Members Speak
Coordinated By Saralicious,
OH Member Support Team
Hello Everyone! Kathy is on a well deserved vacation, so I’m filling in this month.
Our topic: Weight Loss Words of Wisdom
I have two bits of wisdom that can be used in making other changes in your life.
1. Take it one day at a time. Patience is a virtue (which I’m still working on). If you fall get back up, don’t let one step off the path completely detour your journey.
2. Don’t compare yourself to others. We are all unique. Measure your success by how you define it, not by what others have achieved. We have different bodies, different surgeries, different health issues, no two people are alike and no two people lose the same way or at the same speed!
Do you have any Weight Loss Words of Wisdom to share with us and our readers?
 |
Good advice. We just discussed this at our meeting yesterday in Belleville. Comparing yourself, which we all do at one time or another, is not a healthy emotion. Move on... celebrate YOUR success - Submitted by bakeme |
 |
Hi Sarah! Great words of wisdom. Here are some of mine. 1. Weight modification requires behavior modification (choose to be aware of how much you are eating). 2 Twenty minutes of exercise a day can mean the difference between "fab" and flab. 3. Reward yourself with life's sweetness, but not with sweets. (When you meet a goal in your weight loss plan.) 4.Most people don't plan to fail, they simply fail to plan! 5. Stressed is desserts spelled backwards! That’s it for my weight loss wisdom. - Submitted by: Sandy77 |
 |
This is my opportunity to take control of my life. Every day is a chance to make a choice. I've done the bad and the ugly, now I choose the good and beautiful. |
 |
Don't set unrealistic goals for yourself. Your body sets its own weight loss pace, and setting a time goal is counterproductive and may result in setting yourself up for failure. We are already hard on ourselves and many of us have low self-esteem, so unreachable goals results in placing the focus on failures, instead of rejoicing in successes. - Submitted by Just Janie |
 |
1. For pre-ops: Research, read, and learn! Take notes as you read to form a list of questions to ask your surgeon. Only YOU can be the advocate for your own health and well being through this process! |
 |
Hello all, I am pre-op. My surgery is 5-18. If I may post my two cents? This is for newbie's who are just beginning the process. From day one until surgery can be a difficult process. Take it from me, be patient. Try your best to understand that every step in the pre-op process is very necessary to ensure that your Wls experience is safe and successful. Personal note: From November, when I decided to have the surgery, and February when I attended the seminar, through the exercise and nutrition evaluation, the psych eval and insurance approval, I was very anxious. I suffered from migraines, and my blood pressure meds were raised three times. My doctor worried I would have a stroke. What I am saying now. my husband does not know, so, please be careful. Most of us are doing this because of medical problems and if you are, do not make them worse. Whatever your reason, please be careful. - Submitted by nasirsmom99 |
|
I am a newbie as well, but I would like to share that this is a journey. You may find that the friends you start out with are not the friends that you end with. Surround yourself with real people who care about you and what you are trying to achieve. You should not feel like you have to do this alone. Take advantage of all the support on websites like this. And last but not least, remind yourself that you are worth it. - Submitted by dee1621 |
|
By the time we have Wls, most of us have pretty low self-esteem and do a good job of beating ourselves up over every little thing we do that isn't perfect. It takes a long time to relearn behavior so my #1 word of wisdom would be: Keep record of every little choice you make that is better than the choice you would have previously made. Celebrate each of those moments because they are victories in your long-term behavior recovery. Spend more time re-reading and remembering your victories than stressing over the extra bite you took. If you choose to park further away from the store so you can walk extra steps...pat yourself on the back. If you begin your day with water and vitamins rather than waiting for when you feel like it...give yourself some credit. If you grab the cheese stick and apple when you are hungry rather than the peanut butter crackers you really want...brag on yourself to a friend or family member. These are the little victories that make the difference in success and failure but we seldom see them as such. Instead, we wait for the scale to show a huge loss and if it doesn't, we blame ourselves. - Submitted by Sandra B. |
 |
