Want to eat tacos 1 week post surgery?

Want to drink copious amount of alcohol a week or two after surgery or smoke joints a day before surgery?

In fact you can do anything you want to, because tens of thousands bariatric surgeons, nutritionists and nurses must all be wrong!

Just post something you know you shouldn't be doing, related to WLS, and wait until someone with no medical experience tells you it is ok to do so and ignore the other 99% of the posts that tell you that you shouldn't do that.

If everyone else is offering sound medical advice that was expressed from their WLS medical staff or information they obtained from reputable sources like the ASMBS, JAMA, etc., just remember you can prove Darwin was correct and that:

Rant over. (Microphone dropped).

Edited August 13, 201610 yr by 4MRB4PHOTO

You should ALWAYS choose what you want to hear. It makes life much more interesting and fun.

If I listened to what many people told me, I would spend quite a bit of time fornicating with myself.

Well, there's that.

This whole thread made me chuckle. Thanks!

It's a pretty simple explanation, actually.

You know how we always hear about "so and so had the surgery and gained all their weight back because they weren't ready to change"?

Most of those posts are from the so and so's of the world. You know, the ones that give WLS a bad name. Statistically speaking, it's about 50% of us.

Until the WLS industry decides to stop cranking out these surgeries in order to make a buck or a million and get more stringent about vetting who is actually ready to handle the complete life change it requires to make it successful, there will continue to be so and so's.

@@Babbs Exactly!

Until the WLS industry decides to stop cranking out these surgeries in order to make a buck or a million and get more stringent about vetting who is actually ready to handle the complete life change it requires to make it successful, there will continue to be so and so's.

Damn, it really is like getting a driver's license! I think quite a few drivers should never have gotten permission to drive a car at all.

All jokes aside - there is no way you can tell if someone is going to "mess up" after surgery or not. You'll never know for sure. There are people getting heart surgery and don't stop smoking or start smoking again, there are people who start drinking again after getting a new liver, even though they stopped drinking long enough to be able to get that liver etc. - and how many times before surgery (being on the umpteenth diet - oops, I mean lifestyle change of course) did we think This Is Finally It! This Time It Will Be Different! This Time I Will Succeed! - and yet we didn't.

About that "lifestyle change": obviously we all needed surgery to be able to do that change and we all messed up a great deal before surgery when it comes to "lifestyle changes", otherwise we wouldn't have been eligible for surgery in the first place.

O

Edited August 14, 201610 yr by sc101071

Lipstick, I've been nothing but respectful and never implied anyone "STFU". Maybe it's that kind of abrasiveness that gets me.

OH! So you are the keepers of the WLS! I am so glad you are there to protect it.

What were you saying about being "nothing but respectful", again?

I assume this was also "non abrasive"?

O

Ahhh... You edited that one.

O

Ahhh... You edited that one.

No, he is just reposting it on an installment plan, one letter at a time.

WLS- I don't care what you think of me, or the length of time on this board or dealing with all things sleeve, but I do know that ive read everything I can and taken every piece of advice from my doc to heart. You keep talking down to people if it makes you feel all mighty on a message board. At least there are those here with pure intent to help others without belittling.

I did not comment on you or your preparation for surgery and life beyond it, both of which I heretofore had no knowledge. I did not express an opinion of you; I have none. The topic is neither about you nor my view of any individual. It is about ways in which people make unreasonable and ludicrous demands, throw tantrums and delude themselves. It is about the frustration and fed-upness they engender. I accept no responsibility for your taking my notes personally. As you and I do not communicate well, I'll let it slide now. I do wish you well with your bariatric and weight-loss endeavors.

Until the WLS industry decides to stop cranking out these surgeries in order to make a buck or a million and get more stringent about vetting who is actually ready to handle the complete life change it requires to make it successful, there will continue to be so and so's.

Damn, it really is like getting a driver's license! I think quite a few drivers should never have gotten permission to drive a car at all.

