One for the Vets on VSG Forum

I am humble when I read your posts. I bookmark your experiences everyday.

I am a newbie and wondering if you could do it over again, what if anything would you change during the first 3 months after surgery? 

If you wouldn't change it, what made you the most successful?

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!! Sharon 

Approved waiting for my surgery date.

 Hi and welcome, three and a half years out maintaining almost effortlessly at least it seems that way compared to trying to maintain without the sleeve and loving every minute of my life best thing I ever did. Not much I would change maybe not be so hard on myself and have a lil more patience with the scale . I think the thing that made me most successful was following the rules to a T for the first 6 months with the exception of excercise I know I shouldn't tell newbies this but I never exercised still don't probably not a good idea know I should know I would be better off but I just like to be honest and let people know it still works I mean there are some out there that for awhile aren't capable physically to excercise so I say this for them you can still do it and lose best wishes to you it is a blast 

Thanks so much. You look great. Sharon

Ditto on the exercising--didn't do enough and still don't do enough but in my head since I'm simply able to DO more of everything somehow it evens out. I mean I'm far from a couch potato (never was) but having an exercise routine just isn't me....yes, it would certainly help to be toned and fit!! Duh!!

I too, made sure I ate to the LETTER for the first six months minimum with a bite or two here and there in that whole time. I am still pretty focused HOWEVER I do find myself still STILL being drawn to salty/savory things like Pringles or Pub Mix stuff. On the other hand I'm not opposed to having chicken salad for breakfast!! Fortunately for me I love veggies and protein, even though I still have bouts of stomach/head arguments and get bored at work......so it's always a mental battle. Always. FOR ME. It isn't for everyone. I'm sure the longer we've spent living fat and eating horribly, the harder over all it is for us to conquer this battle with food choices. So much habit...bad habits.....muscle memory and reaching for and doing things bad for us....sheesh!!

It's called "being unconscious". 

Wake up and LIVE!! Right??? LOL

During the pre-op and post-op phases, I followed medical advice and adhered very closely to the recommended program. I was a lightweight and reached a normal BMI by six months and my goal weight at 8.5 months. I also lost quite a bit of weight pre-op, which helped me to reach a lower weight.

My tools for success:

1. Food tracking, both pre-op and post-op. I weigh and measure my food.

2. Exercise, including weight training. I started this at 3 months post-op and continue to this day.

3. daily weighing and taking my weekly weight on Sunday.

4. face to face and online support

5. Stay within a specific caloric range and the food tracker helps me to monitor other nutrients.

6. Take my vitamins and supplements everyday.

I have been maintaining within a two pound range since mid-April, almost a year. Wow!! Never have been able to that before WLS.

Gail

Wonderful post Sharon.  Bless all you veterans *****sponded so generously.  I love OH.               You all are the BEST!

Weight tracking.  I weighed daily, and still do, but didn't start actually recording my weight until about 6 mos.  The scale was moving, and I was pretty happy during that time, but afterwards, I was never able to go back and see how my weight loss proceeded. 

Some people also measure themselves, and then take measurements periodically.  I never did that, and never cared about it (my clothing told me everything I needed to know),  but you might want to consider it.

Then I just read a post by someone who had reached goal and said she regretted never doing any side shots for her "before" and "during" photos. 

As far as what I ate and drank, I pretty much followed the rules to a T, and I'm grateful I was able to do that.  I did get into carb experimenting twice, which slowed my weight loss.  One time I decided I needed grilled-cheese sandwiches, and bought that thin Pepperidge Farm bread so I could have a half-sandwich.  I had a grilled cheese sandwich probably 7-8 times over the next 2 weeks.  Another time, I figured I could fit those 100-calorie snack paks into my day.  Epic fail both times.  However, it was a learning opportunity - and the lesson is, even when I was within my calorie limits, if I throw refined carbs into the mix I don't lose weight, or it slows down.  Evil fekkin carbs.

Would not change a thing.