I sometimes get comments from people in my life about how I am depriving myself of "satisfaction" by denying myself certain foods. They sometimes remark on how I'm "overdoing it" with exercise. I don't know why they want to try to tear down my resolve, but I refuse to let them. I waited eight years, due to insurance, to have this surgery. I am truly grateful for every pound lost, no matter how long it takes to lose or how much I have to exercise. I don't think of myself as being deprived of the foods I love. I consider myself blessed to have this chance to get my life back. I try not to compare myself with others, because that can lead to feelings of frustration and self-loathing. I've had enough of those feelings in my life! Those who would sabotage me are ignored. This is my life, not theirs. When I feel my resolve beginning to fail, I remind myself that nothing is more satisfying than getting on the scale and realizing I've taken another step closer to my goal, nothing makes me happier than feeling better physically and mentally, and the only thing I'm depriving myself of is an early death. - Submitted by pyrovixen |
|
Two things I would like to add: |
 |
I agree with what everyone is saying. For me, this process is all about choices. Being more aware and mindful of the choices I am making - whether it is to come home at the end of a long day and get my a$$ to my Tae Kwon Do class instead of feeling like I have "earned" sitting on the couch like a sack of potatoes, or to pack and bring meals and snacks instead of putting my health last, failing to plan, starving myself half the day, and then buying and overeating tons of crap far into the evening. Making better, healthier choices most of the time really adds up. For me, it has added up to 97 pounds of weight loss, to be exact! I'm not perfect in following my diet and exercise plan, but I am vigilant about getting exercise and what I eat - when I screw up I feel ill most of the time -- what you eat actually does directly affect how you feel physically! So, when I make a poor choice, I try to learn from it and move on. Bariatric surgery has been an excellent tool for me to make real and lasting changes in my choices, and I feel SO much better. - Submitted by sarah66 |
 |
Stay positive, live now, and be happy. - Submitted by Miz_Independent |
 |
1.Weight Loss surgery is not a cure-all. Unless you confront all your other emotional issues, you will never be happy where you are. 2. Think twice, cut once. If you have even the slightest uneasy feeling about the surgery you decided on, stop. Take a breath. and re-think everything. You have to be ready to make a change and be sure you do not have to go in for a revision. More cutting= higher risks. 3. Build a good support system and use them. It is a long road and you need people you can count on to talk to and lean on. - Submitted by yex1 |
 |
Be your own best friend. Would you put your best friend down by insulting her, or would you encourage her? You probably wouldn't be a food pusher if you knew she was on a diet... and you probably wouldn't tell her "that bathing suit looks great except for those dimpled thighs!" Embrace yourself, love yourself, encourage yourself, and be kind. Positive self-talk is so important because you will believe it and live it. - Submitted by FlabToFab |
 |
Mandy, you are so right. The things I say to myself I would never dream of uttering to even my worst enemy. I am working on it though. |
 |
"WLS is a JOURNEY, not a DESTINATION. It is a journey that we must travel DAILY to succeed. Don't get comfortable because the POUNDS are NOT gone FOREVER!"~Faith * - Submitted by Faith * |
 |
Starting with the appropriate size portion, and then waiting an hour if I "think" I'm still hungry, is the best way I've found to stop overeating. Waiting before I eat more allows time for my brain to register that my body's been fed and gives me time to determine real hunger from head hunger. The difference between real hunger and "head hunger"? Real hunger grows over time and usually anything will satisfy the urge. Head hunger or cravings are usually centered around a specific flavor, texture, visual cue or memory and will eventually pass if ignored. So, waiting before you indulge can save you a lot of added calories! Some helpful tips for controlling portion size: *Measure each portion by weight or volume. (For me a portion is 1/2 cup or 3 oz.) *Use small plates and bowls so your dish looks full. *Set a pretty table. I collect different salad and dessert plates to dress up my solid white dishes. I always feel better eating off of a pretty plate rather than a boring plastic container, for example. *Use salad forks and teaspoons to eat, not the bigger utensils. *Don't serve the food at the table. Dish up in the kitchen so you're not tempted to nibble. *Eat mindfully. Don't try to eat when you're distracted with TV., games, web surfing, etc. *My five bite rule: With good restriction, I know that I only have about five bites before I'm done. Make each bite count by taking time to chew well and appreciate the aroma, flavors, texture and your over all sensory reaction to each bite. When the next bite doesn't enhance the "experience" of eating then you're probably done! - Submitted by Lisa O. |
