Do you feel... normal?

prettypixels
on 7/7/11 12:44 am
 Once you are past the initial post-op period, that is, and have kind of settled in to life with your DS... do you feel normal?

I remember when I first heard about the band, it made so much sense to me.  Adjustable!  I'd be FULL on less food!  How simple and wonderful!  

I did tons of reading about it, and still made what I now feel was a bad choice.  But I didn't have all the info.  At that time, there were no people posting their bad experiences, just good ones!  Anyone like me, who posted that things just weren't working, were told that they were doing it wrong.  The fault lies with THEM, not with the surgery itself.  If you are still hungry with the band, it's you doing something WRONG.  So for me, and probably lots of other people, I just HID because I was so ashamed.  I had WLS and did not lose weight!  WTF is wrong with me!

I know with the DS, I *will* lose weight.  But I am so scared of making another bad decision, like what if in ten years people are saying some bad thing about the DS that we didn't know about?  

Then again I think, well... if I live that ten years slender and active, my chances of riding out anything that may come in the future are that much better!  

I don't know, I know I am rambling.  I'm so ready to do this, but still just thinking everything through.  If you were a revision, how did you quiet your secondhand guessing yourself?  
Banded in 2001 at 217 lbs - Band to DS revision 10/25/11 at 310 lbs
If life with your band sucks, you are not alone and it's not your fault.  Check out the failed lap band group!

    
(deactivated member)
on 7/7/11 12:52 am
I'm as normal as I've ever felt, physically.  If you didn't know I had any WLS - you certainly wouldn't figure it out by watching me eat. 

I was not a revision, so I can't help you out there....but DS life is pretty amazing once you figure out your own body and what it needs.    The first year is a lot of trial and error....but after that, it's really pretty simple.  Protein, supplements.  Non-negotiable.  Everything else, in my opinion, is gravy.

I'm just about 6 years out (as of Monday, in fact) and I would do it again tomorrow if I needed to.  Thankfully because I chose wisely, I don't have to.

Best of luck,

Sharon
prettypixels
on 7/7/11 1:03 am
Thanks Sharon! You look amazing. Part of what has appealed to me about this surgery from the beginning is the quality of life stuff that I see people posting about, eating normally, not having the crazy cravings and hunger anymore. I want that so much. I was sitting here thinking about my last weight loss, which was about three years ago... I lost 17 lbs via Weigh****chers and was super hungry, and was exercising like crazy. 17 lbs! Like I had to fight like crazy to lose that much. I think I *could* fight like crazy to lose weight again, but then to maintain that level of fighting-like-craziness forever? No way. How could anyone? The only time I ever lost *significant* weight, I was literally only eating every other day, and exercising an hour or more every day.

I don't wanna have to *fightlikecrazy* forever.
Julie R.
on 7/7/11 3:45 am - Ludington, MI
 This post, about exercising like a maniac and starving on Weigh****chers only to lose 17 pounds, could have been written by me 5.5 years ago.     Losing, and heaven forbid if I ever made it that far, maintaining weight was an incredible, never-ending struggle for me.   I don't think ANYBODY who has never been significantly overweight, could even fathom how difficult it is.    My body always felt like it was eating itself up, especially when I tried higher carb diets, like Weigh****chers.   I used to go to bed early at night, because I couldn't stand to stay awake and be so hungry.  I'd wake up in the middle of the night with a growling stomach, and try to lull myself back to sleep by fantasizing what it would be like to be thin.   Ya know...they used to tell you at all those meetings?  Visualize yourself thin.  Ha.  Bull****   I oh-so-know what you mean about "fighting-like-crazy" weight management, my dear.

