The Greater Fool

Congratulations.

Me too. Don't tell, it's a secret.

I'm not sure that's true. And I'm sure she wasn't talking about things, like complications, that are outside of our control. In fact, it is completely about doing what *IS* in our control. I have had complications (both medical and situational) that I worked with my team to work with and around. They modified my requirements which I worked hard to accomplish. In spite of my issues, it was STILL about working my program and doing MY job. Whining wouldn't help. We have a job to do. We chose to accept it. We need to do it the best we can. Complications make it harder, but it still is up to us to do what we can. I'm sure you're not advocating that complications mean we don't have to still do our best to succeed? Nor is Lelaini.

I've been torn replying to this. First, be assured that every post-op has or will at some point test their surgery. The lucky ones feel like crap after. Are you feeling lucky? Now, imagine how you'd feel if you DIDN'T feel like crap? This is rather the point. Even now, 17 years post-op, I can't eat that much in a single sitting. I applaud your sticktoitiveness. The question now becomes: What will you do with what you've learned? A friend of mine wrote this back when. It's not directed at anyone, as most of us have gotten frustrated at some point. Leilani was not one to pull punches: THERE'S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!!! By: Leilani That's the sentiment (scenario) that comes to mind sometimes when I hear some of the comments from people who've already had the surgery. In case you haven't made the connection, that's a line Tom Hanks made famous in the movie "A League Of Their Own." Resorting to tears or just giving up every time the going gets tough. Or your sick of taking vitamins, getting in protein is hard, water doesn't taste good, etc. That kinda' thinking is NOT going to make you successful or keep you healthy. ENOUGH already! It's time to LOVE yourself enough to get "TOUGH" with your aftercare. Your long term health is worth it!! Success comes with a backbone, NOT a wishbone! First and foremost, you have to keep it POSITIVE. As with everything in life, if you think you can't - you WON'T! Simple enough? I have to wonder when "we" (as adults) finally take ownership for our actions, our life and our health? We have been given a gift, a second chance to actually LIVE life again instead of merely existing on the sidelines. It's up to each of us to do that as healthy and productively as possible. We're ALL statistics waiting to happen and the insurance companies are chomping at the bit. The bean counters are eager to drop Weight Loss Surgery ("WLS") from the policies; some already have. Don't you know that any negative feedback thrown into the mix only strengthens their cause? I may not be able to control every thing that happens to my body after WLS, but most things I can. I CHOOSE to take control and I will be a positive statistic when the numbers get counted. We live in a spoiled society, expecting everything in life to come with a buncha really cool choices. Well, guess what? When it comes to your health, you're not always going to get a choice. You either DO IT and stay healthy, or you DON'T and your body pays the price. The way I saw it, I had a 90 day healing and adjusting period after surgery. My 'super morbidly obese' body had more then enough stores to survive the learning curve. In turn, it gave me plenty of time to heal, adjust and learn. For those of you OVER 90 day's Post-Op, the probation period is over - its time to get serious and LIVE what you've learned. You say you can't get in enough liquids through out the day, don't like the taste of water, or just keep forgetting? -- TOUGH! It's not an option anymore. Find a way to do it, get suggestions and tips from others in support groups, message boards, etc. Read, learn and JUST DO IT!! Why do you think there is a choice here? You say you don't like the big horse pill type vitamins, or the tart chalky chewables? ...it's, just too many to bother with? Or maybe you just can't remember to take them? -- TOUGH! You gave up the option NOT to take vitamins when you agreed to have your insides rerouted. FIND a way to get them in; crushed, minced, chopped, liquified, in a shake, etc. No exceptions, your health depends on it. Protein is a must. So you can't get it all in via foods and you don't like the way the shakes taste? -- TOUGH! Either get it through your meals (and there are a gazillion food choices out there) or supplement it with protein shakes and bars. Trust me, I don't drink my protein shake every morning because I think it tastes like a chocolate blizzard from Dairy Queen. I've tried many varieties over the last 2 years. I'd even venture to say 25 of the top sellers/flavors have crossed my lips. For the record? I've yet to find one that is as 'delicious' as boasted by the distributor. So what. I still drink one every morning. My HEALTH dictates that I need "X" grams of protein per day. If I'm not getting enough from my meals then I supplement a shake. 'Nuff said. This surgery is a gift, I owe it to me and everyone else fighting the approval process, to do it right! I will continue to choke down my vitamins, my water and my protein every single day, for the REST OF MY LIFE. Some days will be easier then others, regardless, no days will be missed. It's all about discipline. Create a routine, set a timer, develop a pattern, tie a string around your finger, glue a note to your forehead, whatever it takes. You're an adult - take responsibility! If this surgery doesn't slap a back bone into you, not much will.

