summerset

LOL. Maybe I should explain what I mean with immediate benefits. I notice the following: 1) I need less sleep. 2) Even if I had not enough sleep during the night crawling out of bed is easier than usually. 3) I feel more concentrated at work and less tired. 4) Stressful situations seem to be easier to manage - no idea why that is. So in sum I guess I'm in love with the cortisol and catecholamine rush. After a while even the cold hands and this feeling-a-little-wired has mostly subsided.

So anyone doing IF for the immediate benefits?

Maybe you would be surprised how many people are indeed ashamed out of some reason for their illness.

Where I work at since about 1.5 years people ask about maintaining weight, yes. However, they ask not in a WLS related manner. They only know me at a normal weight. It's more like many people (especially the guys) notice some pudge around the middle once they enter the late thirties or early forties at the latest as it seems. They ask other people around their age who don't gain weight as the years go by or during the Holidays or during vacation or when **** hits the fan again at work and there is even more stress than usually (like at the moment) and chocolate consumption seems to run rampant in the department how they manage it, too. I'm definitely not the only one who gets asked.

This. LOL.

There are for sure many reasons and most likely everyone has an opinion about how legitimate or understandable these reasons might be. Can't force anyone to tell the (whole) truth when asked about "How did you lose so much weight?" or maybe (that's the question I'm sometimes asked in my current environment where people don't know me at another weight) "How are you able to maintain your weight? I seem to be struggling more and more as the years go by."

I didn't relate that to this board or WLS in general, it was something that seems to apply to so many people. It's the fact that these topics on the one hand are so omnipresent to the point of getting-on-your-nerves and are yet obviously embarrassing on the other hand that strikes me odd, actually since a few years.

So many people have body/diet issues. I'm always a bit surprised about the way people talk about these things, you know "diet" and "calories" and "weight" - they always seem to be a bit embarrassed to talk about it. It's a bit like talking about sex - it's all around the media, you're practically bombarded with it in the way that you feel it's a definite overkill and yet people are embarrassed to talk about sex and diet and calories and weight issues.

Have fun with that. Simply say "So...?" with a raised eyebrow like you wouldn't mind any cheating at all and let the person go "Ummmmm...." ?

... and hopefully he/she will have more to offer than "try harder".

This. Best decision ever when it comes to birth control.

From time to time newer members dig up old threads. I notice getting notifications from older posts as well. There are some never ending debates after all.

"Normal food" in the sense of "everything is allowed now" was about 4-6 weeks post op. First coffee after 4 weeks. Between week 4 und 6 one was supposed to introduce one food after another, first the softer ones. So hot dog and mountain dew might not be the right choices right now. Maybe see this as a challenge to conquer head hunger and the feeling of "having to eat right now". If you choose to eat hot dogs the day you'll be able to - that's your choice and only yours in the end. I'd stay away from calorie containing beverages though.

I don't know, maybe the amount of jerks in my immediate environment is lower than average but I made the experience that most people mean no ill when asking questions. They seem to be interested in the whole thing and ask some (to me) innocent questions and then they usually drop the topic. You know something like "So how is this surgery performed?", "Did it hurt much afterwards?", "How does eating feel now? Is it any different?" And, yes - they also might ask "How much weight have you lost?" or "How much did you weigh?" and I say that I'd rather not talk about that and they usually just say "Oh, ok".

Confirming their suspicions. Might just have said "yes, I did", lol.

I absolutely agree. There is no right way to have WLS. -- Some have sleeve, some have DS, some have band, some have a sort of bypass. Some follow all rules and never get where they want to be, some are a bit less obsessed and are very successful. Some jump through all hoops, have the waiting period and diet and all and some simply go there and self-pay. Some have revision because they weren't successful the first time and need a second chance. --- However, there is still "telling the truth when asked" and "telling some fairly tale when asked". If you don't want to tell the truth (I can understand that one doesn't want to tell every jerk on the planet though these people don't tend to want to casual talk to me IRL anyway), at least just raise an eyebrow and say nothing at all.

How many calories you should be eating (or how many meals you should be eating) is usually dependent on your age and activity level. However, there are different protocols out there. I never had a specific calorie limit.

Do they know you had WLS?

I recommend books about "normal eating" or "intuitive eating". These books usually deal with emotional eating quite a lot. Different strategies work for different people.

That's quite different from telling a lie when asked about what you did to lose weight and I don't know why so many users on here react in the same way you just did. Nobody suggests that you wear a sign around your neck stating you had WLS and I have no idea why so many users jump to the conclusion that anyone who doesn't lie about WLS is actually suggesting "telling everyone" and get quite defensive about this issue. The way I see it is that people will be gossiping about your weight loss anyway. Do you really and honestly believe anyone buys this "Oh, I just exercise and eat healthy" schlock? Especially when people know your for years and witnessed your past weight loss attempts? If someone suddenly loses e. g. 100 lbs of weight and eats very little I'd suspect two things: 1) the person is very sick 2) the person had WLS with 2) being more likely when the person is actually behaving like usual. If that person runs around telling everyone who wants to know how he/she did it that it's just exercise and "eating healthy" I'd think to myself "Yeah, right... tell some more fairy tales". I personally wouldn't confront a person with weight loss (unless we're quite close and the person seems to be generally open about the topic), asking how he/she did it because I think it's not my business and I personally prefer not to be asked about weight loss but when I'm asked, I don't lie.

People are so different. I prefer people asking directly and then I give an honest answer.

Do you think you have to be more vigilant than other people your age/weight?

Recently a colleague said that I don't seem to eat that much in general and I was like WTF??? Not more than any other eating disordered community, LOL.

Nope, I see no benefit in going keto or low carb. I'm more of an IF person I guess.

Conquering black-and-white-thinking was one of the most useful things in life I ever did. It affects everything in your life.