bostonmama

I drank more than I should have starting around one year post op, and ended up with transfer addiction to alcohol. (I very rarely drank pre op). Tried to quit drinking, and could see the addiction reverting back to food, I regained 15 lb from my lowest weight in a couple of months. I tried counseling, was put on a lot of medications that made me feel like a actual crazy person, so ended up quitting them all, now I am trying to cut back on drinking with a goal of quitting on my own. My experience with alcohol now is much like my old experience with food before surgery. I sometimes wish I had never gotten WLS in the first place, but if I am able to quit drinking it will hopefully be a small bump in the road to an overall healthier life post wls.

Before wls I had an addiction to fast food, I thought about it constantly on my 1.5 hour commute each way and though I promised myself I wouldn't stop, I often did.. Since surgery that behavior has stopped. I work and have two small children with after school activities and because of this we still take advantage of some convenience food, but usually if I'm going to McDonald's I'll get nothing and just feed the kids, occasionally I'll get a grilled chicken salad. If we get pizza I eat one slice. Imo occasionally eating these foods is a normal part of life and don't need to be forbidden in to be successful. We do this 1-3 times per month.

I love being able to buy clothes and feel good about how I look in them. Instead of always being disappointed!

you look so great!

You look wonderful! you lost so much so quickly, do you eat any carbs? how is your skin doing? We have similar body type/shapes, but its taken me a lot longer to lose and I was basically stalled from 7-12 months.

I don't look forward to eating or get excited about food like I used to, but I still enjoy making food for my family. I'm part of a food photo sharing group and have found that I enjoy photographing my food more than I enjoy eating it. I'd like to try more wls friendly recipes, but I am pretty lazy and busy and have a toddler who hangs on my legs and cries while I cook.

you look amazing! Is your BMI really 39.6 in that photo?

I recently had my surgiversary and according to my surgeon, the surgery has done its work and I shouldn't expect to lose any more weight at this point. Was that your experience? If you did continue to lose after 1 year post op, did it require additional changes to diet/exercise at the one year mark or did you stick the original plan and keep losing?

I'm guessing you can do a lot of squats to build a little muscle but your body shape is what it is! I'd focus on being the best version of the shape you have.

Addiction transfer to alcohol is scary stuff. I rarely drank pre op (maybe once every few months). When I started drinking post op everything was fine for months, until I noticed that I was drinking a lot more often, then I started having trouble stopping once I start. Then I noticed I was looking forward to drinking the same way I used to look forward to food. Now I promise myself I won't drink, but can't resist the urge and have the old pattern of guilt and regret I used to have with fast food. This all happened pretty quickly. Now I'm going to counseling and considering AA, even though I'm not a "real" alcoholic yet. I was of course warned about this pre op, but didn't think it would happen to me since I've never had a problem with alcohol or drugs, and I guess I didn't consider myself a good addict either, but I can see now that I was. Alcohol is much much worse of an addiction, I certainly wish I hadn't started drinking post op.

At Savers in Framingham! Thrifting is always hit or miss, but I usually have good luck with their jean selection. Global Thrift and Platos Closet in Waltham are good too. Platos Closet seems to take a lot of donations from young people and only has up to size 14 or so, but I found my favorite sweater of all time there.

I don't think it's possible. My pants literally fell down at the gym when I was a few months post op. It is possible to not buy any new clothes though and save a lot of money. Thrifting is great! I bought all of this today for $40. The jeans are great brands - joes, Paige, Hudson, greywire(anthropologie), and jcrew. I buy new underwear and occasionally shoes but everything else is thrifted.

I think it is because they know the average amount of weight people lose after WLS, its something like 60-65% of excess weight for sleeve and 65-75% for RNY. It's not normal to lose 100% of excess weight after wls, even if some do it, most people do not. I think they want you to have realistic expectations, and realize that if you want to get to a "normal" weight, surgery alone will not get you there.

Food was a coping mechanism for many of us pre op, and without it our emotions can be overwhelming. Even if you don't have that issue, being on a liquid diet for 4 weeks will make most people hangry. The good news is that you will be able to eat again and be satisfied from very little food..not to mention you will feel incredible as you lose weight and become more healthy. Many recommend counseling to get those emotions/head hunger under control, not only for your own peace of mind but also to prevent regain from emotional eating later on.