LittleBill

I am selective. There is no all or nothing about this. I am sure that some of the people I have not told will find out eventually, and probably through other avenues, but I don't worry about that. Most of the people I have told have been extremely supportive of my decision. One of my best friends was not, and he had the very same surgery a few years earlier! Another was one of my daughters, and that one hurt, but she is her own person. I cannot control her, or anyone else. I barely control myself a lot of the time.

I regret not doing it sooner, but that doesn't really bear on your question. Everyone is going to be different, have different reasons, different situations. It might be good for you is to identify WHY you are feeling this regret. Then, determine whether or not it is something you can change. It is attitude? It is behavior? Might it be your environment that is causing this? If you are regretting the actual surgery itself, this might be your "suck it up and move on" moment. There isn't a lot one can do about that. But a lot of the other stuff can and should be dealt with in as constructive a manner as possible. Find some supportive friends or fellow travelers. Change some of the things around you in your environment. Change the way you think about things - not easy, but possible. I sort of regret not having a beer anymore, but it is fading fast, and is a lot like when I was a kid thinking, "I'll never get tired of these toys!" There comes a time to move on and change. If it is things you cannot change, can you change about your attitude regarding them to make it better? Some folks have genuine regrets for real reasons, and they should not be minimized. Pain and suffering are powerful forces. But even those can be overcome with work and with effort. Sometimes we just have to play the hand we were dealt. Actually, we always have to do that. That doesn't mean we are satisfied with it. But we can do our best to make it better.

I started out with the grocery store stuff, which is pretty much ketchup with onion chunks in it. I am up to Mrs. Renfro's hot green chilies, which isn't that hot. I am aiming to get back to habanero sauce or the ghost pepper sauce soon. So far no problems, and I am a little over a month post op.

Depending on how I regard the other person, my answer will range from blunt: "That's on a need to know basis and you don't need to know." to a little less blunt, but still direct: "Why do you want to know that?" or if the person is persistently rude: "Why do you think my health is any of your business?" You can be a little more diplomatic and just say: "I am not comfortable discussing that (with you)." You could also cough a few times and mention your recent diagnosis for AIDS, hepatitis, or some other disease, but be prepared for some backlash on that one. I realize this may not work for everyone. Usually responding to a question with a question will stop a lot of people, but it seems to me that there are more people than not who need to be smacked between the eyes just to get their attention. Total strangers seem to have no restraint in making comments or asking invasive questions. Coworkers are not always friends. Heck, friends, by a lot of definitions, really aren't friends. A lot of these will work well for stopping intrusive questions. There is nothing anyone can do about people talking behind their backs though. Oh, I almost forgot one! I haven't had to use this yet, but I am sure I will, so it is in the tube and ready for launch. "Yes, I have changed, but you haven't. I lost weight, but I see you are still obnoxious."

I'm new on this forum, but I've been on Internet forums of all sorts pretty much since there was an internet. I've been the old expert on several, the noob on others, and on one I was the grim moderator who didn't put up with crap from anyone. Forums are different. People are the same. There are the lurkers who read and never post, and there are the attention whores who have to be in every thread. There are people who are so cranky they think no question should ever be asked again, and people should use the search function every time, and there are those who crave actual interaction with other people. I don't let it bother me. No one is forced to read or write anything. And at the same time, I am pretty sure I gored a few oxes with what I just wrote above.

Thank you. The doc didn't portray the sleeve as a magic bullet, so my apologies if it came across that way. He was very clear about it being a tool, and one of several to use. He was also clear about changing habits. As for the habit changing part, I am doing fairly well with that so far. Most of my loss so far has been pre-op, and the things that were real bad for me before haven't been a huge problem, at least not yet. For example, I loved me a huge glass of chocolate milk, or even better a shake, whenever the opportunity presented itself. Switching over to Gold Standard extreme milk chocolate shakes was easy, and now I can have my cake and eat it too, to mix metaphors here. I am very blessed in that my wife of almost 33 years has been changing her diet along with me. But I do appreciate the encouragement.

I am not sure about the one. She was my wife's maid of honor, and we sort of lost contact with her. She had some serious problems with drug abuse though, and we think that may have contributed to it. My other friend had gastric bypass, and died in the hospital from peritonitis following the surgery a few days after his operation. He had just about everything wrong with him you can imagine, and this was his last chance at surviving. When the infection hit him, he did not have the resources to fight it off. Both of these incidents were a little over 10 years ago, but they stuck with us for a long time. Things seem to have improved quite a bit since then. At any rate, I was in decent shape going in - except for being fat of course.

New guy here, just joined today. I started out in June of this year at 481. I am one month, three days post op and now at 381. I was always very active, although slowing down in the past couple of years. My BP, triglycerides, and cholesterol have all always been very good. I hit the lowest number possible to be diabetic this year just as I was starting the pre-op program. My target weight is 300 lbs, at least for now. Believe it or not, I will be fairly slim at that point.

I am not a doctor and this is not advice. I am just writing what I went through in my pre op program. Part of the program was a session with the psychologist. He asked me bunches of questions about my eating habits, and then we got to diets. He said, "Diets are a recipe for failure. As soon as you make something forbidden, you just want it more, and you WILL fail". He (as part of the program) advocated for an 80/20 rule. He said, "Eat the stuff you are supposed to eat 80 percent of the time. The other 20% of the time is the time to eat the good stuff that is no good for you. That allows you to have a taste, and it is not something you start to crave because you know you will be able to have it from time to time". Maybe this will work for you and maybe not. It has been doing pretty good for me so far. Good luck with it.

Haha, no worries. I write for recreation, so I thought you were just complimenting my writing. Thanks!

It took me a long time to come to the point where I was willing to have this surgery. We (my wife and I) had two friends die from it years ago. But we got past that, and I did it a little more than a month ago. Most of my family and friends have been very supportive. My biggest detractor has been one of my best friends. He had the very same surgery about four years ago, but he did no prep, nor does he follow his instructions for diet. He has gained back 80 lbs of what he lost, and is very bitter about it. Good luck with your own surgery. I hope you have a great outcome!

I had my surgery on Oct. 11 2016, so I am just a little over a month out. The first week I lost 18 lbs. I thought, "This is great!" But I have slowed down some. Three weeks and a couple days later, I am down another 15 lbs, but they tell me not to continue to expect this kind of loss. Time will tell. I have about 80 lbs to go to reach my target.

Hello everyone As I write this I am one month and three days post op. I've been doing some reading here on and off before surgery and since, and decided to join up and say hello. It took me years to get here. I have been overweight most of my life. I would have done this sooner, but we (my wife and I) had two friends who died from this surgery. It took us a while to get past that, but we did, and I started the process back in June. I lost about 65 lbs on the pre op diet, and struggled with the notion of going through with the surgery or just doing it the old fashioned way. But as the doc reminded me, it isn't the losing that is hard for a lot of us, it is the keeping it off. So I went ahead with it. Everything has gone exceedingly well for me so far. I am usually the person who is told "this never happens to ANYONE!" when it comes to complications or freak happenings. But so far no complications, no side effects, nothing but getting smaller as the days go by. To date I am 100 lbs down from where I started. I have about 80 lbs to go to get to my initial goal. I will revise that goal as I get closer and determine whether to push further or ease up. I do not want to lose muscle mass, of which I have lots. Tomorrow I get to start in on soft food. I have been eagerly anticipating the day. So far everything has gone down without a hitch, but with each changeover, I experience a little trepidation. Anyway, hello to all of you, and I am sure I will have some questions after I do some more reading.