Things that contributed hugely to success to this point

Going through the failed weight loss and revision surgery forums and every single "Help I am X time out and have gained X pounds" post.  People who are brave enough to come back and ask for help have AMAZING wisdom to share.  On the failed WLS and revision forums, I would find them in their respective forums and with the ones I found on this forum, I would click "latest posts."  People sometimes know where things went wonky and sometimes we misremember - if they were active on their forum, you can sometimes see a pattern emerge.  What did I DO with this?  Well, I looked for ME in their stories, and worked on hatching a plan to set myself up for success. If you hear there is a traffic jam on the radio, wisdom says, GO ANOTHER WAY.  Same same. 

I got my ass to goal as fast as I could.  *FOR ME* this worked out to be following the lower carb, lower calorie program that I was given.  This was important for me because I DO NOT have the laser focus that some folks here do.  Man!  They amaze me and leave me in wonder and I am proud on them, but knowing myself - I only have so much laser focus to give before my give a **** gets jammed.  I had a recent history of not meeting goals, and this was not going to be one of those times.  Everyone has to find out the best way to maintain where they land, NOT EVERYONE GETS TO WHERE THEY WANTED TO BE!! The food was going to be there when I was through, but I needed to work on setting me up for success and making good habits, so treading the path back to where I came from took effort.

I tracked my food.  I still track my food. Its not for everyone but its for me.  My relationship was too broken to try and **** myself that I could be intuative or just eat some of whatever.  It really does work for some folks!  I played my betting hand on risking my life for an elective surgery and possibly destroying my relationship with my husband (because its happened before after wls). I was not willing to roll the die on this.  It literally takes me 5 minutes.  Its not a hassle for me, its like balancing my checkbook.  5 minutes a day to invest in an investment that saved my life and gave me health back?  Yes m'am.  Its for me.  I track food, weight, and moods.  You cannot believe how many times a "healthy" food turned into a meltdown or tailspin for me.  It was nice to be able to pinpoint what the hell it was!

I worked on changing the self defeating thoughts that showed up in my head. . I worked on changing the way I talked to myself, how I framed situations that were not optimal - I treated me, with my words, and my behaviors, LIKE A FRIEND WORTH HAVING!!.

I exercised, but I did that and was active and walked a marathon at 250 pounds, so that was always going to be what I did after also, but it does help change the way I inhabit my body.  I also lifted weigths so I could partner with my body and not just work so hard and then hate on the way my skin hung around me.  Plastics are not in my future unless I become a widow.  And then I will be sad, and I will have snugger fitting skin britches.  :}

I just did not **** myself about behaviors.  Folks will ask questions about their stalls, and folks will chime in about food stats, but what catches my eye are self destructive behaviors.  For a lot of us, this is about more than the size of our servings.  Not all! But some!

I TOOK PICTURES OF EVERYTHING!!  :}  Take pictures of you in the same clothes at the ame distance in the same pose!  You can see changes like that that you cannot just see lookin in the mirror or pictures of you in different clothes at different distances.  I also took pictures of me in my unders, to see what what going on with my skin.

This book helped me bring foods in at maintenance that I cannot handle in my every day life. 

http://books.google.com/books?id=Nl2bfrlGW4AC&lpg=PR1&ots=FrkuEEWBTi&dq=%22thin%20commandments%22&pg=PR4#v=onepage&q&f=false

What makes me successful to this point?  My relationship with myself after wls is just a relationship. You have phases, you go through changes. I do what I do now, but I am WILLING to do what I need to do to make this work.

I track my labs, I make sure I meet my minimums in protein and water, I take my vitamins.  If I was not willing to do those things, for me, surgery should not have even been on my mind. 

I used behaviors as goals, not weights or sizes.  I listened to people who had done this before I had an learned from ALL of them.  Not everything everyone says applies to me, not now, but it could!  Some day!!

And every day I get to wake up and breathe, even when its a ****ty day, I am thankful.  I am thankful for a do over, for a return to "manufacturers default settings" :}

Trouble still comes, trouble does not care about the size of your bottom, but the behaviors I have worked hard to make my pattern help me cope with things, without having to deal with trouble and ALSO flog myself for being self destructive with food too. 

be sweet girlie.  Its a wild ride, its not always pretty, but its been worth it to me.

Well said, what a warrior you are....so wonderful to read your experience, strength and your hope....