how helpful is routine and structure?

very helpful, would be my assertion. "make habit your friend"

also Leisure gives rise to all the vices.

I don't know what-all vices you have but I consider donuts one of mine. now, there are a lot of ways to deal with the place down the street that makes them hot every morning: the zero tolerance, the ONE a week (moderation!)

but, in general, the best over all plan is have a life so fundamentally decent that I don't "need" a donut because I am up to my ears in self pity or stressed to the max.

and decent includes work, hopefully honest work for fair pay, in a week that is mostly routine, with some leisure thrown in.

One word:  Immensely....I think it's absolutely imperative to success, especially the first few months post-op, that a person embrace a very disciplined routine for drinking, eating, taking vitamins and exercise.   

way back in the pre-op years I remember reading a book from a man who had lost weight after researching what the best ways to do it.

two things I have always remembered were FIBER (because non-ops don't have restriction) and BOREDOM (because the more interesting your food is? the  more you eat!)

I do find routine is my friend, for a fact. 

i think routine is critical . we all get in trouble when outside our routine like travel, restaurants, holidays and such.  there is quite a bit on the vsg maintenance group about this.   diane

the link in your siggy isn't working for me, Diane, but I search on groups and found you. I will be posting at some point.

frankly? I found the LOL cat pic and decided I wanted to post it - so I thought up a subject to go with it.