Rogofulm

I'm with you, @@AlanaRN! I live in Maryland, but am married to a New Orleans girl and we love Mardi Gras too!!! And like you, I haven't had King Cake (or a beignet) in over 18 months. But I'll tell ya what I DO eat: crawfish (or shrimp) etouffee, shrimp creole, any type of gumbo, andouille sausage, and yes, even jambalaya. How? Easy – no rice. My wife thinks it's a sacrilege, but I've found that those dishes are even MORE flavorful without diluting them with rice. I've even found a few restaurants here that will serve me rice-free jambalaya! (An oxymoron, according to my wife.) Don't know how long this will last, but as long as I don't eat any starches or sweets, fat and calories don't seem to affect my weight too much. So all those amazing Cajun and Creole sauces are fine. I suspect that if I were to have them AND the rice, I'd blow up like a pufferfish so I just never make that choice. Can't swear that this will work for everyone, but so far so good.....

I'm with you, @@AlanaRN! I live in Maryland, but am married to a New Orleans girl and we love Mardi Gras too!!! And like you, I haven't had King Cake (or a beignet) in over 18 months. But I'll tell ya what I DO eat: crawfish (or shrimp) etouffee, shrimp creole, any type of gumbo, andouille sausage, and yes, even jambalaya. How? Easy – no rice. My wife thinks it's a sacrilege, but I've found that those dishes are even MORE flavorful without diluting them with rice. I've even found a few restaurants here that will serve me rice-free jambalaya! (An oxymoron, according to my wife.) Don't know how long this will last, but as long as I don't eat any starches or sweets, fat and calories don't seem to affect my weight too much. So all those amazing Cajun and Creole sauces are fine. I suspect that if I were to have them AND the rice, I'd blow up like a pufferfish so I just never make that choice. Can't swear that this will work for everyone, but so far so good.....

@@VSGAnn2014, I think you really nailed it when you wrote:

"Everyone I've read who's 3-4-5 or more years post-op (with a sleeve) agrees that being aware, consistent, disciplined and mindful is very important to their long-term success." I've often read that mindful eating is a key to long-term success. And I can vouch for the fact that when I eat more than I should, it's usually done mindlessly, like munching while watching TV or surfing the Web, which was one of @@Bufflehead's points earlier in this thread. This is must-read stuff!

@@bikrchk, I admire that you can handle small amounts of everything, but I'm still nervous. Lately I've started taking a tiny bite of special foods my wife or daughter make just so I can ooh and ahh over them. But just a taste, not enough to go, "Wow, I want more of that!" But I'm still 3 months shy of one year since making goal weight. We'll see where I am in another year or more. I've heard/read a number of times that years 2 and 3 are critical to long-term success. Which is what I wish for you and for us all.

Can vs. Should

They should pin this somewhere.

I can think of a few members of this forum who should have this pinned to their foreheads.

Done. I've added it to my signature.

So many excellent points, @@VSGAnn2014! (As always.) Just to close out my last post... I don't disagree that it's the responsibility of the one going under the knife to learn everything they can about the surgery and the long road ahead. But the "When can I have pizza?" question from those who are only a few weeks or months out indicate that the education portion of their program has not been effective. Maybe that's a better way to say it.

Now, on to your question...

nderstandably, I'm curious about why people revert to old behaviors and/or can't sustain what started them on their WLS path and, for some, got them to their goals. But I'm most curious about what distinguishes those who stay at or near their new healthy weights for the long term.

Your thoughts?

I think driving through to goal weight and having some degree of success in maintenance requires a single-minded focus on the prize. We didn't get heavy through self-discipline, but that's what it takes to get thin. Other factors:

• Not merely fear of failure, we all have that going into surgery, but some degree of terror of the "slippery slope" that certain foods might put us on.
• Accept that the 12-18 month window for optimizing our weight loss is real and must be used to its full advantage. I was told by my doc that it takes the 12-18 months to inculcate the good eating habits.
• Learn quickly from our missteps. If we eat just two bites of cake, but then eat a whole slice the next day, then we know that the two bites were a bad idea and we shouldn't do that again.
• Certain foods are never going to be a good idea for us, and the list is different for everyone. But my doc told us that ice cream and fruit juices should always be avoided as pure empty sugar calories -- the ultimate slider foods.
• Realize that alcohol is not only empty calories, but can also lead to poor eating choices. I've done an informal poll of everyone I know (including myself) who quit smoking and then started again. 95% to 100% had an alcoholic beverage in their hand when they took that first puff. I finally quit smoking permanently 20 years ago when I became terrified to have even one puff. It's the same with food!
• Stress and boredom eating are real. Stress and loss don't cause me to eat, but watching TV does. Many of my friends go for the comfort of food when stressed. We're always going to have a certain amount of stress in our lives, so finding non-food coping mechanisms is crucial to our weight loss success.
• The ability to embrace our well-deserved success, look forward to the new slimmer/healthier self, believe what we see in the mirror, and don't look over our shoulders waiting for our former selves to pull us back.

