Dairymary

I didn't think that the people that were banned were bad apples. In fact the people that I have seen be the rudest and most belittling are still here. There are very few vets left here, most have all moved on to Obesity help after the mass banning that was made out to be about bullying. The facts never added up, half the people that were banned were banned just because they expressed their opinion about the issue and that did not agree with Alex's opinion so they were banned too. This site has turned into a place just for newbies, the blind leading the blind. All the good truly helpful vets are now at Obesity Help happily having real discussions without being called a bully for it. They seem to have a much more mature crowd over there that doesn't see honest advice as bullying. I admit I only popped in today to read some of the ridiculous advice that is being handed out and got a good chuckle from it. BariatricPal already had a bad reputation at my surgeons office, now they advise their patients to avoid it because I showed my surgeon some of the newbie advice being handed around here. If there are vets left here then you would think they would chime in and correct some of the stuff being said, but sadly they are probably afraid they will get called a bully and be banned. I seem to be the only one voicing my opinion that he has not banned, which will probably happen soon because again I voiced my opinion. But then again I did place a pretty susbtantial order from the site before my surgery so maybe he hasn't banned me yet because I'm a customer

Please don't pay attention to the stats surrounding WLS. they only reflect what happened to OTHER people, not what will happen to YOU. Do not limit your expectations and goals because of someone else's lack of commitment or non-compliance. YOU control your level of success.
And, BTW, according to that calculator I should have lost 106 pounds and weigh 189 pounds. Instead, I lost over 160 pounds in about 18 months and currently weigh 135 pounds almost six and a half years after VSG.

Please don't pay attention to the stats surrounding WLS. they only reflect what happened to OTHER people, not what will happen to YOU. Do not limit your expectations and goals because of someone else's lack of commitment or non-compliance. YOU control your level of success.
And, BTW, according to that calculator I should have lost 106 pounds and weigh 189 pounds. Instead, I lost over 160 pounds in about 18 months and currently weigh 135 pounds almost six and a half years after VSG.

I'm only 15 months post-op and started at 518 lbs. The calculator predicts that I would lose 199 lbs and wind up at 319 lbs. Thus far, I have actually lost 288 lbs and weigh 230 lbs as of my weigh-in on Friday. There is nothing special about me, I have just followed the recommended exercise and diet program.

The statistics were against me. I went to the hospital completely unsure if I would have the courage to go through with my surgery, and terrified I would die. No one... I promise you, NO ONE, ever wanted to have bariatric surgery less than I. I was an emotional food addict whose life had shrunk so much that food was my entire social life. I weighed 367.8 pounds, had out of control diabetes, and could no longer walk across my own kitchen on most days. I needed both knees replaced and my doctor refused to do it until I lost a lot of weight.
The night before my surgery I was alone in the house and I sobbed a funeral dirge for my best friend, food. I was certain I would lose my mind without it.
My friends, are you hesitating?? Struggling? Regretting?? If you can stay with me, read on.
I will tell you that after the first month there hasn't been one day in five years that I haven't thought, "I never could have done this before."
My journey has been difficult, and you will have your struggles, too. The first year, I cared for and buried my beloved sister--my "person" in this world--who died in my arms. The second year, I had my right knee replaced. The third year, my left knee. My weight loss stalled, but I never gave up. The fourth year, my father died and right afterwards, my husband almost died and needed months of nursing.
I didn't tell you all that to whine. I told you in order to try to put some context to my life, because in spite of all that sorrow and pain, I am filled with joy. I have taken back my life, and you can, too.
When I came out of my surgery, I vowed that having taken the drastic step of altering my body, I was going to be all in. I have honored that vow.
I had to learn to walk again. Now I am a landscape, wedding and portrait photographer.
I had to accept that I couldn't go on vacation and eat like the old me without gaining back weight it took me months to lose. Now I usually drop a couple of pounds on vacation, and I have one thing every day that I really want. To eat, that is!! I get to have experiences instead of food now!
I had to accept that carbs are not part of my daily eating. But I have learned to actually prefer zucchini spaghetti!!
Most importantly, I learned that no one will ever abuse me again. And that includes me.
I learned that emotional eating may feel like self care, but it is self destruction, and self destruction and self preservation can never exist side by side.
Last year, I photographed the cliffs of Maine, the mountains of West Virginia (going by rope down to the waterfalls), beaches in the Carolinas, and so many other things. (Check out my stuff at mlwolfephotos.com if you are inclined!).
I could babble on and on...
Today, I am at my lowest weight in 34 years. I have not met my weight loss goal. I'm still just over 200 pounds--a weight many people begin this journey at!! It may take me a year, but I'll get there.
On January 1st I turned 60, and I cried. A lot. I didn't cry because I was 60. I cried because I wasted so many years... My 30s... My 40s...half my 50s. I cannot get them back. But I have what's left, and I will cherish each breath.
So, I lost much of my stomach. I lost 153 pounds. I gained the world.
I wish that for each and every one of you! May you work to make all your dreams come true!
Attaching a few pics, not just of what I look(ed) like, but of who I am!!!

