Elizabeth21

@@AussieSam -- It sounds like you need a break and that your two week plan is a sort of vacation idea. You've been at this a long while. Perhaps you should consider adding more FUN to your day to day life. I find having something to look forward to makes the "grind" of everything else whether it is the food plan, work or whatever in life easier to deal with.
You deserve more than just a vacation. To sustain your success I recommend that you find more FUN!
Good luck!

AussieSam,
It sounds like you have a realistic expectation of what this “break” can do – get you back on track mentally but not be good (short term) for your weight loss. It’s not ideal, but if it’s what you have to do to keep yourself sane and avoid something worse (giving up entirely), it’s probably a good idea.
One thing you might consider during these two weeks is trying to see how intuitive you can be. If you’re not going to track, and look at the numbers, you might try to pay more attention to how you feel. Is your body hungry? Are you craving Protein? Are you able to detect thirst? In other words, try to use this as a positive period even if it’s not Plan A (counting Protein grams and logging food and your weight, for example).
Also, if you’re exercising 2 hours a day, that could be contributing to your mental burnout. Think carefully about whether that’s sustainable long-term, or whether you’d be able to save time, exercise more intensely, and/or focus more on your diet if you cut back on the exercise.
Good luck!

Getting back to the title of this thread, if your weight loss plan is mentally draining, maybe you should be seeing a therapist as well as a NUT. Your food plan may or may not need a change, but if it stressing you out, maybe you need to work on the emotional aspect & stress management.

I think it’s really hard to assign exact percentages to the significance of diet and exercise for a lot of reasons.
One is that you absolutely need to restrict your food intake to lose weight, but you can lose weight without exercising at all (even though that’s not the healthiest approach). So, you could argue that exercise is 0% and diet is 100%.
But that’s not true…exercise must have some effect, right? It burns calories, and builds muscle so you burn more calories at rest.
Another consideration is that exercise plays different roles for different people. For some, it is a way of being disciplined. Even if these people don’t burn that many calories each day from exercise, sticking to their exercise routines helps them stay on track with their diets. And, for some, exercise time is time spent not eating!
For others, exercise really does burn a ton of calories. They are the gym rats or runners or others who have found they love exercise, and the calories they burn are enough to be a significant factor in weight loss.
And yes, it’s true that studies have found that exercise can increase appetite!
Another consideration or question is whether diet plus exercise must equal 100%. Aren’t there other factors, like sleep? Getting enough sleep can make you more focused and better able to eat right, while being sleep deprived increases hunger and can increase cravings and bad diet decisions, while making you less likely to want to exercise. You could even argue that you’re more efficient when you get enough sleep, so you have more time to plan meals and exercise.
Bottom line? Back to the basics…eat right and exercise…regardless of their relative contributions to your weight loss.

Nah, I truly believe diet is 80-90%. I've always worked out a lot.. I only have lost when I ate what I was supposed to do.

If you want to be thin, you eat less. If you want to be healthy, you exercise. If you want to be thin and healthy, you eat less and exercise.

As Julian Michael says "you can eat your way through ANY exercise program"
Exercise is very important but as for weight loss...it's all about the food.

I think lots of times we use alcohol as a way to escape, and relax when we are uptight about things etc....
You just might find that you don't need it as much when you feel confident and sexy! Good luck! ????

