Hey all- Dooter here. I haven't been on here in a while, but this thought has been plaguing me, and I need to get it out. -Let me preface this discussion by saying I am GLAD I had the sleeve surgery, and I would not change it for the world. I had NO complications and I lost 102 pounds in eight months, and for that I am grateful. I needed to do that quickly for my own sanity and health. HOWEVER- that said-

DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT think for one teeny tiny minute that having surgery and dumping a bunch of weight is going to fix your head and the behavior that got you here. Not gonna happen. During the "honeymoon" period where you can sneeze off five pounds at a time and you're never hungry after your teaspoon of food, you can't imagine EVER returning to old feelings and desires. I am here to tell you that it sneaks back in a little at a time. A taste here, a taste there... "oh look. I've gained a pound. well, that was salty food, I'll just drink more Water tomorrow." HORSE HOCKEY!!!! That's where it starts. Your old head trips creep in. Hiding food. Eating junk now, figuring you'll just shape up "next week" or "tomorrow." Tomorrow never happens and you've gained 30 pounds back. Yes. With your itty bitty stomach, you have gained 30 pounds back. It can happen. Or worse, you gain it all back. That can happen too.

The reason I am writing this and being to harsh about it is that you are a person who is considering, or who has gone through a MAJOR life changing surgery. SO CHANGE YOUR LIFE!!!! Be vigilant. come out of that honeymoon with your armor on! You WILL stop losing at one point and your body will begin to fight you as mine has. The diet my surgeon gave me no longer works at this point in the game, as my metabolism is stuck in cold molasses and it has taken a personal trainer/dietitian to get it moving again, and it is majorly hard work and painful and distasteful at times, but I have another 100 lbs to lose AFTER the 30 lb regain is gone.

​Have somebody close to you hold you accountable for exercising and eating right. Splatter it all over Facebook if you have to (I did) so you'll have MANY people holding you accountable! Do what you have to do to reach your goal. Don't settle for less and don't eat crap. And don't think that surgery is the final solution. It's a tool that will get you halfway there. The rest is up to YOU and no one else. Thank you. That is all.

I am only 42 days / 6 weeks post-op. So I'm a WLS newb.

But I see so many newly sleeved people -- on this and other forums -- who (as soon as they recover from surgery) start strutting around, pontificating how this surgery is the EASY way to deal with weight problems, proclaiming that they now have this baby licked, swearing they will never gain another pound ever like those weak people who don't keep their weight off.

Obviously, some of these folks are losing significant weight for the first time in their lives and think they've died and gone to heaven. Some of them are just young and stupid (sorry, kids). Some of them of them are on an emotional high from the no-ghrelin/no-appetite phenomenon, which they assume will continue forever.

Not me. I've been up and down the scales via serious diets 30-40 times in my life. Each time I've lost 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, nearly 70 pounds. I've done everything you've ever heard of. And now I've paid someone to cut out 85% of my stomach.

When you have that kind of lifelong dieting history, having dared to hope each time that it was the miracle cure, you develop a healthy skepticism and, of course, start to see patterns in what sent your weight right back up the scale:

* Personal, family and job stresses

* Physical disabilities (which increase as you age)

* The idiotic idea that you're doing this to "reach goal" -- when there actually is no finish line

* The idiotic idea that when you "reach goal" you now deserve a prize (usually one with calories)

* The sugar and carb and fat addictions that were non-existent while you abstained, but become roaring monsters after you eat the first Pasta dinner, ice cream, hamburger with fries, etc.

* The feelings that spur your compulsions to soothe those feelings with food (usually carbs)

* The shame and the disappointment that you've regained (so quickly!) 5 pounds, which sends you another 5 and then 10, then 20, then more.

Anyone who imagines that WLS will hold at bay the effects on us that future illness and death and bitchy people and rainy weather and financial problems and bad haircuts and the election of idiots and terrors on the evening news is due for disappointment.

So the only things I'm really counting on WLS to do for me is to give me (I'm guessing) close to one year to practice eating less than I used to eat; eating Protein first, veggies second, and (if there's room left) some more highly processed, but still healthy carbs; drinking at least 64 ounces of liquids every day; taking my vitamins/minerals; moving my ass significantly most days, and one more thing: learning to recognize what makes me reach compulsively for food to soothe myself and learn some new ways to soothe myself without food.

I wasn't this smart over 60 years ago. But I'm smarter now.

That what you said is the REAL deal!