I've Been Thinking....

Good Friday Morning Smores! Can we all say TGIF???? I'd like to throw a question out there for everyone. And I am sincerely interested in your opinions. Does it scare anyone or offend anyone when I post about my cheating? I know I do it a lot (post,that is, not cheat lol). It took me a long time to post about my junk food junki-ismness because I was truly ashamed. I never imagined I would go through surgery and still find a way to cheat. But I guess thats what "addicition" means. You all know how I feel about you smores..........I would never intentionally post something to "scare or discourage" any one of you. But I firmly believe in telling the truth. And good or bad........I AM able to eat sweets without dumping. I just told someone in an email.........if i were a smoker instead of an eater........I would be the one still finding a way to smoke through the breathing tube in my throat. I cant help it. I dont know why I was born this way........but I try to do the best I can. I remember reading posts about people cheating when i was pre-op and I always thought to myself "why in the world would you subject yourself to surgery just to end up cheating?" WELL!!! Wasnt I on MY high horse?? Truth be told............when its just me and a donut fighting to the death........the donut will win everytime. Its not pretty.........but its the way it is. A really sweet angel friend of mine (not naming names here....SUE!!!!!) likes to say "it is what it is". Such a simple sentence........but so profound. Anyways......enough of my blabbing. Take care everyone. willby

Willby, as I posted yesterday in the one you had pulled, I personally am not offended. I am pre-op and I NEED to hear these things. I dont want to feel like I am being ignorant to the fact that this surgery will NOT solve all of my bad eating habits and that it WILL be a struggle for me every day. I am sorry for those that do take offense, but I also realize that you are posting because you need support, not because you are trying to scare anyone. This was a wake up call for me because my doctors have been leading us to believe right along that you WILL dump if you eat sugar, so to find out that is not the case for a lot of people helps me better prepare for these challenges after surgery. So anyhow, I for one am thankful for the pre-ops that are honest enough to post their struggles and admit their addiction and ask for help. Karyn

Willby, As much as OH don't want to hear it there are alot of Neg. draw backs to this surgery. And no matter how small your stomach is your mind just don't want to hear it lol Believe me head hungery is the worst. I can cheat to nothing has caused me to dump. I beat myself up everyday because i don't eat my protein supplement and sometimes i cheat i was cheating for awhile there but have stopped again not to say im won't be going back to it lol. But Just hanging in there Will if your still losing dont worry about lol.

No Willby I am not offended. I want to know the truth. And if people think that this surgery is going to make all their problems go away then maybe they should visit a counselor before they have the surgery. And there is nothing wrong with that. My Aunt had this done about two years ago she was a size 26/28 and is now in a 12/10. I am not sure what is going on with her. She says she cant eat sugar but I see her taking bites of candies, pastas, noodles, breads all the time and she says she dumps but she can eat things in small amounts, Then she says her blood sugar drops and she gets sick and will eat something with sugar to make herself feel better. She was diabetic and has no more high sugar. I dont think there is any perfect people out there. And I love you Willby you are so funny, So do your best and dont beat yourself up. And if you need to vent and dont want to post just email me. I will listen. bye love marie

Dear Willby, Your posts are the best!! Your honesty helps me remember that I am not the only one who is going through this. It also gives me courage to share what I am struggling with. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE! Don't ever stop sharing what's really going on. I think cheating for some of us (especially me!) is a big (no pun intended lol) problem and the only way to make it better is to talk about it. WLS is only supposed to be a tool and not a solution. If we hide what we are doing through we won't ever change. I for one want to change and not just to get skinny...I want a permanent change...one that not only heals my body, but also heals my mind and spirit. Being truly honest with our behavior is the only way to succeed. We have to share our troubles as well as our triumphs. Thanks for leading the way. Willby, YOU ROCK! XOXO Mary Whew...I guess I had a lot to say about this...