So fast forward five years, and I'm sitting here eating a bowl of tuna macaroni salad made with Dreamfields low-carb pasta, heavy on the tuna, heavy on the mayo.      I'm eating it r-e-a-l-l-y slowly, because I'm getting full, so I'm just kind of picking at it, seeing if I can fini****   Do you ever recall picking at anything as an obese person?   Nah - I couldn't leave food on my plate if my firstborn's life depended on it.   Now, if I'm full, so what?   I'll pu**** away, and eat some more a couple of hours later.    If I eat too many carbs (which can be too frequently, especially potato chips) I cut back a bit for a few days.    It's no big deal.   I fill up on protein, maybe make some ricotta fluff (this week I made a low-carb buttermilk pie) and generally just try not to make a pig of myself for a while.    When I was MO, it was an "all or nothing at all proposition."  I was either starving or gorging, losing or gaining.    I've been within the same five pound range for three years now.   I'm wearing the same clothes for the fifth summer in the row.   I wear clothes out now.....I don't think I've ever done that, except for maybe the inner thighs of my jeans, from my legs rubbing together. 

I just spent the morning running around, doing errands, and I'm waiting for the sun to come out a bit more so I can go and walk the beach.   If you were to see me bustling around on errands, you'd probably perceive me as a small, energetic, middle-aged woman.    You wouldn't give me a second glance, except maybe to note that I sure had a lot of high fat foods in my shopping cart for someone this size!

Okay, so what's the not-so-normal?    I have to take a ****load of vitamins.    I really struggle with my vitamin D and my bone density is paying the price.   I have to get iron infusions.   I probably go to the doctor as much as the average 50-year-old woman does, but it seems like I have to go a lot - to get labs checked, etc.    

If I eat too much crap, like white flour and sugar, I get REALLY TERRIBLE gas.   I mean really terrible.   I will also poop all night.    So I try to tone that down a bit, especially when I have to be out in the evenings, and I do value my sleep.    I think I'm not as strong as I used to be.    I don't have the muscle mass I did when I was carrying around that extra weight, and sometimes I struggle to open heavy doors, or pick up big bags of cat food, etc.  I suppose I could lift more weights.    Or get rid of the cats.   

That's it.   Yup - I feel pretty damn normal.   
Julie R - Ludington, Michigan
Duodenal Switch 08/09/06 - Dr. Paul Kemmeter, Grand Rapids, Michigan
HW: 282 - 5'4"
SW: 268
GW: 135
CW: 125

(deactivated member)
on 7/7/11 1:30 am - Lancaster, OH
I do feel normal.
I eat reasonable portions of food (hardly EVER seconds, though.  Which, of course, was normal pre-surgery).  I eat whatever everybody else is eating, generally.  Although, I usually just eat the topping off of pizza, not the crust itself, simply because I fill up on two small pieces if I eat the crust.  Anyway, when I was "Atkins"-ing it years ago, I did the same thing, so, not much new there.  I do focus on protein and fat, so have very little room for carbs, but it all seems pretty normal to me.
Physically, I get to do what normal people do.  I shop where they shop, eat where they eat, ride amusement park rides where they do, zip-line where they zip-line (the mostest funnest thing EVAH!).
I do pay closer attention to my health now.  Although I was anemic pre-surgery and it was untreated, it is a bigger deal now.  But, infusions are a wonderful thing, and they keep me on an even keel.
As an obese person, I abused myself more (skipping meals, etc.).  Now, I make sure I get to eat when I want to, and I make sure I take my supplements.  I really am kinder to myself.  But, part of that may be that I'm getting older, and everything takes a bigger toll, not sure.
I'm coming up on 4 years post op, and, I love my new "normal".
geekgirl127
on 7/7/11 1:35 am - Indianapolis, IN
Yeah,

I actually feel more normal than I did pre- DS... I feel like I can eat food, sure smaller quanities, but I'm not always dieting and feeling like I need to be ultra strict.  I do eat low carb 90% of the time but if I'm at a party or what not or work pitch0in I feel I can participate just like a normal person where as before I felt guarded on what I can eat.  I really feel the DS was the best decision I ever made.
HW/SW/CW/GW = 371/352/168/130  - I love my DS!!
  