Find a good therapist. It doesn't even have to be a barbaric specialist. Your issues aren't with food, its your emotions and your abilities to deal with life that are the issues. You need to discover why you have this addiction, address the underlying causes and develop new behaviors that support a healthy body. Like mentioned above, permanent weightloss is about lifestyle changes. The surgery is just one tool that doesn't work by itself......you can't build a house with just a hammer.
I'm over six years out and maintaining at my lowest weight. Some Credit goes to my surgeon who spent an hour creating my sleeve, but far more credit goes to my therapist and the three years she spent helping me develop the psychological tools I needed.

A couple thoughts about your post.....
1) if you have fundus deformity then your surgeon did not do your surgery correctly. A properly performed VSG Removes all of the fundus, which, as explained above us the stretchy part of your stomach.
2) sounds lime you were grossly misinformed about WLs and what is actually required for long term success. Any surgery (including bypass) is only one small part of what is required for long term weight loss. It was drilled into me over and over that it's the lifestyle changes we make that play a much more vital role. You can out eat any physical changes created by any surgery. Success is much more psychological than surgical. I'm truly sorry you weren't told the truth when making your decision to have surgery.
3). If you are having severe GERD, then yes, bypass is probably the answer for you. But again, your long term results as far as weightloss goes will be the same as your VSG without the often overlooked psychological tools. I suggest finding a good therapist if you find yourself going back to your old eating habits.....or developing new, just as destructive habits customized to eat around your bypass restriction. I saw this all the time in group.

A couple thoughts about your post.....
1) if you have fundus deformity then your surgeon did not do your surgery correctly. A properly performed VSG Removes all of the fundus, which, as explained above us the stretchy part of your stomach.
2) sounds lime you were grossly misinformed about WLs and what is actually required for long term success. Any surgery (including bypass) is only one small part of what is required for long term weight loss. It was drilled into me over and over that it's the lifestyle changes we make that play a much more vital role. You can out eat any physical changes created by any surgery. Success is much more psychological than surgical. I'm truly sorry you weren't told the truth when making your decision to have surgery.
3). If you are having severe GERD, then yes, bypass is probably the answer for you. But again, your long term results as far as weightloss goes will be the same as your VSG without the often overlooked psychological tools. I suggest finding a good therapist if you find yourself going back to your old eating habits.....or developing new, just as destructive habits customized to eat around your bypass restriction. I saw this all the time in group.

A couple thoughts about your post.....
1) if you have fundus deformity then your surgeon did not do your surgery correctly. A properly performed VSG Removes all of the fundus, which, as explained above us the stretchy part of your stomach.
2) sounds lime you were grossly misinformed about WLs and what is actually required for long term success. Any surgery (including bypass) is only one small part of what is required for long term weight loss. It was drilled into me over and over that it's the lifestyle changes we make that play a much more vital role. You can out eat any physical changes created by any surgery. Success is much more psychological than surgical. I'm truly sorry you weren't told the truth when making your decision to have surgery.
3). If you are having severe GERD, then yes, bypass is probably the answer for you. But again, your long term results as far as weightloss goes will be the same as your VSG without the often overlooked psychological tools. I suggest finding a good therapist if you find yourself going back to your old eating habits.....or developing new, just as destructive habits customized to eat around your bypass restriction. I saw this all the time in group.

