VSGAnn2014

For decades pre-op, I took 2 Aleve or ibuprofen daily. I stopped taking Aleve about 4 months pre-op. I've taken a single Aleve only 3 times post-op (7 months and 1 week ago). I'm not dead yet. Nor do I have an ulcer. And thanks to VSG surgery my horribly arthritic knees no longer hurt. That's been one of the GREATEST benefits of WLS. I'd never have imagined I'd be completely pain free.

You can create a private email thread with anyone here and chat back and forth that way. You don't have to use the chat function.

Hi, @@Elode ... I dunno if eating 6-8 times a day is grazing or not. Seems to me that grazing would be nibbling throughout the day. FYI, I'm 7 months and one week post-op and am now eating 1,200 calories/day (and hitting 90-100 grams of Protein most days). I ate about 500 calories Month 1 and about 800 calories Months 2-4. At the beginning of Month 5 (at my bariatric team's suggestion), I started eating 1,000 calories and at Month 7 I went up to 1,200 calories. Every time I've increased calories, my protein levels naturally go up. And many days now, I'm getting in 5 healthy veggies and fruits. This is working for me. I'm 80 pounds down with 5 pounds to go 'til goal. Like bikerchk, I didn't want to wind up with a low metabolic rate to manage during maintenance. I'm hoping to maintain (eventually) on 1,600 calories. We shall see. BTW, I was also sleeved in Springfield, but not by your doc. And yes, I'm thinking we should meet.

Oh, and another thing ... It is intellectually dishonest to label someone who disagrees with you online as a troll or a bully. Yeah ... no.

Yeah, I also wonder what spawned this thread. EDIT: Found it ... http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/335569-jumping-to-conclusions/?hl=+red%20+robin I can imagine things that would be unacceptable to say in a forum like this, e.g., ad hominem, insults, and true meanness. But I've rarely seen anything like that here. I do see posters making suggestions and expressing strong opinions about post-WLS behaviors. Those kinds of comments seem appropriate to me on an online WLS forum. I agree that it's important that we all keep in mind that online communication is nothing like what we're used to in real life. What we read here are merely words and emoticons on a screen. We truly don't know our correspondents. We don't have their back stories. It's rare (on this forum) that people even post their weight tickers, which I've always thought was, well, weird, but that's another topic. We don't know what our correspondents look like or their emotional states and vulnerabilities or resources. And none of you know me or my journey or my condition either. None of us can fix each other online. My sincere, heartfelt advice might be just what you want / need to hear. Or it could really piss you off. Or it could wound you terribly. I have literally NO idea how you're going to react. So if you're seriously offended or injured by online communication, you should spend less time online. Or, once offended by my commentary, you are always able to put me on IGNORE. (Go to your "My Settings" to do that.)

What do you want us to say?

I am awesome and always have been. However, the thing that makes me special is that due to some amazing good luck I met and had the good sense to actually marry a man who is perfect for me and adores me. How cool is that!

This ^^^ is one of the stupidest things I have ever read on this board. Good grief.

To reprise: * I'm 2-3 years post-op. * I'm gaining weight. * I snack and graze, especially at night. * I'm eating a lot more sweets and other slider foods. * I don't exercise. * I don't attend support meetings. What should I do? Well ... If it were me I'd track everything that went into my mouth. I'd track my exercise / steps / whatever. I'd find a serious support network (in-person groups, online groups, bariatric counselor, doctor, etc.). I'd identify ways to become more accountable for my eating / exercising behavior. I'd look at my life carefully and see what factors were hindering or stopping my doing what I needed to do to lose and maintain the weight -- and try to change those things. I'd stop agonizing about having gained some weight and just start anew. You can't change the past. You can only change the future.

I didn't have any problems like this at all. I'm sorry you guys are so uncomfortable. Are you getting any exercise at all? Were you depressed, anxious before surgery?

To those lurking this thread, bariatric surgeons regularly and strongly advise WLS women patients and their partners to use not just one, but two forms of birth control for 12-18 months post-op. Apparently, the rapid weight loss makes women who are still menstruating more fertile. I don't know why. But it does.

Sorry, I haven't smoked weed since WLS. Marijuana makes me ravenously hungry. I don't think I'll be doing that any time soon. (I'm 7 months post-op.) However, I do drink wine now. Happily, it doesn't give me the munchies. Best to you. Hope you do get some responses from folks who have tried it post-op and learn how it affected them.

