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Can't wait for your day to come, @Mikeyy!! Thanks for your responses. Sounds like you have a lot of things in place. You may already be following this other thread/topic, but for anyone who is not whether they are pre-op, post-op, etc. I highly recommend FluffyChix's "Doing the Headwork" topic. I've joined a few FB groups and learned a lot more. Am searching for a new therapist that has experience with clients who have had WLS. I had one who was wonderful but he is ill & no longer practicing), but I know I need someone to still work with as I have decades of learned behavior, habits, and bad coping skills that food was centered around or it came into play at some point. I'd like to find someone who specializes not only in WLS clients but also in grief support.

Exactly there are so many reasons to get surgery that far outweigh any negative

I have noticed that as I get further out from the surgery (10 months out this weekend) I am more susceptible to those less-than-satisfying foods, so I try to be cognizant of that. I love my Premier shakes to get my protein in on a rough day, but those do almost nothing to satisfy me now, where a few months ago they would have kept me full for a few hours. Unfortunately, my current issue seems to be more about compulsion and head hunger than any real satiety issues.

Mikeyy, it's definitely going on my list of questions for my Dr. I'd like to think that all of us have chosen wisely and our surgeons do..as you said, the best procedure possible...but now I am SO CURIOUS. That is great that your BMI is lower! Since the definition I pasted was one of several...hundreds in my google search..I skimmed just a few but they all seemed to talk bout ppl with higher BMI's. My doctor likes to educate so I gonna run it by him just for grins

That's news to me also I thought there would be a standard procedure for this bypass? Or do surgeons alter things if need be? I hope my surgeon does the best procedure possible. My BMI is only 43 not 50 though

I don't know where you live, but where I am, CBD is a big thing. It's supposed to be wonderful for anxiety and more natural than xanax, etc. (though I take the xanax myself). I'm considering looking into CBD for my anxiety. I'm awaiting my surgery (I don't even have a date yet), so I can't relate to the head hunger just yet. I have been going to bariatric support groups, and they suggest keeping your hands busy, walking and all of that. Or a rewards system that doesn't include food (i.e., you didn't snack, give your self a marble and once the jar is full, you can buy the shoes you've been eyeing).

Here in the States, the proximal is the default, and there are specific standards of care that are defined within the insurance billing codes; the distal is outside of that standard and is not usually approved as an initial surgery, but can be justified as a revision if deemed appropriate. Here, for the higher BMI cases that need something stronger than a VSG or proximal RNY, the duodenal switch is the normally approved procedure. My wife's surgeon noted at one time that on the occasions that he still did a bypass (their preferred is the duodenal switch) that he liked to make them as malabsorptive as the codes permitted, which is still far short of what a distal would provide.

Try the nutritional yeast. It's sooooo good and really adds a little cheese-ish flavor and great B-vitamins!

Time for a status update: Yesterday marked my one year anniversary on Bariatricpal.com. What a year it has been and I am so grateful for all the people here that have helped me along the way. I'm also so grateful for @Alex Brecher for creating and maintaining this site for all of us. I hope that my ongoing purchases of calcium and multivitamin supplements are enough to express my gratitude. I'm a huge fan of the BariatricPal Multivitamin One 45. I kept a journal starting in July of last year starting the 2nd day after I was serious about considering bariatric surgery. Reading all the entries is very therapeutic to me. Looking back, I probably wouldn't have changed a thing about how I started and went through this process. Almost everything has gone well in this journey for me. Sure I've had my low points, but I seemed to have come out the other side very much in-tact. There's still a long road ahead once my real hunger returns, but I'm going to keep on the straight and narrow path of eating well and exercising every day until that happens and then some. In celebration of my 1 year on this site, I thought I'd share one of my early personal journal entries:

There are 2 big myths of WLS: 1. Dumping--people have these surgeries hoping for that negative feedback for their addictions. But if you don't change your head, nothing will change. You will still cheat with sugar. Whether or not your get sick. You will find a way to have your addiction. You can NOT depend on a TOOL to do the work if you use it the wrong way. And the real truth is that only 30% of RNY patients experiencing dumping and substantially fewer VSG peeps (maybe 3-5%?). And that dumping goes away sometimes the longer you are post surgery. 2. Restriction & Malabsorption--people believe their restriction and/or malabsorption will last for life and that they can eat anything they want cuz their "tool" will protect them and magically make them observe a moderate behavior. But moderate behavior begins with a choice in the brain and if you don't change your head, nothing in your behavior will change. People eat around their tool every day. I could eat an entire huge order of etouffee from Pappadeaux's if I ate a few bites every 10-15 minutes. I'd probably finish it within an hour! And I would have had 2 -3 days of calories in one meal. I could have a bite of Crispy Creme donut every 15-30 minutes and at the end of the day have eating 4-5 of them. I would not have dumped and I'd be craptastically full of sugar, carbs, and fat. I would have absorbed a ton of the cals. See where I'm going? In addition, both your restriction and malabsorption lessens the further out you are from the surgery. WLS only ever was intended to give people a brief honeymoon period where they could lose substantial amounts of weight and potentially reset their metabolic health so that they could then go on to learn new healthy habits for living and behaving with food/learn proper nutrition practices and live a healthy thin life the rest of their lives. Do your head work and let your tool do the job it's supposed to do. You are responsible for using your tool correctly. Don't bring a hammer to a screwdriver fight. Use your tool the way it's intended and it will serve you well--for life.