*Lexie*

The Beck Diet Solution book helped me with emotional eating. It doesn't have one scrap of information on dieting, which is nice because at this point, we know what to eat, we just aren't doing it. Instead it focuses on changing behaviors. I still use skills from this book and it's really helped me eliminate some bad habits. And finally, 2 1/2 years from surgery and I'm 2 pounds from goal.

That is fantastic news! Especially about the no out of pocket part.

I am sorry that you don't have any support on this journey. I was very lucky to have support and i think it really helped. I even made friends with a few people from my surgeon's office that had surgery around the same time as I did and we still get together every month. It was nice to have people that knew what I was going through to talk to. That might be an option for you. This site can also be very good. I did a lot of reading in the early days and it was motivating.

You can do this and there are plenty of people here willing to offer positive support. :-)

My pre-op diet was 2 Protein shakes and a healthy meal every day. Even with the one meal, that was a very tough 2 weeks. Good luck!

@@Nibria56 You could look back almost 2 years ago and read almost the exact same post from me a few weeks out from my surgery. I was freaked out. But I did start losing steadily and I've maintained at goal for nearly a year now. Take a deep breath and trust the process. You will do great!

Who knows, maybe it was a former patient that shared that tweet with him. I would definitely not judge him without meeting him and his staff. For me, I spent a lot more time with the support staff than I did the surgeon so liking them was very important to me.

I think there's a spectrum of compliance after surgery. From those that follow every rule to those that are determined to eat wings and drink beer at one week post op (that would have killed me for sure). I think where the person falls on the spectrum determines what results they will get. This would explain why there are a few out there that don't lose any weight or very little after surgery.

For me, changing a lifetime of bad behaviors has proven to be challenging, particularly eliminating snacking. Every time I fail, I get up, brush myself off and try again. I'll get there and coming here helps motivate me to keep trying. If coming here and reading posts encourages a new person to change a few of their behaviors, then that is a positive thing. Sadly, some people are too deep in denial to change. Those people will say the surgery didn't work for them.

I'm motivated when my exercise has purpose. I sign up for races, 5K's, half marathons, etc. I have a training plan and if I slack, I'm going to suffer on race day. Now I'm far enough in that working out is almost as automatic as brushing my teeth. On days when I don't feel like working out I remind myself that the only bad workout is no workout.

I felt the same way, it drove me crazy. Just know it's in your head and soon you'll be able to eat again. I remember the first soft food I had tasted like heaven.

At 2 years out, I am still working on creating the habit of eating only 3 meals per day. My nut also advised me to eat this way. I can say, I know for me, eating 3 meals a day is the key to maintaining my loss. When I eat many meals throughout the day, I overeat and gain weight. I can eat more than at 2 months out so those calories do add up.

Wow, congratulations! My 2 year is next month. I'd like to lose 10-15 more pounds and like you I'm not sure it's possible.

Great thread! I agree with most of these.

It is awkward when you go out to eat and the server approaches looking very concerned and asks if there is anything wrong with the food because you've not eaten much.

People can be dumb! Good for you for working out, it will greatly help your weight loss. Good luck on your surgery.

I had issues my first year and a half and a lot of foods made me throw up so I was afraid of a lot of food for a while. Luckily for me, my stomach grew out of that and I'm mostly better. I am afraid of ice cream because I've become lactose intolerant and it feels awful.

From a behavioral standpoint, I'm afraid of pancake Syrup and Peanut Butter. Sounds crazy but one of my favorite things pre-sleeve was mixing those two and eating it. Super fattening and delicious. I can have either food in the house without any temptation but never both. I haven't had syrup in the house since surgery.

Great topic, something I've figured out about myself is that if I don't permanently change my eating habits, I will gain at least some of my weight back. I have changed a lot of habits for the better but my worst habit is that I'm a habitual snacker (now known as a grazer). I am working very hard to teach myself to stick with 3 meals and 1 snack per day.

I agree to get back to the basics and start tracking everything but I also suggest you figure out what your bad habits are, those bariatric rules that you are not following and work on them. Understand that you've spent a lifetime with these bad habits and it will likely take several tries to change. I've been working on this snacking thing for several months. I'll have a few good days and then fall off the wagon. I just keep getting up, brushing myself off and trying again.

Don't give up!

@@Bufflehead Thank you for this explanation. I have heard that your nose may run when you get full and that happens to me but I never knew why.

Such an exciting time! I remember the day before my surgery, I was so excited and nervous. Yesterday I drove by the hospital on my way to the mall and thought, 'that place changed my life'.

Best of luck!!

Great topic, I enjoyed reading through it. I'm one of those that has gone away because I really stopped getting a benefit from the forum. I look forward to the new veteran's forum. I'm finding all sorts of new challenges as I finish my 2nd year and would certainly benefit from the expertise of those that have gone before me. Like most everyone here, I want sustained success after my surgery. And of course, it's great to read posts from those of you that have been helping me from the beginning.