There are many more reasons, but that will suffice for now.

Wow – so many excellent posts on this topic!!! Every WLS patient should read this thread. Whenever I hear/read a "When can I go back to eating/drinking... [crap]?" type of question, I have to wonder about their doctor/nutritionist. Weren't they informed about lifestyle changes before getting cut? I almost feel like their surgical centers need to be "outed" for negligence, if not malpractice. I mean, it's one thing if we get educated on how we should eat, and then ignore the instructions. That's entirely on us. And yes, all the information you need to succeed is easily found on the internet. But it still seems that a surprisingly high number of patients are completely unaware of how this works. What's up with that?!!

As the others have said, with the sleeve we CAN eventually eat pretty much anything we want. But that doesn't mean we is not the same as SHOULD. In order to succeed, you'll need to stay away from starches and sweets. Seriously! Wrap your head around that fact and you'll do better. I told myself early on that, "Resisting certain foods isn't nearly as hard as losing the weight they would cause me to gain." (It's kind of the opposite of my tag line.) And I promise, the longer you stay away from starches and sweets, the less they pull at you. But the minute I give in, they'll have the gravitational pull of the Sun!

Great job, congratulations!!!

I don't know that particular product, but I take a probiotic from costco every day. Also supplement with a psylium capsule twice a day. And remember, you can get probiotics from Greek yogurt too. It's a great afternoon snack.< /p>

It works, yes, but just like the initial surgery, it's a tool not a magic bullet. And if it's abused with carbs, sugar, and slider foods, it won't last as long as we'd like. So if you do it, follow the plan perfectly for the 5 days, then continue eating the way your doctor/nutritionist told you to after surgery. And at the risk of sounding preachy, if you're 8 months out, please take advantage of the honeymoon period to lose as much as you can. It will never get any easier than it is during the first 12-18 months. If we ingrain the right habits and they become our new "normal", we can get to goal weight and maintain it. It will take hard work and good choices for the rest of our lives. But we knew that going in, right? Good luck!

This isn't a game! Or a contest. You're using the best tool available to save your life. If you were drowning in the ocean, would it be cheating to throw you a life preserver instead of making you swim for it? It's exactly the same thing. If they don't get that, ignore them and don't let it bother you. You're making the right choice for your health, and that's what matters. Congratulations!!!

Weight was up 3 pounds this morning. Yikes! Too much cheese and not enough Fiber and exercise. Gonna tackle those pounds with a vengeance before they can call for reinforcements!

1. Always have a plan!

Never leave the house without knowing that wherever you're going, you will be able to stick to your program.

Always have emergency food in case of the unknown. My car has beef Jerky and/or almonds in the trunk.

Drink a Protein shake on your way to a party so you don't arrive hungry.

Always bring a big jug of Crystal Light (or your sugar-free drink of choice) to a party. If you keep your sleeve/pouch full of liquid, you are less likely to go off your plan.

At restaurants, be careful with appetizers, never order the starch (ask for a second veggie instead), and skip the dessert. Spaghetti with meat sauce (but without the spaghetti) is basically chili and very filling. Seafood Pasta without the Pasta is even more delicious, and still fills you up. Ask for Water with lemon and put some sweetener in it so you can wet your whistle. (But don't drink more than a sip or two.) No point in paying for iced tea that you won't drink.

Try to get some exercise at least every other day.

You'll want to learn how to go out to any kind of restaurants and be able to enjoy a meal. My wife and daughter have finally gotten used to the fact that I tweak every meal I eat out. The wait staff are always happy to accommodate the fact that I don't eat carbs or sugar. Frequently I'll replace the starch with a second veggie. (But I get full before I can eat it anyway.) So go online and look the sushi restaurant's menu with an eye toward avoiding the "white stuff". There's pretty much always an option you can enjoy. And if it's not posted, give them a call to find out about making you a sashimi salad or something like that. You've had lots of great suggestions already. Give them a shot, and stay strong! Once you get the hang of it, eating out is easy -- and still fun!

The longer you avoid trigger foods, the less you will crave them. I'm serious! After 19 months, I'm still off carbs and sweets, and really don't miss them. Even watching others eat yummy stuff doesn't bother me, because my news size is so much better. And as @@Justin Curtis said, sugar-free pudding is a treat, as is Jello. My daily dessert is a nice cup of low-calorie hot chocolate (with a shot of Miralax). The WLS veterans in the crowd will know what I mean.....