This is going to sound harsh...do you want to be fat or do you want to party? You said that much as you have a great life, it is limited because of your weight. You avoid doing things because of your self-esteem and you feel like you are surrounded by all your beautiful friends and guys never look at you. You're going to need to give up booze for a few months after surgery, but after that if you want to you can still go out and drink. If anything you will be a way cheaper drinker because less alcohol gets you buzzed faster.
I can appreciate in a sense how you feel because when I was 21 (and under 21) I had a great time partying, however back then I was normal sized. When I did finally decide to get the sleeve (when I was 29) I hadn't gone out in several years because I was so ashamed of what I looked like. Guys wouldn't give me the time of day, so no matter how much fun I had with my great girl friends, I felt like not only was I bringing them down because guys had to send in the Grenade jumper (the dude that jumps on the ugly fat girl so his friends can hit on the hot girls) before they could come hit on my friends but I was embarrassing myself in the process. As a result, I just decided staying in and being alone was the better option.
I am now slightly under goal and for the first time in a very long time dating someone. We go out places and instead of people looking at me like I should be at home on a treadmill, men hit on me all the time. People are nice to me. Women and men make comments about how tiny I am. I'm not a big drinker anymore, but when I do drink I really don't notice a huge difference between before sleeve and after sleeve now that I'm almost 2 years out. I can still go out, have a good time, and drink...I just don't eat a lot of the foods anymore and I don't spend the entire time wondering if people are laughing at me. Really though, I would give up booze and partying forever if it meant that I got to be the size I am now for the rest of my life. Being thin, healthy, and attractive is worth way more to me than being able to drink and eat my face off whenever I want to.
So...getting the surgery will not kill your social life for more than a few months, but if your priority is not with being healthy and is instead with going out, partying, and keeping the bad habits that contributed to your weight problem in the first place, the sleeve isn't going to help you much past the first few months. I can easily eat and drink my way to WAY too many calories, but I'm more focused on being thin and healthy than I am in enjoying food and booze. It sounds like you, like me, want to be thin because you want to be hot. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, however in the long term the motivation to be thin has to be more than the motivation to go out and have fun every night. Being hot comes with sacrifice and if you don't think you're willing to make that sacrifice, wait until you're a bit older, a bit less interested in partying everynight, and a bit more oriented toward making the healthy choices you will need to make if you have a sleeve.
I'd say I'd do a shot for you tonight and wish you luck on your decision....but I'll drink some carrot juice for you instead.

Guys and gals. It totally gets better. I'm three months post op and eat pretty much anything I want. I will tell you that occasionally I get aggravated because I can't eat as much as I want. But right now most of you are in the post op liquids and mush stage. Get past that, and know you are only giving up food for a short time. Then you can eat again. It's totally worth it. Like I said I'm three months post op, and today I hit 70 lbs lost!

If someone showed me just how little food I would eating per day, everyday, and foods I will never eat again, and still be healthy and full of energy, I would have dismissed this entire WLS project altogether because the red flags would have gone up telling me this was just another gimmick......but yet, here I am. And if I add up what I ate today in total, it really is astounding....

I remember a time I could eat a whole plate of food, finish my daughter's food, and still have room for desert. But since the surgery I take a few bites and I'm done. I used to get frustrated but now I enjoy it because I feel like a normal person that knows their limits. I know that this isn't a NSV but to me it seems like it. Just wanted to share. Oh, and now my daughter finishes my plate...NICE!!!????

My pleasure.

Thanks for this tip! I tried these and I am managing to tolerate them. Finally getting some vitamins!

I haven't and won't be telling my mother either. I have only told a very few people. My kids know I had abdominal surgery but I just claimed hernia repair with some complications. It's been much easier than having to justify or explain it to anyone. When people ask about how I've lost weight, I answer "high Protein, low carb." The only exception was to a good friend who asked who might benefit from WLS.
You owe nobody any explanations. Good luck.

I haven't and won't be telling my mother either. I have only told a very few people. My kids know I had abdominal surgery but I just claimed hernia repair with some complications. It's been much easier than having to justify or explain it to anyone. When people ask about how I've lost weight, I answer "high Protein, low carb." The only exception was to a good friend who asked who might benefit from WLS.
You owe nobody any explanations. Good luck.

Good tips. I would add:
1) Remember that this is a Marathon not a Sprint. Keep working and the results will come with time.
2) Eat healthy foods you enjoy. Eating foods you don't like is a set-up for failure. I personally hope to never see cottage cheese again!

Trust the process. Also realize that like ANY journey, you are going to have roadblocks, detours , stop signs etc. Dont stop the journey towards a strong healthy body just because you hit a speedbump. Its temporary, not forever. Again, trust the process !

Don't look back over your shoulder at the heavier person you used to be. Identify with the new, slimmer you in the mirror – that's who you are now. So look forward, towards a healthier future.

