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I feel a little sheepish about the response this has gotten. Didn't mean to be an attention wh*re, and I'm afraid that's how it reads. I just wanted to blow steam. I think this board does a better job than most...of extending value and tolerance for each other's perspectives. One bad experience doesn't ruin the whole batch, and I'm sorry if I gave the impression that it's a big problem here.....it's not. You all are terrific. I think most of my post was based on history and a composite of experiences at many bariatric boards.....and one recent trigger here... that, in retrospect, I might have been smarter to let go than talk about....but it irked me and I started typing...and...now I feel sheepish. I think we've all got great stuff to add. I think this is a great group. The folks whose goal is just to achieve better health. The folks who just want to be under 200 pounds. The folks who just want to improve. The folks who are satisfied with an average weight (like me). And the folks who lose like crazy and get super fit and work hard for that low BMI. Everyone has good stuff to offer and I sure didn't mean to imply there are any villians. All perspectives are valuable. One perspective that doesn't fit for one person...might be a perfect fit for another. At the end of the day, we're all figuring this thing out. We're all working hard to understand how to beat an unhealthy relationship with food. Every one of us. I sound fatalistic sometimes and I apologize. You guys really are lovely. And the rare exception....I think i'd be ahead to just ignore.

I had my surgery yesterday, 3/22 and I’m feeling great right now, the morning afterward. I am enjoying “taking it easy”. I arrived at hospital at 5:30 am, surgery was at 8:00 am. I was in the car heading home at 12:30. Such a smooth seamless event. I walked around the hospital floor, sipped 4 oz. of water, and breathed good enough into the breath blower thing, that I was allowed to come home. Pain has been minimal. The worst was the CO2 pumped into abdomen—it moved to my chest, but walking around the house yesterday, once an hour for 15 minutes helped. Today, I feel tenderness in my abdomen area and some slight discomfort around the punctures. There is a lot to coordinate here from home, so it was nice to have my daughter as a helper yesterday afternoon and evening: ice packs on the puncture sights (very small), sipping water from shot glasses to try to get at least 40 oz in the first day. Also, you need to take medications at intervals. I am NOT on opioids or narcotics. The pain protocol used is called ERAS: Enhanced Recovery After Surgery. I was skeptical but I highly recommend it. I found it helpful to suck on popsicles as part of my water requirement yesterday, and bone broth. Aiming to avoid the complication of dehydration. This morning I am trying a small glass of my usual a morning cold brew (without the almond milk) and it seems like life’s biggest treat. There is conflicting information about whether or not you can have caffeinated drinks, but I’m giving it a try. I will try a smoothie tomorrow or the next day. .l/;’ I hope all the other newbies are doing OK. Let me know how you are.

Man, if I had a dollar for every critic who said this to me on these boards. It's a past time of a certain type of dieter....to send me hate mail and try to shame me for being outspoken. "You're still overweight! You shouldn't be telling people what to do! How dare you not feel ashamed at that weight!" Shakin my head over here. If I wanted to be 140, I could be. Have been. Looked god-awful and felt like I was starving all the time. If I wanted to be 160, I could be. Have been. I wasn't particularly hungry, got a reasonable number of calories, but thought I looked older. I like a little more round to my angles. I like less sag, fewer wrinkles. Not real interested in cosmetic surgery. Picked the best option for me. I like eating 1600 calories a day. I like having space in my diet for a couple pieces of fruit because I think phytonutrients are beneficial and important. I like how i feel eating a high fiber diet. I like room to be a vegetarian some days. I like flexability. It's how I can face this as a lifelong change. It's how I can make peace with food forever....cause I know this plan is WORKABLE in pretty much all situations. I can eat on my plan during a holiday, a funeral, a birthday party....during a power outage, while recovering from an injury, during extreme emotional stress, on the road, and while dealing with my inlaws. LOL. I typically weigh 165-170 pounds. I LOVE this weight. It is NOT "the best I could do because I couldn't get to a "healthy weight" ", it is an intentionally chosen set point. It's a choice. This is, I am 100% certain...the MOST healthy weight I can choose for myself. That whole...Arnold Schwarzenegger's BMI was technically Obese when he won Mr. Universe figures in. BMI is flawed. It doesn't differentiate between light muscle frames and heavy muscle frames, bigger bones, smaller bones. Different ethnicities. Different body styles. My feet, depending on the manufacturer are size 10 or 11. My shoulders are more broad than most men's my height. My butt, thighs and calves are overdeveloped because I rode huntseat and jumped horses for decades, even when I was quite heavy. My husband says they have a kinda superhero quality now. LOLOLOLOL So here's the thing....If you feel inclined to send me a snarky note about how I shouldn't say anything....because I'm not American Media model skinny, you might have a problem. As it happens, I have a good friend who models. He's 5' 10", weighs 157 pounds soaking wet, and they STILL wanted him to use coke for a week and fast...to look more sickly skinny for his last national ad campaign. Our impression of body image in the media is grossly distorted and unhealthy. And a lot of folks here....get a grossly distorted and unhealthy obsession with their eating habits, their BMI, the number on the scale, and how it defines them. Please, please, please remember....health. Physical health, strength, endurance, good labs, fewer medications. Emotional health...loving yourself, enjoying your life, feeling challenged and happy. Mental health...finding balance you can live with for a lifetime. Love your strong healthy body. Love your good food choices that provide good nutrition to nurture that body. Love the flexability to make it work though the tough spots. Avoid the fixations, the extremes, the inflexable rules, the disordered eating (and disordered not-eating) You can trust yourself to get to where you need to be....without punishment. Love yourself. Love yourself. Love yourself.