This has been a total blast! Even now, when the compliments and new clothing sizes have pretty much dried up, the mirror still surprises me every day. And when I see old pictures, I just shake my head and say, "Never again!"

I'm only 19 months out from surgery, so I'm still having blood work done fairly frequently. I hope to settle into a routine where I alternate between my bariatric surgeon and my GP every 6 months. That would mean getting my labs drawn twice a year to try and avoid any surprises.

Hey Rayjun Cayjun -- My wife's from NOLA, so I'm a Cajun-in-law. I reached my initial goal of 154 last February (10 months after surgery), over-shot my stretch goal last April to 142, and gained back up to my new goal weight of 145 in May. In October I bumped up 3-4 pounds, but knocked it back off by Thanksgiving. Since then, I've maintained within a pound or two, either direction. It sounds like you and I on the same trajectory. I eat all the time, just not carbs or sugar. Nothing else (fat or calories) seems to matter. I still love me some Louisiana cookin', but I eat crawfish etouffee, seafood and andouille gumbo, and shrimp creole without the rice. I enjoy spaghetti meat sauce without the spaghetti, and seafood linguine without the linguine. Don't need rice with Chinese food, or potatoes with steak, and if I order a hamburger, I don't eat the bun or fries. I love guacamole on cheese or veggies instead of chips, and hummus on carrots. They all still fill me up, and actually have MORE flavor without the starch to absorb the sauces! And no bread pudding or King Cake either. But that's okay. I've gotten to the point where I don't miss the carbs and Desserts anymore. If I can keep this up forever -- I'll be thrilled!
Happy Mawdi Graw!!! Laissez les bon temps rouler!!!!!!

When you volunteer to take the seat next to a large person at the theater – because you know how uncomfortable they feel, and at your new size you can squeeze over to give them some extra space.

Update: The restriction from the 5-day pouch test appears to still be working. I can't hold as much food as I could before and I stop eating sooner. I'm not munching as much or as frequently, and I broke the habit of eating fistfuls of peanuts every 20 minutes. The hunger is starting to return, though, but it's easier to keep the beast at bay longer – at least for now. I'm not really losing weight, but I'm also not gaining. Remember on our previous diets how "the last few pounds are the hardest"? Well that's where I live now. And since my honeymoon period is apparently over, my body doesn't ignore calories like it used to. So I still need to figure out where I can cut them without being hungry all the time. Statistically, a 10% bounce is expected from our initial weight loss total. In my case that would be around 12 pounds. But I'm fighting like hell to try and keep that at 3% or less, and then eventually muscle it back down to where I want to remain.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Make good choices!!!

When you're more comfortable with your pants buckled around your waist, than you were when they were buckled under your belly.

Keep hammering at it. Good luck!

I thought my weight had stabilized at my goal when I stayed there for nearly six months. Then it started creeping up by a few pounds. I'm working on hammering it back down, but it's much harder now at 18 months after surgery than it was during the first year. So heads-up to those of you in your first year – Take full advantage of your "honeymoon period" to get down as low as you can because it does get tougher as you get further out from surgery.

In October, roughly 16 months after my surgery, I had been maintaining within 1 pound either way of my goal weight of 145 for nearly 6 months. At a kid's party, I avoided all the sweets, but ate a bunch of breaded chicken nuggets over two days - and nothing else out of the ordinary. My weight went up by 3 pounds, and I decided to get a handle on it immediately. BUT..... It wasn't so easy this time. For three weeks I tried to knock it back down, doing just what I had been doing before, but my weight wouldn't budge, except to bounce in the 148-149 range. No need to panic, right? Yeah, but 3 can lead to 5, which can lead to 10, and THEN you might have a problem because now it's not coming off as easily as before. that's when I figured out that my "honeymoon" was over, and I'd have to work harder than I did before. So I decided to give the 5-day Pouch Test a try.

I followed all the rules of the 5DPT to a tee, and at the end of 5 days my weight was only down about a pound. But I found that my sleeve was getting full sooner and I was staying satisfied longer. Which is exactly what the website promises! And it helped me break some bad habits (tons of peanuts and pistachios) that had crept in. It also reinforced the "no drinking for 30 minutes before or after meals" rule. It's been a little over a week now, and the restriction is still working. My weight is still bouncing around, but it's starting to work it's way back down. This morning I saw 145.9 for the first time in about 6 weeks. One more pound and I'll be happy! I'll keep you posted.....

By the way, "Sleeve Reset" and "Bariatric Reset" are much better names than "Pouch Test".