Find a good therapist. It doesn't even have to be a barbaric specialist. Your issues aren't with food, its your emotions and your abilities to deal with life that are the issues. You need to discover why you have this addiction, address the underlying causes and develop new behaviors that support a healthy body. Like mentioned above, permanent weightloss is about lifestyle changes. The surgery is just one tool that doesn't work by itself......you can't build a house with just a hammer.
I'm over six years out and maintaining at my lowest weight. Some Credit goes to my surgeon who spent an hour creating my sleeve, but far more credit goes to my therapist and the three years she spent helping me develop the psychological tools I needed.

Find a good therapist. It doesn't even have to be a barbaric specialist. Your issues aren't with food, its your emotions and your abilities to deal with life that are the issues. You need to discover why you have this addiction, address the underlying causes and develop new behaviors that support a healthy body. Like mentioned above, permanent weightloss is about lifestyle changes. The surgery is just one tool that doesn't work by itself......you can't build a house with just a hammer.
I'm over six years out and maintaining at my lowest weight. Some Credit goes to my surgeon who spent an hour creating my sleeve, but far more credit goes to my therapist and the three years she spent helping me develop the psychological tools I needed.

Find a good therapist. It doesn't even have to be a barbaric specialist. Your issues aren't with food, its your emotions and your abilities to deal with life that are the issues. You need to discover why you have this addiction, address the underlying causes and develop new behaviors that support a healthy body. Like mentioned above, permanent weightloss is about lifestyle changes. The surgery is just one tool that doesn't work by itself......you can't build a house with just a hammer.
I'm over six years out and maintaining at my lowest weight. Some Credit goes to my surgeon who spent an hour creating my sleeve, but far more credit goes to my therapist and the three years she spent helping me develop the psychological tools I needed.

Find a good therapist. It doesn't even have to be a barbaric specialist. Your issues aren't with food, its your emotions and your abilities to deal with life that are the issues. You need to discover why you have this addiction, address the underlying causes and develop new behaviors that support a healthy body. Like mentioned above, permanent weightloss is about lifestyle changes. The surgery is just one tool that doesn't work by itself......you can't build a house with just a hammer.
I'm over six years out and maintaining at my lowest weight. Some Credit goes to my surgeon who spent an hour creating my sleeve, but far more credit goes to my therapist and the three years she spent helping me develop the psychological tools I needed.

Pay very close attention to what and how you ate preop that led you to become obese. Not just the volume, but how often, what you ate and most importantly WHY you ate that way. Were you depressed? Happy? Bored? Stressed?
Now do the same thing during the honeymoon period during which you are losing weight and most likely following all the "rules". Again, what, how much, when, and why you are eating. How are you coping with stress and emotions that don't involve food? 2-3 years from now (actually, for the rest of your life) you need to remain mindful of your eating habits. If you find yourself going back to many of your preop habits, you will likely find yourself regaining.
After 6 years of group support meetings and now online forums, I See most regain stories coming from emotion based self sabotage.....stress, grief and boredom are big ones. Someone dies, you get divorced, you lose your job, your family is unsupportive, pressure from friends, your kids get sick, you are injured, etc. Now you turn to food for comfort because that's all you know how to do. Your sleeve is worthless when it comes to grazing, slider foods, snacking, etc. In the end it's the lifestyle changes and choices you make that dictate long term success, not your surgery or size of your sleeve. I always say, my surgeon helped me lose the weight, but my therapist helped me keep it off.
Good luck.

I was on liquids only for 3 weeks, but certainly couldn't eat that much yogurt even at 6 months out. Were you given instructions on certain amounts to eat? Like no more than 4oz per meal, etc? The nerves to your stomach were cut, so you can't go by what you perceive as "full" or not at this stage. It will be at least 2-3 months before your sleeve is healed and maybe even longer before you regain normal sensation. Measuring what you eat and sticking to that amount is a very important part of the learning curve for postoperative lifestyle changes required for long term success. Eating until we are full is what got us obese in the first place. It's one of the many bad habits I worked hard to get rid of.