I was also! Two weeks - BAM! I don’t know how or why, but EVERY SINGLE THING fell right into place. All of the tests, appointments, even the upper GI and barium swallow I had to get for my hernia...I am so grateful because I am now one week out of surgery! Woohoo! GL to you, hope insurance approves quickly!

Trust me when I say, you'll all get through this time. I have found adding apple juice to water and not drink it icy cold was helpful in the first weeks. Consider looking at recipes like wonton soup, and just have the broth of that. It's got more flavour than normal broth, and you can add tasteless protein as well. Within a couple of weeks you'll be having puree or mash, and you'll find things far more palatable. Mashed pumpkin with butter and cracked pepper, leek and potato soup etc. Remember you've had major surgery, your body will tell you when it wants more or less. Keep smiling and know that in a short period of time you're going to start feeling so much better, not just physically by mentally too. 🙂

Well... can't help with being a January surgery buddy... but just know there are lots of us here who are willing to help with what we can! Hang in there! And if things don't improve, please consider perhaps talking with a bariatric mental health professional...

those last 20 lbs or so are a BEAR to lose! The last few months I was only losing about 2 lb a month, so it took FOREVER to get them off. But even for people who've never had weight loss surgery, losing 10 or 20 or even 30 lbs when you're close to a normal BMI is SUPER hard. Before I had surgery, I used to listen to women at Weight Watchers who were like 10 or 20 lbs overweight b***ch and scream and complain about how hard it was to lose 10 or 20 lbs. I used to roll my eyes whenever I heard them. Yea...right...try losing 100+ lbs. But now I totally get it... It can be done, but it's tough. Just keep working at it (that is, if you want to - like Creekimp said, if you're happy where you're at and it's comfortable maintaining your weight at that level (because the lower you go, the harder it is to maintain it), then there's nothing wrong with staying where you're at, either...)

I took some pics just before my surgery. Yes I think I am going to do this monthly. Hopefully I can get some new pics lter this week on my 1 month sugiversary

OH WOW! No way I am getting in that amount of calories for a while unless I have some bourbon!

OMG! I can't believe I found another "me"! I had first RNY in 04/2003, highest weight EVER was at least 275. Surgery weight was 255, maintained at 145ish, after plastics, UNTIL, I developed an ulcer at the anastomosis of stoma site. Long story short- couldn't eat/drink, ended up in hospital for almost 4 months, on IV Nutrition, lost down to 98 lbs. Had to have ulcer removed, bypass site was "altered"- 1/2005. Sooo many gastric issues developed over the next few years- histamine hernia, gastroparesis, severe GERD, adhesions, scar tissue, gained about 100 lbs- up and down, extreme PAIN. FINALLY, after 17 years, found a doctor that said he thought he could help. 8/2020 I had my bypass BYPASSED. Surgeon said that he'd never done a procedure exactly like mine, but, he felt like the bypass would give me the best chance at real relief. He was right. Im now down to 157 lbs, and feel great!! It CAN be done. Hasn't been easy. Definitely worth it!