This might just be an impression because the number of people having/getting VSG seems to be quite high on this board compared to people getting RNY (let alone MGB). Well, a lot of patients seem to develop GERD after VSG so I'm not really surprised.

As I already said: the guidelines may vary from country to country.

Nah, it's definitely the liquid injected. I feel the same when giving myself a B12 injection. However, it's nothing to make a fuzz about at all and gone after a few seconds anyway.

It's usually the standard procedure after any major surgery, including the abdominal ones. Blood clot prevention for several days after surgery. However, the guidelines may vary from country to country. The shots are usually not a problem. Inject them into your belly. No big deal. Burns a little bit, that's it.

They're not a problem if you can stomach them. This is my opinion as well but a lot of people on WLS boards are in general very "anti-carbs". If it's not a "lean protein", it's evil.

Cut out other calories and it will most likely work like a charm, too.

This is why I don't read most of the threads. After a while it's always the same stuff and simply boring.

I think this is the problem: you won't know if it's the right procedure for you until you had it for a while. People are absolutely gung-ho about the whole WLS thing, motivated, enthusiastic, unstoppable, indestructible... until this honeymoon phase (that every diet in the past had as well) is over and the darker sides and ho-hums show their faces. The thrill is gone and there you are with maybe a lactose intolerance, pooping issues, adhesions, GERD, diarrhea, malabsorption issues even though you're taking your vitamins etc. etc. etc. Was the lap-band the right procedure for me? Well, at first it seemed like it, but after some years it became clear that it wasn't. (However, it was also the only WLS procedure that you could get covered as a young woman back then if you were lucky enough and/or persistent enough with getting on the nerves of your insurance company, that is. Nobody even talked about the DS in these days). Now I have an MGB - do I know if it's the right procedure? Or would the RNY have been better? No one can tell. I made the decision together with my surgeon. It might be that I will need a different anastomosis later (GERD, reflux, don't ask...) or it might not be.

Depends on the country. Invasiveness not only relates to the procedure - it's also the level of malabsorption. High level of malabsorption after all doesn't only mean "more weight loss because less calories" but it also means "less absorption of vitamins, minerals and gazillions of micronutrients, including some we might not even know about yet".

Or availability? Or insurance coverage? Or wanting the least invasive procedure?

Maybe there is none. When it comes to exercise and nutrition and lifestyle in general, people are all too different with different wants and needs. Not everybody wants to make "losing and maintaining weight" a full time job on top of every else going on in life. Interesting thought. I'm not sure if this is possible. I'd say the best shot is to aim early for a maintainable lifestyle but in the end that is only another opinion as well.

You can have a very intensive and/or effective preparation within a few weeks. Just because a course is stretched out over many months doesn't mean more useful information is handed out to the patient. When looking at the article the OP refers to there doesn't seem to be a correlation between success and the oh-so-holy waiting time. You can have an open line and good support despite a short waiting period and if waiting time is that effective - shouldn't there be a really strong correlation between success and waiting time? Is there any evidence that all the regainers had shorter waiting periods and less requirements to fulfill? Yeah, maybe they already burnt themselves out on strict pre-op programs. SCNR. I think there will always be patients that will "fail", some in the short run, some in the longer run. With every medical or surgical therapy there are well-responders, not-so-well-responders and non-responders. However, this seems to be something that a lot of people have a hard time wrapping their brains around. While it seems to be completely reasonable that any given pill that someone has to take for e. g. pain or high blood pressure or an antidepressant will get different results in different people (some get more symptom relief, some less) it seems to be that with WLS everyone can (dare I say must?) reach a normal BMI, otherwise he/she is a failure and to be blamed. In that sense, patients who had WLS treat the procedure like they used to treat a diet in the past: if this doesn't work out 100%, it's my fault alone! IMO this is a dangerous double edged sword. On the one hand it gives patients a feeling of power over the outcome (and after all we are not powerless), on the other hand when goal is not reached, the emotional consequences are all too often devastating. Given the fact that patients respond differently to WLS, this "patient blaming" (that seems to be the worst within the WLS community) leaves a very foul taste in my mouth.

Hopefully you won't identify deeply with it for the rest of your life. People are different and everyone's boat is rocked by something else but it always gives me the creeps when people relate to themselves as some kind of disease. "I'm an alcoholic". "I'm a diabetic". 'I'm a food addict". "I'm a WLS patient". ___ Have you ever heard someone say "I'm a lymphomic" or "I'm a myocardial infarctionist"?

People usually call a food a "slider food" if it's high calorie and can be eaten in (comparatively) large amounts. Can be different for different people.

You mean being a WLS patient wouldn't be your favorite career choice?

Why not start with adressing this problem instead of turning to IF and "portion control"?

I sometimes do when at restaurants or when invited to dinner (think alcoholic beverages). I try to not making it a habit.