You have no need to apologise.  You weren't misrepresenting your experience and it was good advice!

You'll be tons healthier with a 10lbs gain than smoking.   Don't use this as an excuse to start again.  

Honestly, most people start to regain somewhere between 2 and 5 years, so it may not be the smoking cessation.

At this stage, it's eat less, move more

Fecal occult tests are notorious for false positives, so don't be surprised if they come back suggesting an early colonoscopy!!    

Sarah, I get it - I'm on OH because I was fat and I never forget that.  

There are many people who face discrimination for their physical attributes, be it their size, their hair colour, their teeth (I've heard every English teeth joke), their height.  All these things are always hurtful and there will always be Charles Barkley's out there with the cheap shots.   When a Presidential candidate can mock disability, it seems that most bets are off.

I agree with your stance that weight shaming is unacceptable, I'm just not convinced that highlighting the asshattery of someone who won't care will achieve what you want.  Good for you for taking a stand though.

You just give him more oxygen.  Noone, who is not obese, sees obesity as a special interest group.  All publicity is good for Charles Barkley and TNT.

He's an ass, but sports fans love that about him.  This is a losing battle

And I was so nice too.

Always love these vets who turn up to either brag about how great they look, to offer their help (once every couple of years), or to sell their overpriced supplements!

I'll take advice from the old timers who are here every day for years any day!

Nice to see someone back after all this time to advise us all how to do it right     

Some of us have stuck around for the long haul and while I am thrilled that you "know" how healthy you are, without blood tests, I don't think it's a good idea for anyone to follow your example.  

There are lots of vets on here that offer advice and help on a daily basis.  It's always good to have another join the ranks 

While replying to everyone is polite, it's perfectly fine to just say thank you for your post.

Weight loss surgery is a huge cash cow to a general surgeon and more often than you want to hear, they do the surgery that suits them, not you!  Going to medical school shows you're smart, not kind.

Personally, if I had GERD I would never have a VSG, we see too many people revising to RNY after a year or two because they have developed Barretts.  We really do have YOUR best interests at heart, but at the end of the day, this is your surgery and so your choice.  At least now you are going into it with all the information.

I didn't know you were a member of OH staff?

I really consider it a gift that I left the country 4 months after surgery.  I didn't have any day to day friends to lose and OH has always been my support group.  Very few people in my life now knew me as MO.

I can only imagine how hard it is to lose good friends

Once you get a ways out,  people will stop giving you their opinions because it'll be just who you are now.    In the meantime,  you'll need to grow a thick skin.  

It works for me not to invite opinions.  I'll ask if I need them,  but until then people can zip it! 

I have never posted a before picture of me ...   

I have two labradoodles, Barney and Syrah, great dogs!

1 did liquids for a week, soft foods for a week and then food.   It might surprise people that protein shakes are not necessary, they just make it easier.

My plan was 30g protein by 30 days, 60g by 60 days and 90g by 90 days.  

I will be 12 years out in July and have never doctored my food.  I eat as lean and green as I can and I've never had a protein deficiency in any of those 12 years