Congratulations.

I guess I was fortunate(?) to be too large for any scale but my surgeons. Ever heard "Lies, damned lies, and statistics"? I'm sure Twain was speaking of scales. I learned to measure my progress by evaluating: 1) compliance with my program; 2) how I felt; how my clothes felt; how my life felt; These are the important things, not a damn scale. I still don't weight at home, and only at doctors when asked. It's just not important to me. Do you. Tek

Tom-a-to / to-mah-to. However, Carbs and sugar become energy better than protein. Protein, on the other hand, works better for muscle repair (building). Timing is a factor. Carbs before exertion. Protein after. But, to your point. Yes, calories in, calories out. Focusing on calories only is a trap, just like so many other single issue traps. Tek

I had no intention to exercise. Exercise was boring and very painful. After about 2 months and 60+ pounds I felt lighter and wanted to try moving around more. I started walking about more. Went down on the strip, malls, museums, aquariums. Just around and people watching. Eventually we were walking about 8 miles several times a week. But exercise? No way. After about 10 months and 200+ pounds, I just felt like I had and abundance of energy. Almost floating, it seemed. I thought I'd see if I could run. I bought "Idiots guide to running" which had a program to run 30 minutes in 30 days, and managed to complete it. I listened to audio books to pass the time. But exercise? No way. Month 13 and 250+ pounds down, I was still running. Listening to the Dark Tower (7 books), so runs got longer until I was running 90 miles per week. Over the next year I ran 5 marathons. I never did exercise. Exercise is boring and an obligation. I didn't have surgery to live on a diet and do things I never wanted or enjoyed doing. Walking, then running, was a joy. Do you.

Sorry for the delay, I somehow missed your reply. No, I'm not proud because I feel the surgery did the heavy lifting and I just went along for the ride, if that makes sense. I am proud of some of the things I've done since, like kayaking, hiking, running, 5 marathons, and dare I say it... better 'relations' with my spouse.

It was a one off situation. I was apparently sick, not eating much, so when I drank an overly sweet drink with my meds (that make me thirsty) everything just clobbered me. As you likely know personally, we still learn new and exciting things to avoid.

Distractions are very individual, I have OCD so I can spend hours doing simple and repetitive tasks. I enjoy reading and can get completely absorbed. Hours fly by. [ETA] Also, one doesn't need to read at home. I get most of my reading done on vacation where ever we go. I go to a park and read on nice days. Read at a cafe while lingering over coffee (sneek in people-watching). I ran a WLS Non-Profit educational site and message board. Lot's of time went into that. I've done comparable several times with other topics. My spouse and I played on-line MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Roll Playing Game) which was/is amazingly immersive. Hours of fun and talking with friends, if it's your thing. There are also a wide variety of on-line and PC games that were/are equal time-sinks. Puzzles. I could spend hours doing simple things like Tetris. Legos. A paperclip. I'm easy. Hobbies: I love building and flying Radio Control gliders. They float like magic. Again, hours and hours of hours and hours. Over the years I've also built furniture, remodeled, landscaping, drawing floorplans. Artistic folk in my family paint, knit, crochet. Learning: If I get an interest in something, I learn about it. Astronomy, I read books, took classes, attended seminars; World War 2, again classes, books, seminars. WLS, same thing. How the brain works. Computers. For work, I'm a programmer. My OCD comes in handy. I am always the person to learn new stuff because I can read a manual and do the work. I don't give up, I spend the time to get done correctly on time. I do work noodling on my time if I have an issue I can't solve. Any passing interest is an obsessive opportunity.

