http://www.bariatriceating.com/2015/07/the-truth-about-bariatric-surgery/

Anyone want to share your take on this article?

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Great article. Great find!

What people don't understand as they gleefully exclaim in these threads "I'm 6 months out and I eat or drink XX all the time and I'm still losing weight!" is that their bodies are on auto pilot for the first 6 months to a year. The sheer lack of calories results in weight loss, and you could be eating mini chocolate donuts for Breakfast every day and still lose some weight because your overall caloric intake has decreased drastically.

Then our metabolism catches up to us.

That's why it's so important to cement healthy habits while that glorious honeymoon period is still in full swing where the restriction is great and the hunger is low. Once we get to our goal and are comfortably in maintenence, it's really human nature to want to push things. Dip our foot in the pool so to speak. Having that ONE cookie turns into 2 or 3. That ONE alcoholic beverage every week turns into every day. That one rare fast food hamburger you have on the run because you were ill prepared turns into 2 times a week.

Some can moderate to those things. Most can't (otherwise we wouldn't have needed surgery, right?). We have to learn what each of our individual limits are and go from there, because the further out we get from surgery, the more the weight wants to creep back up on us, even when we're towing the line pretty well.

It's a cold, hard truth that most don't understand.

If a WLS patient read nothing else but this article, they would have all the knowledge needed to be successful.

Completely agree. There are some post-wls people who can successfully maintain a normal weight using the "eat everything you want in moderation" or "make good choices 80% of the time" approaches, but I think most of us have to be much more vigilant than that.

I think a lot of people want to imagine that they are one of the lucky "I can eat whatever I want and maintain a normal BMI" few, but when confronted with evidence to the contrary (the scale going up, clothes getting tighter) they refuse to believe it.

My surgeon likes to say that if you are over 30 years old, living in Western society, and have a normal body weight, odds are very good you have to work at it. Whether or not you have ever been obese or had surgery, you still have to work at it.

I know this is true for me. Maintaining a slim, healthy body means I have to work hard, both in being vigilant with what and how much I eat and in exercising, and I don't get "treats" or "cheats" or "oopsie" slip ups if I want to stay out of plus sizes. It sucks but not as much as having to buy two airplane seats and ask for a seat belt extender sucks, and not as much as an assuredly early grave would suck.

Amen.....

So many people just really really dont friggin get it at all. They dont realize the short period of time they have to get their behaviors in order.

They dont get that this is not about a short term diet, it is about a whole new way to live your life.

Just today someone posted about getting home from the hospital, craving chocolate so they ate it. One day out......never mind you could cause serious harm but if that person doesnt understand "the article" they will never take the time to learn what actually needs to change for their long term benefit.

Maintenance in my opinion is sooooooo much harder than the weight loss phase.

1. The incentive of getting on the scale and watching the numbers go down is no longer there, now you just hope they dont go up

2. You have to find your sweet spot when it comes to your nutrition so you are not losing and not gaining....not easy!

3. Once you do screw up and go off plan for a few days it really is hard to get back on the right path. To me it sometimes feels harder than when i did it the first time.

I used to live to eat, now, I eat to live. Dont get me wrong i really still enjoy food and wine. We just have to learn how to live normally and indulge once in a while. And even then our indulging has changed. I know what I call indulging is not what it was when i weighed 310lbs.

Indulging to me is having a glass or two of wine with dinner.....a rule i normally never break. Or having a piece of dark chocolate once in a while.

All those reasons above is why I believe so few of us are left posting years later.

Yes, they could have just moved on and still be successful, but I give kudos to this board, and checking in, to keep ME going year after year.

I want to believe the seasoned vets are out there working their program....

I just wish they would visit.

@@Who'sThere

I believe in the golden seven months to a year of surgery is your best weight loss. I hope patients take full advantage of that time. I hope they fight for what they want from surgery.

I liked the article. I think others can benefit from it.

So many valid points in the article. Thanks for sharing it.

BE.com has some real, in your face truths about bariatric surgery. I refer people to them A LOT.

I don't come around much, but at more than six years out and successfully maintaining, I can say that the article is a good find.

I'm not hyper-vigilant but I still follow my original food rules more often than not. Food is a slippery slope, and I will always need to be a mindful eater, for fear of sliding into regain. Period. People in denial about their habits, or expecting their surgery to endlessly do the work for them will be disappointed, because there does come a tipping point.

Again, solid article. Thanks for sharing.

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