Boring, but true ... I just did the two-week pre-op diet as instructed. Week One - two shakes a day and one Lean Cuisine Week Two - three shakes a day, period. Oh, and 64 ounces of Water. Lipstick and others are right: After Day Three it gets a lot easier.

@@Babbs and @@JamieLogical , MFP has so many restaurant foods loaded into the MFP database that I don't have any trouble finding everything I have eaten (while traveling on business or eating out or doing takeout). The only time I struggled was when I went to NOLA in January and ate at some amazing places where I'm pretty sure that restaurant is the only place in the world where some of its menu offerings are served. Therefore, I just wound up logging "bearnaise sauce" and stuff like that for some amazing (and completely unknown) sauces and other things that the chefs served. After all, you can't put more butter in two tablespoons of sauce than in bearnaise! But fortunately (or unfortunately) I don't eat like that very often.

Not bitch-slapping idiots requires discipline. It did pre-op. And it will post-op.

Don't worry. After your last post, they'll be in touch.

Good for you, vonjuke! Good for you!

I have used www.myfitnesspal.com since 2-1/2 months before surgery to plan my meals and track my food. It's a very easy tool to use. Doesn't take much time or effort on my part at all. And here's how I feel about "normal." F**k normal. Eating "normally" led me to obesity, back pain, near immobility, agoraphobia, and misery. If I were normal I could eat normally. But a lifetime of yo-yo dieting and being overweight and obese was sufficient proof that I'm not one of the lucky normal ones. I will have to continue to focus on what I eat, how much I eat, when I eat, etc. if I have a hope in hell of maintaining my weight loss. Others' mileage may vary.

As with everything else that happens early on post-op, this too shall pass.

During one of my consults with my surgeon (not sure if it was pre- or post-op) I asked him: "Why did you choose to do bariatric surgery?" FYI, this guy is a general surgeon in his 40s who also started doing bariatric surgery, I'm guessing, about 10 years ago. He does other kinds of surgeries too (he operated on my husband for something else), but has done literally thousands of WLSs and is the surgeon who's rated the #1 WLS surgeon in our city. He answered: "I really wanted to do bariatric surgery because I figured out early on that it's the work I can do that really changes people's lives more than any other kind of surgery I could possibly do for them. This surgery literally changes their lives. Even if I operate on them for cancer and have a great result, they just go back to the life they had before my surgery. But with WLS they come in here for the first consult, sometimes barely unable to walk from the waiting room to the examination room. And a year later they're out there running for exercise, looking great, feeling great, able to work again, getting married, playing with their children, and in the full swing of everything life has to offer." (Sniff. Seriously!)

Some great comments in this thread. Thank you all. I was lucky -- had a good surgeon who has a good team. And several months before surgery I chose to go into therapy with an excellent psychologist who knows the bariatric scene inside and out. I've said this many times, but will say it again: I will be in therapy for three years: (1) the year of losing weight, (2) the year of maintaining weight and (3) the year of boring real life. First time I've ever been in therapy. But this is the battle of my life. I won't fail this time.

Everyone should do what they think will work for them. If it works, wonderful! If it doesn't work, you can always try it again. Or try something different. Or quit trying. Every WLS patient has their reasons for doing WLS. In my case, a 30th diet / exercise program (I'm guess-timating which number it would have been) wasn't gonna cut it. I'm old (69 years old). I tried that approach all my life. I always lost weight. I always gained it back. Funny how that happened. [insert treatise on complex interaction of factors leading to lifelong obesity, metabolic effects of yo-yo dieting, difficulty of losing weight in your late 60s, etc.] The reason I was finally ready for WLS was, after trying pretty much everything, nothing had solved my weight problem. It was pretty much the only thing left if I wanted to enjoy life. And I REALLY wanted to enjoy life again. I've had ZERO problems / complications / difficulties losing weight. I've lost 78 pounds and am 7 pounds from goal. I've had no psychological challenges. I feel great. I look great. I am great. However, that said, no way is WLS for everyone. Have WLS or don't. It's a free country.

One of the biggest benefits of not telling people I've had WLS is that I have not had to spend hours / days / weeks of my life trying to educate people who are uneducable about WLS. Whew!

Go, be free! Bye.

Great post, CGJ. So true!