I was on liquids only for 3 weeks, but certainly couldn't eat that much yogurt even at 6 months out. Were you given instructions on certain amounts to eat? Like no more than 4oz per meal, etc? The nerves to your stomach were cut, so you can't go by what you perceive as "full" or not at this stage. It will be at least 2-3 months before your sleeve is healed and maybe even longer before you regain normal sensation. Measuring what you eat and sticking to that amount is a very important part of the learning curve for postoperative lifestyle changes required for long term success. Eating until we are full is what got us obese in the first place. It's one of the many bad habits I worked hard to get rid of.

You're not doing anything wrong. It's impossible to gain real weight early out. Everytime I'd stall, I would gain a couple of pounds. You're probably going into the 3 week stall everyone has. It's just our bodies reacting to starvation mode. No worries.
As far as gaining weight further out and people gaining all their weight back, the surgery doesn't control what you eat or how much through out the day. It is the natural progression to be able to eat more as times goes by. I'm almost 3 years out, and can eat so much more than I could 1-2 years out.
So say I can now eat a small dinner plate of food. If that plate consister of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and dessert, even if I can't eat it all, that kind of eating will add up over time, same as before surgery. I can eat a whole pizza if I really worked at it all day. That's why it's important to use the first year or so to change to a healthy lifestyle in order to keep the weight off.
43% of people who have had surgery gain weight back by returning to old, unhealthy habits.

are you able to drink Water like used to before surgery.
I don't have to sip but I can't chug a whole bottle of Water. I basically just have something available to drink all the time and try to get at least 100oz every day.
Do you still go through issues with certain foods agreeing with you or food sensitivities?
Nothing I can't eat or drink
Do you still ever drink Protein shakes?
Yes. They are great to grab on the run when I don't have time to sit down and eat a real meal. Getting 80+ g of Protein everyday has been key to my maintenance

are you able to drink Water like used to before surgery.
I don't have to sip but I can't chug a whole bottle of Water. I basically just have something available to drink all the time and try to get at least 100oz every day.
Do you still go through issues with certain foods agreeing with you or food sensitivities?
Nothing I can't eat or drink
Do you still ever drink Protein shakes?
Yes. They are great to grab on the run when I don't have time to sit down and eat a real meal. Getting 80+ g of Protein everyday has been key to my maintenance

I'm pretty new to the online forum world, but I'm coming out of 5+ years of fairly regular support group attendance. I can't begin to express my astonishment at the ignorance, non compliance and stubborn attitudes of so many newbies on here. A surprising number of them choose to disregard advice from a successful veteran because someone 1 month out is enabling their bad behavior. I'm starting to understand why the success rate for WLS is not higher. So many people are clearly not taking it seriously and don't seem to appreciate the kind of commitment postop life requires. Kudos to those of you who do....you will do well.
But I will just keep trying to help....no matter how many newbies I piss off with my "tough love". Just ask my kids

Maintenance. Definitely.
The thrill of losing weight and NSVs are gone and everything gets tedious and boring and old bad habits start knocking on the door. Life still happens and now you have to deal with it without your old pal, food. All that other stuff is temporary.....Maintenance is forever.

I was self pay in Mexico and had three leak tests done.

I was self pay in Mexico and had three leak tests done.

@@LittleBill thanks for the info. I figured there had to be some sort of physical limitations of the metal that accounted for the lack of titanium weapons.
But TSA is kind of a joke sometimes. I got stopped and had to toss an unopened jar of homemade Amish jam in the trash (I was traveling with just a carry on so couldn't check it). And yet I went through with a full bottle of Vitamin Water once and a friend boarded a plane in Salt Lake City with a hunting knife in her backpack. She forgot it was even in there until her return flight in Minneapolis where they proclaimed "I don't think so!" When they saw it on X-ray.

6 years postop. Lost 160+ pounds and still maintaining at goal. Doing fabulous! Sleeve still a great tool for Portion Control, but not as good as the psychological tools I got from my therapist and support group.