 |
A very different approach worked for me! It would not work for some others! 1. Don't count, measure or weigh food. Make what you know to be the healthy choice and the band (once you are restricted) will control the quantities for you. Counting makes you think of food all the time. (BUT this only works if you have restriction and know what constitutes healthy food, so you may have to ignore this tip at first) 2. Don't set short-term goals with deadlines. You may well miss the deadline and you will then feel like a failure. Goals are fine! Just not with deadlines. Also, you will think about food and weight all the time! 3. Weigh as often as you like but don't worry if you stall or even gain. Look at the monthly picture, not the daily or weekly one. 4. Don't compare yourself to others. We are all different and in any case, no-one can guarantee that everything you read on a message board is true! 5. Don't be unrealistic. It is going to take a long time to lose all that weight. Enjoy feeling better all the time and stop spending all your time fantasizing about what has not yet happened. 6. Don't get hungry. Just makes you think of food all the time. Don't get hung up on the number of meals and snacks. Hunger is the enemy, not food. So if you need an extra meal or snack, if it still keeps you in a reasonable daily intake, go for it. 7. Don't deprive yourself - only sets up an obsession for what you can't have. You can have it, just not much and not often. 8. Don't feel guilt when (not if, when) you make poor food choices. No point in being depraved (and depraved is so much more fun than deprived) if it doesn't give you pleasure! Just think, that was good, that is over, that is the past - and move on. To me there are two enemies - and neither is food! I like food! My enemies are hunger and obsession. So I don't let myself do either! If I am genuinely hungry (and sorry, we have to learn to live with head hunger), I eat. And I keep food in its place, a wonderful substance, designed to keep me healthy and give me pleasure WHEN I WANT IT. OK, so I get it wrong sometimes; well, quite often, actually! But most of the time, this is my philosophy. - Submitted by kate P |
 |
My motto is "The fight is bite by bite." I used to say take it a day at a time, but then it became a meal at a time and now since surgery, it is literally a bite at a time, because you will definitely know when you've had that one bite that you shouldn't have. |
 |
One of our (former?) veteran posters had a good saying: "You can do hard things." I live by that. This process is not easy. I shouldn't expect it to be. Great change never is. But I can do hard things. I can do this. That is so comforting and empowering. - Submitted by Cleopatra_Nik |
 |
This is something that I posted a few weeks ago....hopefully it helps someone.... This is NOT the easy way out! We have been granted a tool to help us lose the excess weight that we either haven't been able to lose or could lose, but not keep it off. I have been very open about my surgery, it is not a secret among my family or friends. I think that the majority of them understand what I have gone through and have been amazingly supportive. The way I describe it to others is that you can own a hammer (the tool), but the hammer won't build you a house. You have to use the hammer and put in a lot of work to build the house. THEN, as all you homeowners know, you have to maintain that house. It is a lifetime of maintenance. If you let something go for too long, it is a bigger job to fix later. You have to pay the mortgage (eat right), pay the taxes (take your vitamins), mow the lawn (exercise) and all of the other responsibilities of home ownership. - Submitted by MultiMom |
 |
Consider carefully whether or not you are going to tell others about your surgery. Once it is out in the public domain, it is forever their information and not yours. People feel they are free to invade your privacy, ask anything, comment on every morsel of food that goes in your mouth and will forever judge your decision. Quite frankly, I could not endure more scrutiny on my weight-loss or weight-gain, that I already have the past 20 years. I chose not to "tell"! At times it is difficult because there are friends, acquaintances really who I think could benefit from RNY but they are also friends that I would not trust with my deepest secrets. When people ask how I am losing weight, I tell them the truth, watch everything that goes in my mouth, protein ahead of all else, vitamins and exercise. Then if they persist and want more, I direct them to the local bariatric center with a gym, dietician and doctor - surgery can be discussed there if the regular weight loss program is not for them. Even with being quite guarded about my weight loss I still get the skinny gals who want to know "just EXACTLY how much have you lost anyway?" People can be so rude! - Submitted by momtothree |
