summerset

Ah ok, I remember having to wear this thing all the time and the feeling of it being wet after showering on the skin was just *ew* somehow. I also had a skin reaction if I wore it in a place that was obviously the wrong one (not wrong according to the instructions but my skin didn't like some of the suggested places).

I take my vitamins and then forget about them, too. No patch(es? How many?) on the skin for 24 h. However, if you don't mind having a patch on the skin all the time... why not.

Since when are you using the patches? How big are they? (Just curious. I wore a med patch for some time because of shoulder pain and I was glad to get rid of it so I'm not getting the hype about the patches.)

I think "self-care" is exactly on point. It makes me sad (and sometimes mad) that WLS patients seem to look at themselves as "not a success" if they don't reach what is considered a normal BMI.

Sounds like this WLS diet worked pretty good for a while. In the same place she used to be in earlier days when the diet she was on stopped working because the rewards weren't rolling in as fast as they did in the beginning (i. e. slower weight loss, stalls) and everything just seemed too hard and maybe even pointless. And you already seem to know this because you wrote: Indeed. What I did back in the days was reading what I could find about "normal eating". If you have access to counseling (and not only to these guys and dolls who'll tell you that their waiting list is at least about 1 year long) you might benefit from it. Are you? Or do you secretly wish for nothing more than getting a F*CKING break from all of this? (I can completely understand this wish.) It seems like you already went at least partly down that rabbit hole. --- I sometimes think WLS boards do more harm than good for some people. The comparing never seems to stop.

WLS is still your best chance to get rid of the weight and keep the weight off. However, in the end WLS is like any other medical/surgical therapy: there is no 100% success rate.

"Slider foods" are an individual thing. It seems like not even the definition of what a "slider food" actually is, is the same for different people. Sometimes it seems that people call a food a slider food if it's high in calories and/or high in carbs. Sometimes a slider is defined as a food that enables you to eat quite a few calories while not eating much volume. Others define a slider food as something they can eat a rather high volume of and/or has a relatively high calorie content. Others define two or all of the above as "sliders" and I'm sure there are still more definitions around. In the end you need to test if a certain food is a "slider" for you or not.

I strongly recommend books about "normal eating". To name three authors: Karen Koenig, Geneen Roth, Evelyn Tribole.

True. However, maybe this is why alcohol becomes so attractive. I can't remember talking about addiction transfer either, however, as a reflux conversion patient I didn't have to attend any pre-op program and back in time nobody seemed to be too concerned about addiction transfer.

Same taboo as regain or food struggles. People don't talk about it because they're ashamed and judgment levels are high.

Depends on the point of view. IMO it's "taste". Regarding recipes: what are your personal taste preferences?

That other countries have different standards doesn't mean that these standards are worse than the US ones or that they're harming the patients with their protocols.

Hehe, we're allowed to eat bread. I have to look if I can find that sheet with the peri-operative eating instructions. After four weeks people we're allowed to try the first (albeit soft) bread. IIRC it was something like untoasted toast bread (*yuck*). Of course there are patients who have dietary restrictions because they simply can't stomach something. A lot of people seem to be able to eat crisp bread but have problems with rolls or sour dough bread etc.. We are also allowed to eat potatoes etc. (mashed potatoes or potato soup are part of the soft food stage).

I don't think one can eliminate head hunger. Actually it's a pretty normal thing to have. You can only learn to deal with it.

I was really scared of pulmonary embolism!! I've seen my fair share of post-op PEs over the years.

Hmmmmmmm, red lentil pasta.... ?. Also looks quite pretty.

I personally think it's the luck of the draw but that's just my opinion. This "true hunger" feeling, this gnawing in the stomach area... it was practically gone after the lap band and it's still gone after two years of MGB.

Take a look at this. 20 years. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30293134

What? The doctors or the time spans?

Never thought this could be a factor but now that I think about it you might have a point here. But then again there are all these studies that claim the average (or median? not sure) loss is about 50% or 60% EWL after several years. And I think this is something to keep in mind. The studies look at the facts after several years and not several months. However, drop out rates can be sky high, especially when it comes to the real long term studies. You'll never know about the patients who dropped out.

Thanks for clarifying.

1) These are not "my links". 2) This is not about becoming a vegetarian or vegan. AFAIK neither creek nor I are vegetarians or vegans.

This reputation stuff is misleading anyway. Look at what people are pressing the like button for - a lot of the time it's the most trivial stuff that has no real value for the community. However, while in general I definitely agree with your post I feel that there is not much one can do about this. If posts are getting really insulting there is the possibility of reporting it (some boards show so-called "warning points" of users on their profile then). Best thing still seems to use the ignore function.

Seems like they took at least a few into consideration when it came to all-cause mortality.

It would also be nice if Fluffy and MIZ would stop abusing the laughing smilie button. Yes, we all know now that they hate both creek's and my posts and therefore try to ridicule them. Please stop this infantile behavior.