Willby, I am not offended by any of your posts. I don't really take all you say that seriously, I think you want to entertain us, which is fine. I do think that we need to report our successes and our failures here on this support board. If we were all easy successes would we need to be here? I feel like I'm doing well because I exercise 5 days a week religiously and try to get in a 6th day. I still keep everything I eat in fitday.com, but, I do struggle with head hunger. I wish I didn't but I do. The post from Sipele is a wonderful reminder that this can get completely out of hand. When I first told people at work I was going to have this surgery, everyone related to me the somewhat recent death of a coworker of ours who had this surgery 15 years ago. She regained all her weight that she had lost (over 200 lbs) and died at 51 years of age of liver failure, which her doctors told her family was caused by the obesity. Now, I feel under the microscope to see "how I do with the surgery". But, damnit, I'm gonna do this and do it right! At least, that is how I feel right now. I do have fear though, especially since I have a history at failing at weight loss so many times before. Lori 384/260.5/168

Hi Willby and all, Absolutely not offended! I see messages about people dumping/not dumping and everything else throughout OH. I, like others here love to hear about the ups and downs of WLS. Every seminar I have gone to, the surgeons preach how everyone WILL dump with sugar. Well had I not found this website and honest people like yourself, I would be thinking something is wrong with me if and should this happen to me (lack of dumping syndrome). I think everyone should be more open about the things they deal with when it comes to WLS and eating issues, which we all obviously have. It truly helps the pre-ops that want the truth, I want to be prepared for as much as I can be prepared for. The less shock I have to deal with as I recover the better for me and my family. I tell my dh constantly, the reason I'm on this site and the internet almost daily is because you are going to learn more from those who have had WLS then you will from your surgeon. No flames here please, I'm not speaking of listening to people on this site versus your surgeon, the combination of the two will probably get you better success in your journey. Yes, your surgeon can tell you how things will workout according to studies and what he has gain through his training and education. But unless he has lived life after WLS then your best bet is to seek out others and learn from there experiences also. KEEP BEING OPEN AND HONEST, IT'S HELPING SOMEONE! Cassandra

Hi Wilby and my fellow smoers, Let's face it. This surgery isn't for everyone. I think it is a shame to be flamed for sharing our struggles and weaknesses...we ALL have them!! There are negative things about this surgery...and none of the "classes" the insurance people and weight loss surgery programs have you take in order to "prepare" for this surgery is gonna lead you to the knowledge that the honest people here on the board will give you. It is hard seeing someone you care about..not following "the rules of the pouch" I know, my son..who had the wls almost 2 years ago is still losing..yet, he eats anything he wants to...I cringe and I am thankful that he moved out cause now I'm not the "food police" anymore. The thing is.. he is still losing weight..yet I can't help but think that he would be at goal by now if he would just stick with the program. My point is, thank you for your honesty about the food cravings that go on in our SMO heads. Remember...they did the surgery on our stomachs....not our brain!! Hugs, Virginia aka Ginger

I know I am a little late on this and I haven't been around much lately but I really had to say something about this. I am not offended and think it's great that you spoke up. Why I feel compelled to write is because I have the lapband. I hear horror stories all the time of people getting things stuck in their stoma. Bread is absolutely a NONO! and eventhough we don't have the dumping syndrome that gastric bypass patients have we have more problems with things getting stuck and the posibility of losing our bands because we can't follow the rules. I am nearly two months out, my bandaversary is Wednesday of next week. I have not lost as much as my doctor thinks I should have at my first re-check. A total of 19lbs I have lost a grand total of 48lbs as of this morning but they don't take into consideration what i lost before the band in the pre-surgical diet. Anyway on to my point... I have ate pizza crust and was just fine! I have ate too much and was OK and the slice of cheesecake I ate at new years went down so easy it was scarey! I think the thing that we all need to think about is, if we were on regular diets without the gastric surgeries, they would tell us give in to your craving but don't go nuts. Eat a little of what your craving because it will take over and you will eat everything around till you get what your craving. Two or three pounds is a lot easier to lose than say 15. I don't really see why doing this with the surgery is that much different.. yeah if you have dumping syndrome, its not going to be comfortable and you will stop eating the bad stuff if it gets too uncomfortable. If you have the band and something gets stuck, you better pray it goes down or you throw it up. IF you do this enough and it gets too much or your band slips, you will quit but probably lose the band if it slips and can't go back on its own. Some of us will never have these negatives that will keep us from cheating. We are not all the same as it has been proven time and time again. So Willby, eat your donut but don't sit and eat the whole box/bag. Don't feel guilty feel good that you didn't eat the whole refridgerator/pantry!