Thank you to samuelsmom, pink dahlia and Rogofulm for these additional great ideas and inspirational take-aways. BariatricPal.com is truly a community of shared ideas and insight. Great to be part of a collective of helping each other.

People who have undergone bariatric surgery know the weight loss battle does not end in the operating room. Months and even years after surgery, some weight can slowly creep back on. But this isn't a time to panic because now you have the tools to overcome a little setback and regain control of your weight.
This time, you are in charge.


One of the lessons you learn after weight loss surgery is that you are in charge of your health, diet and exercise program. The food no longer rules the roost--you do.
The truth of the matter is no matter what the scale says, 110 or 310, everyone puts on a few pounds now and then. As a bariatric surgeon in New Jersey for more than 10 years, one of the biggest anxiety triggers for patients is weight gain.
"That's it--it's over--I'm going to gain all the weight back."
Of course that's not true. To get back on pace, I’ve listed a few essential steps to help get you back on track to dropping the pounds once again:
• Go back to the beginning
Post-surgery, you probably followed your healthcare team’s advice to the letter. But as time passed, and you looked and felt healthier, you may have started to deviate from those dietary and exercise guidelines. Pull out your notes and review the program guidelines that brought you this far. Get back on the scale once a week and fire up your food journal again.
• Get thyself to the nearest support group ─ STAT
Weight loss is a personal journey, but it doesn’t have to be a lonely one. Online support groups on BariatricPal.com are great secondary resources to live weekly or monthly groups with your bariatric doctor or hospital. There is support all-around you, reach out and take it.
• Work it out
Are you using the ‘too tired’ reason for missing a trip to the gym or 30 minute fast walk around the neighborhood? If you need energy, you know how to get it—get up, get out and get moving. “Too busy,” you say? Remember, only you can prioritize your health and wellness. You matter—make time for your health every single day.
• Come to terms with the weight gain
This doesn’t mean blaming yourself. Rather, be forthright about how and why it happened and pat yourself on the back that you’ve recognized it now—not later.
There’s no need to beat yourself up. You have already done the hard part by recognizing some weight has crept back on. That in itself shows you are going to battle back. We encourage our patients at Sterling Surgicare to call us if they feel frustrated or defeated--everyone needs a pep talk now and then.
Remember there are many people supporting you 24/7 in this effort.
Life is filled with occasional side-steps and set-backs. It is part of making us who we are. Make a plan, regroup, recommit.
You can do this.

Now might be a good time to start reassessing what makes you happy since you are going through a significant life change.
What is it about your job/ career that you love?
What do you loathe?
What are your skills?
You might consider talking to a career counselor or coach to see what is out there.
The key is matching your interests, knowledge, and skills to a real need.
You may find you want to stay in your current career with some changes, make some slight modifications, or do something radically different.
Like weight loss, its a journey.
For me, I am looking at reentering the job market when I am healthier and will need to return to focusing on this process soon.
It's scary and liberating at the same time.
You don't have to figure it all out today. It's a process. But, please resist inertia and settling for being unhappy. There has got to be a place for your passion and experience in the world.

It is temporary I had worst first five weeks cried pain horrible couldn't eat now 3 months out pain free and down 54 lbs stay positive it will get better!!!!!

When I woke up from surgery, the first thing that came into my mind was "what the heck did I just do?" It gets better. Breathe, take care of YOU, and go along with the process. The first several weeks postop are hard because you are learning to do everything all over again. It will get better.

Most people do at your stage. The first month or so pretty much sucks. Each day, week, and month that go by you will start to feel more "normal" again and on top of it you will have lost weight, so the regret goes away Are you on a PPI for your heartburn? I was on major PPI's and had to be on full liquids for 6 weeks after surgery becuase of severe GERD. 9 months later, I'm still on a PPI but don't get heartburn too often anymore. I have more of a regurgitation problem when I eat too much. I really hope they can help you with your heartburn.
And yes, I had major regrets being on liquids for 6 weeks and problems with GERD. I just wanted to EAT SOMETHING!!