What would you have asked?

Jess,

I think it seems short sighted to us, who are having surgery at the time....but they give us the tool to use and then they have no control over how it is used or abused. They have done what they can.

Maintainence and staying in the game of keeping health to our optimum is in the hands of the individual.

Keep your positive attitude, follow the rules , guidelines given, and seek out advise of others "who have been there and did that" can have a great impact for the rest of your life.

That is good advice! I'm definitely grateful for this forum. I have learned so much here!

I would mention that surgery is not a magic bullet. It helps, it is a real jump start to your effort, but that it doesn't mean that you won't have to struggle with eating, food, and weight ever again. Speaking for myself, emotional need for food, stress eating, and hunger all continue to be factors one year out, so you will always need to keep that in mind and stay vigilant about intake and diet. Still, I would emphasize that the surgery has helped so much in this.

....Permanency of the changes made to the body needs to be addressed...this is a physical change , a tool to assist in weight loss...not the "end all" of all weight issues.

....Eating a prescribed diet does not stop in 2,4, 6 months or a year. It continues for the rest of your life....

...If one has 'issues" that cause them to eat...those must be addressed concurrently.

....Vitamins, supplements, measuring food and fluids are not optional. Keeping copies of all instructions in a file folder..and making copies of the things current to the time frame involved.- and time expected to remain on each phase... ie liquid diet, soft diet, protein, carb and fluid guidelines. Having these for quick reference is very helpful to keep one on track.

....regular check ups of labs, especially at the 2- thru 12 the years post-0p is absolutely necessary. By this time any stores of nutrients needed for maintainence have been slowly depleated.Yearly monitoring will protect the health of your teeth, and bones as well as your energy.

It is in this time frame that anemia's become evident. There are natural supplements that can be taken such as dessicated liver( my internist said, is the perfect food) to help maintain iron stores of those who may have problems with absorbtion... (this is my big issue, It has taken me 3 years to recover my iron levels thru diet(eating 2oz. liver 4 times a week and dessicated liver)-so prevent and being-aware of any drop is vital)

As weight loss occurs, embrace your image, and body changes in the mirror. Doing so, will help in the acceptance of many changes to be expected with large amounts of weight loss. It took me years before I would go to the proper sizes in the clothing department...this was one of the tools that was most effective... to keep my mind in sinc with where my "size" was/is.

Wearing a support, like a girdle, and doing abdominal and pelvic exercises helped me to have better support for the remaining skin.Since I was unable to get another surgery this has remained important.

.Each person is individal with their weight gain and loss. Every body responds differently to the surgery and food tolerances vary. Some foods are tolerated by one person and anothers rejects the same foods at the same time markers.