Definitely reading this late but I found it to be very helpful. I am 1 1/2 years out and feel like I eat a lot compared to some of the posts I read. Admittedly I'm a bad girl and don't track my food very well anymore. If I were to guess, I would say I eat around 2000 calories per day, primarily high Protein and fat and low carb. I do exercise a lot, I ran a full marathon in December and I'm running my second half marathon of this year this Sunday with another one scheduled in September. I guess the exercise allows me to eat more without gaining. I guess I better keep running so I can keep eating!

I feel like I am constantly working to maintain my weight loss. I am an avid runner but even that doesn't prevent me from gaining if I get off track. I stick to a Keto diet most of the time as that seems to be the most effective way at maintaining.

To the original poster - A few years pre-op, I went through this weird stage where I could not lose weight no matter what I did. I tracked every bite and I exercised but my weight loss was very slow to non-existent. I went to the doctor and had tests ran, I could just feel that something wasn't right. Things that worked previously just didn't work for me. All the tests came back fine and though I didn't want anything to be wrong with me, I was so disappointed that I couldn't figure out what was wrong. Needless to say, I got frustrated and gave up and gained quite a bit of weight. Probably a year later, I could tell that things were back to normal and I was able to lose weight again. I never did figure out what was wrong but I can say that I worked harder those 6 months to lose 5 pounds than I did to lose 100+ pounds after surgery. You may not figure out what's wrong but I hope like in my case, your body gets back to normal.

I am definitely number 3 and have even read a few books on the topic and gone to classes at my doctor's office. Even with all that, I feel like a baby learning to walk. I fall down a lot. But it's a process and I'm trying to undo years of bad thinking and habits. I definitely feel that number 3 is the hardest path to follow but will lead to permanent change.

I really like this thread, thank you for starting it.

I have to hit this from a few angles. I definitely have figured out what my trigger foods are and I try not to keep them in the house. I do not have the willpower to stay away from them if they are around. Also, if I start eating sugar, it just starts a vicious cycle so I try to stay away from it as much as I can and the cravings go away.

The other thing I have been doing is trying to figure out what triggers me to want to eat when I'm not hungry. The whole emotional eating thing. For example, I developed quite an addiction to Reece's Christmas Trees over the holidays which was just a gateway drug into eating all sort of other carbs. So I started thinking about what I was feeling (which is hard because I was eating those feelings). Well, I was a little anxious and then tried to figure out why I was anxious. I was happy that I hit my weight goal which means maintenance should start soon and I have never been able to maintain my weight loss. Also, I ran a marathon in early December and that training afforded a lot of forgiveness in what I was eating so I was worried that now that I am not as active as I was, that would gain weight. So, because I was anxious about gaining, I did the logical thing and ate more (that's some sarcasm!). Once I figured this out, it was easier to break the cycle. Now when I want to eat when I'm not hungry, I remind myself that it's ludicrous to overeat because I'm afraid of gaining weight. It has helped.

I am always looking for more tools to help permanently change my eating so I'm looking forward to reading more responses.

I usually pack beef Jerky and Protein shakes when I travel for work. I don't drink Protein Shakes regularly anymore but they make a convenient Breakfast so I don't have to eat every meal at a restaurant.

90% of the time, I can find something healthy on the menu or order something the way I want it.

Have fun at the party!

@@Queen of Crop My recovery was rough but I have issues with pain medication so most of my problems were due to that. I get really sick on pain meds, like I have the flu and throwing up frequently after having abdominal surgery is not good. So keep that in mind when I say my recovery was rough. I have friends who said recovery was really easy. I was down for a good 3 weeks. I went back to work after a week but I was moving slow.

They didn't tell me how long to wear the compression garment. I wore it for at least a month. It made me feel better. Those muscles have all been cut and it felt uncomfortable to not have the support of the compression garment. Eventually I started sleeping without it and then got rid of it altogether.

I used Madera scar cream. My scar is very thin and pretty light. Unfortunately I did not lose weight after surgery. I think all the sitting around during recovery worked against me. I couldn't eat for at least 2 weeks and I still didn't lose weight. But there's a lot of swelling for the first few months so that impacts your weight temporarily.

Best of luck, once you heal you will be very pleased with your results. My stomach looks better than it did in high school.

@@Elode Victoria's Secret is that it really only has to cost $50 for the girls to look good. LOL I wish I would have gotten the implants at the same time but I had enough money saved for just the Tummy Tuck and didn't want to go into debt for plastic surgery. If your stomach doesn't bother you that much, then you may want to skip that surgery. You'll have a scar from hip to hip. It's really low and fades quite a bit but it's still there for the rest of your life.

I'd really like a thigh lift now but that surgery is really scary to me. The recovery seems like it could be rough and I don't want to risk being inactive for that long. I think being active really helps me prevent regaining weight. So I just wear skinny jeans and my legs look great in those.