The Greater Fool

I was very involved in a couple WLS communities back before and after I had surgery in 2003. Here is what I remember: There are as many eating plans as there are surgeons. Eat 3 meals a day. 6 meals a day, Drink protein. Don't drink protein. Eat this. Don't eat this. Don't drink with meals. It's OK to drink with meals. And on and on. What the successful people did is follow their plan, whatever it was. Most of us were horrible at following plans pre-op, it's how we got where we were. So it's a big ask for us to do it post-op. The plan seems less important than the mental commitment to follow a plan, period. My 'adjustments' to plan: 1. Make sure to follow my plan. Meaning, meals of appropriate size, content, and frequency. Too little and I would get hungry between meals. I made them as appetizing and flavorful as possible. I discovered that trying to 'kick-start' anything resulted in failure. I discovered trying to eat less to increase weight loss resulted in (you guessed it) failure. 2. Distraction: Do something to occupy my mind completely. 3. Move. I didn't 'exercise' at all. Exercise for it's own sake was boring and painful. So, I just worked at doing stuff I liked: shopping, people-watching, museums, conventions. Anything that was out of the house, interesting, and time consuming. 4. Sugar Free Popsicles. Between meals they take several minutes to eat, my urge was satisfied, no damage to plan, and it was effectively drinking. 5. Drink. Water is good. So is SF Koolaid. Ice Tea. Variety helped me drink more, and flavors again helped satisfy urges to eat. Even now, while I can drink anything, I still go for non-sugar options. 6. [ETA] I was so big I could not fit on any scale but the one at the Docs office. This was a blessing because I couldn't see progress or lack of progress. After I could weigh at home, I still didn't because I didn't care by that point. The scale doesn't tell me what I need to know: Am I eating and feeling well? Are my clothes fitting? Why not? Adjust. I still only weigh when asked to at medical appointments. The first 12 months are when lifetime habits were built. Now, it's ingrained.

Hello. I am new here. 17 years post-op RNY. I dump. There are two types of dumping, 'early stage' and 'late stage': Early Stage I don't remember the effects because I don't do this much. For me, it only involves brow sweating, usually soon enough to cue me to stop eating. For me, not a big deal. Sorry, my memory isn't what it used to be. Late Stage (for me) takes about an hour to start. I get lethargic, light headed, sleepy, and whole body flop sweaty. Then intestinal distress, then diarrhea. Recently, one of my meds also caused me to pass out and made every effect worse. All in all an exciting time I could and strive to live without. After all this time I generally know my body's limits and go months and years between episodes. When it get's me is when I feel under the weather or haven't eaten well for days and I don't notice and adjust. Hope this helps, Tek

Hello, I'm rather new here. I am generally able to generally eat what I desire, including breads and starches. I don't eat much bread alone, or much at all really. But when I do, it's about mechanics. If I don't chew it extra, extra well, it forms a ball and becomes uncomfortable for a while. I have to take small bites and chew it beyond reason, if it's not a slurry I add a sip of something. Writing this, I now wonder if I don't eat much bread because it's a bother. I'll have to ponder this. Hope this helps, Tek

Thank you. Congratulations on your success.