All jokes aside - there is no way you can tell if someone is going to "mess up" after surgery or not. You'll never know for sure. There are people getting heart surgery and don't stop smoking or start smoking again, there are people who start drinking again after getting a new liver, even though they stopped drinking long enough to be able to get that liver etc. - and how many times before surgery (being on the umpteenth diet - oops, I mean lifestyle change of course) did we think This Is Finally It! This Time It Will Be Different! This Time I Will Succeed! - and yet we didn't.

About that "lifestyle change": obviously we all needed surgery to be able to do that change and we all messed up a great deal before surgery when it comes to "lifestyle changes", otherwise we wouldn't have been eligible for surgery in the first place.

I didn't say anything about "messing up". Most of us mess up post op. But you can't argue the fact that there are people who weren't prepared for the complete lifestyle change it requires to make this surgery successful? Otherwise you wouldn't see 50% of us fail.

If having 90% of your stomach removed isn't motivation enough to get your sh*t together, then I don't know what would be at that point! But wouldn't a comprehensive process with mental health evaluations and then therapy if needed and intensive nutritional and exercise classes be more prudent than the joke of a system they have now where you're basically put through the protocol of an hour psychological exam and an hour meeting with your NUT and then deemed ready for surgery? Wouldn't that help people be BETTER prepared?

That really was my point.

But you can't argue the fact that there are people who weren't prepared for the complete lifestyle change it requires to make this surgery successful? Otherwise you wouldn't see 50% of us fail.

Of course not. However, what would it take to really prepare people for WLS? Is that even possible? To be eligible for surgery you should already have gone through everything else that is available to lose weight so you should be quite educated about all the theory regarding lifestyle changes (nutrition, exercise, therapy etc.) - you would have to self-pay to come around all of this stuff. Maybe I'm underestimating the number of self-payers in the US.

In Germany people have to go through months long so called "multimodal concepts" since a whole while that might last from 3 months up to 9 months, depending on the insurance company and/or WLS center, to get approved for surgery (and even then it feels like playing the lottery and patients can be denied coverage).

Yet patients still have problems losing all of the excess weight or struggle with major regain. Would be interesting to compare failure/success rates though with patients who got minimal counseling before surgery.

I can't focus because of a brain injury. I would have loved it if I was given a packet of step by step instructions and attended classes. That would have been awesome. I just meet with the dietician once a month. The meetings are just kind of like, check ins. I don't get much out of them. I haven't been able to lose the 15 pounds my insurance wanted me to. Now, everyone is getting mad at me, but I don't don't feel like I had the support to begin with. She told me to do Atkins meals because I am very poor at planning because of the brain injury, but I am also, salt sensitive. Someone on one of the other posts told me that those, Atkins meals are loaded with salt. This is getting frustrating. I only have 6 weeks left and if I don't get the 15 pounds off, that's it.

Sent from my SM-J700T using the BariatricPal App

@@summerset

And now we have come full circle.

BEHAVIOR is usually an indication of success or failure with anything, correct? If these programs have a higher chance to help modify the behavior of these folks before WLS, I feel they would have a better chance at success.

That being said, I sometimes see behaviors in these forums that are not indicative of success. Hence the whole point of the OP's topic.

You get out what you put into this for sure!

Oh, and @@summerset, nice chatting with you

@@northstar9148, having sustained concussion in mid-2015 (I was fortunate to have experienced only mildest and brief enough intellectual impairment) and doing volunteer work with people with TBI (independent of my accident), I sympathize. I hope your prognosis is good.

Whether your monthly appointment with the dietitian is part of the program, you may do well to take an alert friend or relative along to help ask the questions that need asking and to ensure that the appointments serve your interests. Your partner can also take notes for you. The RD's are accustomed to working with us in a pre-planned fashion, but you need some extra attention and have the right to get it.

Certainly ask the RD if you'll be getting written instructions for the post-surgery period. It's hard to believe that hard copy isn't standard in a practice. Get them farther in advance than they're usually given so that you have more time to read through.

That said, however, I hope you've considered your ability to safely follow the program after surgery. Will you have someone to help with meal planning and cooking if necessary? I also hope I'm too late to the party and that all this has been discussed in the surgery practice and you have arrangements in place. My own fear would be not having solid support lined up, going through surgery and then finding myself unable to follow through on my own.