summerset

These surgeries are for sure altering the guts and preferences of people - sometimes more, sometimes less as it seems. However, surgery date about 3 months ago? Lets wait a little while longer before jumping to definite conclusions because a lot of people seem to have felt this way before reality hit them hard over the head. Sorry to be the party pooper, but 3 months out is just that: 3 months out.

Yep, not eating delivery service food or restaurant food (or at least eating it less frequently) saves a lot of money. Quite a few of my colleagues (the bachelors ) eat out almost every night and have breakfast and lunch at the cafeteria at work. They're not fat but they spend quite a bit of money on it.

You won't stop eating foods for comfort in the long run. This "food is just for fuel"-schlock is a completely unrealistic perspective some people seem to have when it comes to surgery. Food and eating is supposed to bring us pleasure - we are hardwired to it. Even the so-called normal eaters who're thin eat for comfort and pleasure. It's just a matter of how often and how much (and with how often and how much you can get away with this behavior without facing the consequences). As for taste preferences: they might change or they might not change. Mine didn't change. I wouldn't place a bet on it. Learn to ride that emotional eating dragon because you won't be able to kill it.

Haven't noticed any trolls. Maybe I'm reading the wrong threads.

I'm actually having a really hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that people actually suggest changing jobs because someone is eating out of ... what reason? Boredom maybe? As if running away from the problem would eliminate the problem. Ok, maybe some users have a weird sense of humor and they weren't serious.

And that goes for everyone. So if people don't like a rant and want to fight, b***h and moan about a rant - they're free to do so and that is what's happening here and what happened in hundreds of rant threads before. Because it's raves and rant. Expecting to post a rant without having someone disagreeing and challenging the OP is just unrealistic. It's also beyond me why someone posting a rant is offended because there are not only positive reactions to the rant. It's to be expected. So if you can't take the heat you want to dish out: don't start a thread in Rants & Raves.

I believe you. Why shouldn't I? Doesn't change my opinion on this kind of posts though.

The body? Nope. Never. Good Lord! Certain behaviors that led to that body? Hell, yes!

I think especially the long term users are very interesting, both when it comes to cliques and how they treat new members. Highschool school yard anyone?

Doesn't change anything in the end. You wanted to be funny (maybe) or you really wanted to rave and rant about other members and when you noticed you might have gone a bit too far you wrote that it was just a joke. That's a really useful thing when it comes to irony: you can always use "it was just a joke" as a bailout.

You could do that on almost any internet board that has long term users though.

Congratulations. You managed to possibly offend about 99% of all users on this board in one post. LOL

True. However, it breaks my heart to see that struggling people continue to listen to the "try harder" advice when obviously this didn't work for them because they're too afraid of trying a different road.

If you are well aware that you won't be 100% compliant (are there people who are?) but "only" 80% or 90% it simply will have to be enough. Yes, maybe you will end up with a higher BMI than someone with a 99.999% compliance rate. However, one has to wonder: is the additional work and hassle worth it? If you can maintain an e. g. BMI of 26 or 27 without much hassle is it really worth obsessing about food and exercise and whatsoever to get down to a BMI of 24 while being well aware that you're most likely feeling more miserable than you would need to and risking burnout on top and then maybe end up at a BMI of 50 again in the end?

Relax a little. Don't set yourself up for failure from the beginning on by trying to be 110% perfect. This need to "be perfect" can be both terrifying and paralyzing.

When I read this line I had to think about something I read in a book about normal eating some years ago. It was something like "every restricting phase has its counterbinge phase" or "every diet has its counterbinge". At least it might be something to think about when talking about the very strict diet of some WLS patients and all the struggling vets a few years down the road, too.

There is even some scientific reasons why our voices sound different to us than to anybody else - I bet it's the same with a photo vs. the mirror.

OMG, voice records are no better than photographs, LOL.

I basically know nobody that likes how he/she looks on a photograph, lol.

@FluffyChix: The weight gain is indeed because of "not following the rules". However, as with other strict diets this whole bunch of strict rules can't usually be followed forever. Willpower wears out. There might be a few exceptions who can follow the whole book of rules forever (as there is with other diets; after all there are people who maintain their weight with WW etc. as well). To not make WLS into just another diet or diet in disguise that gives you great success in the beginning and makes you miserable a few months or years down the road: implement rules that you can follow forever.

And I can completely understand how frustrating this is. Try your best to learn new skills to deal with everyday life. It's not that I'm not struggling in some way. Caffeine and sugar problems anyone? (make that a double espresso, please, ok?) I wish you all the best.

Yes, this.

Hm, I'm beginning to think I got you wrong. I thought you were talking about this 10% regain of lost weight after WLS.

Truth be told? My really honest opinion on this? The stuff so many people don't want to hear? I think there is much more luck involved than many people might want to acknowledge. In some people it seems the surgery seems to work better and they get to a normal weight without much struggle. They also maintain without much struggle. Others struggle a lot, battling a lot of hunger or head hunger etc. Some people are able to adopt new habits way easier than others. Again - some are luckier than others just like there are people who are quick learners when it comes to learning a new language etc. Some people also really like to exercise - it's not much of a chore for them, that's why they're consistent without having to use a lot of energy to kick themselves in the butt. In the WLS population I think it's like in the rest of the population when it comes to the occasional overeating - some get away with more overeating than others without gaining weight. They also don't fall back into an everlasting bingeing mode once they screw up at a birthday party. This "working on yourself" stuff is extremely important if you lack the skills (I talked about "regulation" in my other post) but let's face it: some people do way better when it comes to this just like some people do better than others learning new languages or new working skills. Travel back in time in your mind and think about school or college: I guess you will remember some people who didn't have to study that much and had good grades anyway because they simply seemed to get the hang of it somehow while others struggled a lot to get even moderately decent grades. We all have to play with a set of cards life has dealt us - make the best out them.

So you lose 200 lbs and regain 20. That's still a weight loss of 180 lbs. Still success. Nothing that throws you back into the morbidly obese range. I think there is a big difference between a rather small weight gain (compared to the weight lost) and a really big weight gain.