OH DEAR LORD!! That apostrophe in the title is HORRIBLE!!! FIX THAT:


Veterans ONLY please. One year + post op.

Please respond to this thread ONLY if you are a year or more post op. Thank you for your consideration.

Many of us have expressed a desire to have a "safe place" for vets to discuss our progress, our maintenance plans, or just grumble in general. This forum is supposed to be that place, but it's quite often used as an "Ask A Vet" opportunity which is awesome, but sort of defeats the purpose.

@@Alex Brecher and I have been tossing around ideas on how to better suit the needs of us oldies but goodies.

We can restrict the forum by post number.

We can restrict it by time registered on this site.

We can restrict it by time post op.

It's MY opinion that post number isn't working. Time post op makes most sense, but people can easily lie. I truly think we can sniff those people out, so this is MY first choice. The third option also makes sense if we say they have to be here 18 months of so. That would give them 6 months of pre-op diet time and then a year post op. Of course, Alex can make exceptions on a case by case basis.

Please chime in with your opinions!!

If you don't like the idea of a Vet's Only Forum, that's OK, too. You don't have to utilize it, but you are more than welcome to.

@@VSGAnn2014 - OK, that makes sense.

@@LipstickLady - After reading some of the posts, yep this idea makes sense. Esp. with change of life issues that I think I will be hitting me down the road. Might want to ask @B-52. I don't see him bouncing around as much as he used to and I wonder if this is something that would get him back in the mix.

Tag him and anyone else you are missing!! I can't remember everyone's exact names. We need MrPhoto, the biker guy, some of those darn aussies, etc. Tag them all!

What I recall about the "old vets forum" was that all members could see threads and posts in that forum, but only those who qualified as vets (per the then-rules -- although I don't recall exactly what those rules were) could post there.

When I was pre-op and newly post-op I lurked my ass off there. It was so helpful. And trust me, even as a newbie I tired early on of the "How soon can I drink alcohol?" threads.

Some topics I would love to get into with other veterans (but not with newbies who simply haven't "been there" yet, although they'll get there) are:

* Advanced nutrition

* Regain and re-loss

* Recovering from exercise injuries

* Dealing in healthy ways with life's ongoing stresses and changes

* Late-stage complications

* Dealing with WLS fatigue

* Finding new life goals after conquering obesity

* Dealing with transfer addictions

* supplements three, four, five years down the road

* Transitioning from food tracking to mindful eating

* New career options for healthy, slim people

* Long-term relationship changes after conquering obesity

* Long-term challenges for WLS patients

* Joint replacement surgery for long-time WLS patients

* Discovering and living your Big Dreams when weight is no longer an issue

* Dealing with death

And that's after just a few minutes of thought.

Some first-impression thoughts:

What about a couple of qualification criteria?

1. To me the most important qualification criterion for veteran status and forum participation should be the length of time since their surgery date. For me, 18 months seems about right. FTR, I can't imagine that anyone other than a complete loon would lie about their surgery date just to troll a veterans forum.

2. I don't think it's critical or even relevant that the person has been a member of this board for a long period of time -- measured either by time on the board or number of posts made on the board. Yes, they should have been around long enough to understand the community and to give members a sense of the veteran's ability to contribute. But those "longevity" bars should be set fairly low. I'm purely spit-wadding here, but am thinking at least 1 month and at least 50 posts.

Finally, the value of such a forum would be that veterans who know their way around WLS could seek and receive input from other veterans who also know their way around WLS.

I don't mean for this to sound "elitist," but some of the least helpful threads here are those in which a veteran who's struggling with regain or physical changes (maybe even late-stage complications) or life stresses have asked for input -- and people who aren't even 6 months post-op or, worse, haven't yet had WLS, chime in with irrelevant comments, advice, or distracting newbie questions.

Finally, for anyone reading this thread who wonders why there's a need for such a veterans-only forum, here's why: Veterans don't hang around any message board to answer the same newbie questions over and over. Newer members 6-12 months out can handle those kinds of questions.

But just like newbies, veterans need support for THEIR issues. If they don't get that support here, they leave. If that happens, no one will be available to address the questions of those who are approaching maintenance -- which, IMHO, is even more challenging than the weight loss phases.

My two cents' worth.

This ^^^^^

@Rogfulm

@@gowalking

@@Inner Surfer Girl

@@B-52

@@KindaFamiliar

@@MichiganChic

@@Oregondaisy

@@NikkiDoc

@@erp

I completely agree and think 18 months post-op makes sense - even though I am only 12 1/2 months post-op. I like what @@VSGAnn2014 said that others could read the forum to glean info but not be able to post until they are satisfying the restriction.

Sent from my HTC One M9 using the BariatricPal App

I love the idea of a vets only restricted. Time post op makes a lot of sense.

Nice work!

Agreed. It's definitely needed in my opinion!!

I also agree. I don't post a lot but am over 2 1/2 years post revision to sleeve and had the band for almost 3 years before that. I got within 14 pounds of goal and then gained 20 and am working my way back down and would welcome the idea of vets only for those with similar issues.

Want to know the funny thing? I don't even feel like a vet. I'm still trying to figure out this maintenence thing!

I also agree. I don't post a lot but am over 2 1/2 years post revision to sleeve and had the band for almost 3 years before that. I got within 14 pounds of goal and then gained 20 and am working my way back down and would welcome the idea of vets only for those with similar issues.

Yup. THIS is the perfect reason that we need the vet forum

@@VSGAnn2014 - OK, that makes sense.

@@LipstickLady - After reading some of the posts, yep this idea makes sense. Esp. with change of life issues that I think I will be hitting me down the road. Might want to ask @B-52. I don't see him bouncing around as much as he used to and I wonder if this is something that would get him back in the mix.

Tag him and anyone else you are missing!! I can't remember everyone's exact names. We need MrPhoto, the biker guy, some of those darn aussies, etc. Tag them all!

Hey...what am I, chopped liver?? LOL!

Well so far, it seems we have quite the majority in favor of closing down posts/replies to anyone who is not 12-18 months post op.

I am all for people of all stages being able to read, though! Great thought, @@VSGAnn2014

Is that possible, @@Alex Brecher ?

@@gowalking


(Is that better??)

@@gowalking ...

Seriously, everybody tag everybody you can think of.

There are so many who have faded away lately.

Good Idea!

Sent from my SCH-I535 using the BariatricPal App

I'm not a Vet yet but I would like a Vet only forum, just because a lot of the newbie posts to me are like really loud background noise. I am having a hard time filtering them out for the information that is helpful to me, and at this point it makes the forum less useful for me, and I am less likely to read and post here.

I don't want to leave the forum, because there is a wealth of information here, and I do like helping new people by offering my experiences.

I always wondered why people stopped participating on forums soon after surgery and now I totally understand why.

@@VSGAnn2014 Summed it up perfectly.