 |
Do NOT weigh yourself every day. Human weight fluctuates a lot (especially with females), and you will drive yourself crazy if you weigh daily. Weigh once a week, preferably at the same time, on the same day each week. Generally, first thing in the morning, right after elimination is a good time. No clothing at all is the best way. Record that weight in a notebook, on a computer, somewhere where you can look back at it week after week after week. You will be amazed at just how much of an incentive seeing that pretty much steady decline can be. Do NOT freak out if you don't lose for a week, or even three or four weeks. If you stick to your diet plan, and do your regular exercise, you WILL begin to lose again. Women tend to hit plateaus much more often than men do, and there is nothing you can do about that. The same hormones that make you outlive us men, also cause you to have slower weight loss. It is also a good idea to measure yourself once a month. Measure your neck, chest, waist, hips, biceps and thighs, and record that in the same notebook or program. You will discover that even when you don't lose much (or even nothing) you do lose size. You want to talk about something that will make you REALLY feel good, just look at those measurements over 6-12 months! You CAN do this. Many of us have, and we will be there to encourage (and sometime nag) you to reach goal. Submitted by: OldMedic |
|
Every tenth (0.1) of a pound loss is a victory! - Submitted by yvonneh120952 |
 |
~What you put into life (and weight loss) is just what you get out of it. ~WLS is a TOOL. It's only as good as YOU are at working it hard and keeping it lean! ~Those demons that haunt us (over eating, laziness) weren't acquired in a day, and getting rid of them will take nearly as long as creating them. Never give in to them! ~Goals are your best friend. It keeps you moving forward. Print them, write them, carry them with you. Review them when those junk foods are calling to you. Post them on the fridge, the pantry, on the candy machine at work. Keep them foremost in your mind as to WHY you are eating healthy and exercising. ~Share this journey with someone that loves you unconditionally and will support you no matter how often you fall or how discouraged you get. Have SOMEONE in your corner that supports you and cares about YOUR health and will be there for you. - Submitted by SuziJones |
 |
VSG surgery is not a magic pill it is only a TOOL. You get out of it exactly what you put into it. Follow the eating program and get moving, even if it is a walk every day. The results will follow. Submitted by Rosebud2 |
 |
Take this as a journey to rediscover every part of you that's been hidden. The fat sometimes acts as a mask hiding not just physical appearance, but emotions, feelings, thoughts and dreams. Do NOT forget to explore the newer sides in terms of all that. You will NOT be the same person 100%... and the growth and person that you find can be a beautiful thing. - Submitted by Brandi D |
 |
My tip - even before my actual surgery - REMEMBER YOUR GOAL. When we get down, or make a food mistake, just get back up and REMEMBER YOUR GOAL. What started you on the road to get here - make it count. - Submitted by RBStorm |
 |
Remember your self-worth is not measured by the number on the scale. - Submitted by Angeldlynn48 |
 |
What others say about your weight loss decisions matter, only if they are willing to carry the consequences of their opinions. - Submitted by baritweet |
|
As Forrest Gump once said...Life is like a box of chocolates...when the weight comes off, it will open up all sorts of different experiences. Just like the different centers in those choccys. Just remember not to eat too many of those darn chocolates! x x x - Submitted by lindsfromcroft |
|
"Just do it, a million of times if you have to. Don't be stupid." - Submitted by Home-Cardio-Freak |
|
Sarah, Thanks for your words of wisdom. I needed to hear them today. My word of wisdom is: If you have gained some weight since WLS, please do not feel like a failure. Reach out for help and support, for so many people have this problem and feel ashamed and don't want to talk about it. I look at my journey as a war. A war has many battles. Some I win and some I lose. I only lose the war when I give up. I have fought the battle of obesity all my life and I continue to fight battles every day. I take ownership for choices I have made and realize my surgery is only a weapon. Depending on how I use it will depend if I win the battle for the day. If I lay it down and don't use it today I will lose the battle but each day is a new battle for me and the war is not over. My army ( myself, friends, support and my WLS Tool) continues to move forward. How about everyone else. See you lighter. Joanne - Submitted by Hambear |
|
There is the potential for redemption in every moment we are alive. - Submitted by Redhaired |
Batwingsman · 0 replies · 245 views
Batwingsman · 0 replies · 245 views