I'm new here also. Welcome to us all. While I'm new here, I'm not new to WLS having had RNY in 2003 and being fairly active in other communities back when. I'm exceptionally thrilled with my situation, not that there haven't been ups, downs, pain, joy, brushes with death, and the heartbreak of eczema Tek

I was very involved in a couple WLS communities back before and after I had surgery in 2003. Here is what I remember: There are as many eating plans as there are surgeons. Eat 3 meals a day. 6 meals a day, Drink protein. Don't drink protein. Eat this. Don't eat this. Don't drink with meals. It's OK to drink with meals. And on and on. What the successful people did is follow their plan, whatever it was. Most of us were horrible at following plans pre-op, it's how we got where we were. So it's a big ask for us to do it post-op. The plan seems less important than the mental commitment to follow a plan, period. My 'adjustments' to plan: 1. Make sure to follow my plan. Meaning, meals of appropriate size, content, and frequency. Too little and I would get hungry between meals. I made them as appetizing and flavorful as possible. I discovered that trying to 'kick-start' anything resulted in failure. I discovered trying to eat less to increase weight loss resulted in (you guessed it) failure. 2. Distraction: Do something to occupy my mind completely. 3. Move. I didn't 'exercise' at all. Exercise for it's own sake was boring and painful. So, I just worked at doing stuff I liked: shopping, people-watching, museums, conventions. Anything that was out of the house, interesting, and time consuming. 4. Sugar Free Popsicles. Between meals they take several minutes to eat, my urge was satisfied, no damage to plan, and it was effectively drinking. 5. Drink. Water is good. So is SF Koolaid. Ice Tea. Variety helped me drink more, and flavors again helped satisfy urges to eat. Even now, while I can drink anything, I still go for non-sugar options. 6. [ETA] I was so big I could not fit on any scale but the one at the Docs office. This was a blessing because I couldn't see progress or lack of progress. After I could weigh at home, I still didn't because I didn't care by that point. The scale doesn't tell me what I need to know: Am I eating and feeling well? Are my clothes fitting? Why not? Adjust. I still only weigh when asked to at medical appointments. The first 12 months are when lifetime habits were built. Now, it's ingrained.

Hello. I am new here. 17 years post-op RNY. I dump. There are two types of dumping, 'early stage' and 'late stage': Early Stage I don't remember the effects because I don't do this much. For me, it only involves brow sweating, usually soon enough to cue me to stop eating. For me, not a big deal. Sorry, my memory isn't what it used to be. Late Stage (for me) takes about an hour to start. I get lethargic, light headed, sleepy, and whole body flop sweaty. Then intestinal distress, then diarrhea. Recently, one of my meds also caused me to pass out and made every effect worse. All in all an exciting time I could and strive to live without. After all this time I generally know my body's limits and go months and years between episodes. When it get's me is when I feel under the weather or haven't eaten well for days and I don't notice and adjust. Hope this helps, Tek

Hello, I'm rather new here. I am generally able to generally eat what I desire, including breads and starches. I don't eat much bread alone, or much at all really. But when I do, it's about mechanics. If I don't chew it extra, extra well, it forms a ball and becomes uncomfortable for a while. I have to take small bites and chew it beyond reason, if it's not a slurry I add a sip of something. Writing this, I now wonder if I don't eat much bread because it's a bother. I'll have to ponder this. Hope this helps, Tek

Thank you. Congratulations on your success.