  


        
(deactivated member)
on 7/7/11 2:23 am - NC
I'm 4-weeks post-op and I def feel like things are getting back to "normal" for me.  I def feel a difference in the way I'm eating, and supplementing, but it's doable.  I'll be honest and say that my first couple weeks were rough, but I would never change my decision to have the DS.  In talking with several people on here, some of which have had the band previous to the DS, they couldn't be happier with their decision to have the band removed and the DS done.  This forum is great for being open and honest and putting it all out there.  I've felt completely welcomed and have really opened up a great new trove of information. 
ann M.
on 7/7/11 2:43 am - Northern, VA
My life and relationship with food is sooooo much more normal now than it ever had been in my teenage and adult life.  I used to watch other people to figure out how much to eat.  My "full" signal was amazingly broke.

Now, when I'm hungry I eat.  When I'm full, I stop.  It seems so simple as to be ridiculous.   But it is such a relief.  The DS is the real deal.

SW / BMI / SIZE:  312 / 49.5 / 26-28W         CW / BMI / SIZE:  159.1 / 25.1/ 10-12 
I need to lose about 2 more pounds for a normal BMI .  I still seem to be slowly losing at over 2 yrs out...so may get there yet.

Switched4Life
on 7/7/11 2:46 am
     One of the most significant aspects of living the DS life (aside from being literally half the size I was pre-surgery) is how absolutely normal I feel.  I have no physical sense that my insides have been re-arranged.  I feel normal...wonderful, actually.  I eat normally...have normal bathroom habits...and live just like a person who never had a weight problem...and at the perfect weight for my height.  I don't even have surgical scars. 

     Of course, I closely monitor my protein intake, supplements, and labs.  But that's quite easy to do.  I can eat anything, just not nearly as much as I wanted to before surgery.  

     I do have some excess skin, but not enough to be an issue or to consider surgery.  Of course, I am older, so I am not as concerned about how I might look on a beach (which I am not interested in visiting, anyway).

     It is quite daunting to consider having this surgery.  I remember how scared I was.  I was not a revision, so I can't counsel you about your surgery.  But I would have my DS surgery done every year if I had to in order to live like this.

     Good luck.

     Michael
Tabitha70
on 7/7/11 3:48 am
Hello. :-)
I am a revision from RNY to DS. I'm not sure what you mean by feeling 'normal' but I can say that for me personally, as a revisioner I seem to have more worries and doubts about this surgery working than first-timers and I'm over 2 & 1/2 years out. I would think that those thoughts are 'normal' though. It's not easy to forget the feelings and experiences of my first surgery which were pretty much all bad. I definitely believe in the DS more than any other weight-loss surgery but I'm not there 100%. I fear I will gain back the weight just like with the RNY and experience all the crappy depression failure feelings that went along with it. (I didn't lose much with the RNY to begin with and then gained it back so the DS has already proven to me that it is much better). Sometimes when I'm having a bad day for some other reason I allow my mind to wander and I wonder how I'd feel if they come up with some super-pill that works or some other miracle and maybe I'll be struggling with keeping weight off at that time but because of already having the surgery I won't be able to take the magic stuff!  Just weird thoughts like that.
I'm just saying that I think it is normal for someone that's getting on this ride for the second time after a failed first surgery, to be extra-cautious and not overly confident. At the same time you are getting the best tool to fight obesity with and you can be positive and hopeful about this being a much better journey than your first one!
Hope something in here made sense!
Hugs to you and Best wishes!!

*************************************************************************************

RNY 11/00
with starting BMI of 57. Most lost was 52% EWL and BMI of 41.
Gained back every single pound.
Revision to DS 12/08 with starting BMI of 57 (again)
Over 3 years DS post-op, currently BMI of 26.3 
200lbs. gone as of 6/27/10 !!  I'm HALF of the old me as of 10/8/10 !! ONEderland 3/7/11 !!

LadyDi1970 and I are Angel buddies! 

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