tuesday

tuesday

Well I think you hit one of the most important aspects on the head. This is stomach surgery NOT brain surgery. With that being said I'm 6 months post op and food is the last thing on my mind. I've never had head hunger or anything. I have thought to myself once in a while that something sounds good and if its in my eating plan I'll have a bite to taste and usually that satisfies it. You may want to see a counselor if you have the addictive personality though because if you can't eat like you can now preop some people get depressed and transfer their addiction from food to alcohol, pills, shopping, sex, etc..

Yep....I hear that!! I am preop...my new "addiction" seems to be CLEANING MY HOUSE!! Nervous energy I think! Never thought I would see that day that I have the "need" to clean! Shocking everyone around me --look out and stay out of the way or you will get sucked up in the vac!!  Could be worse I guess! Good luck to you!

Bypass does offer brain retraining.  You do without for 3 months and live on cream soup or instant mashed potato.  Given the chance your desire for inappropriate food can change.  Mine has for now.  I am 9 months out and had my first piece of bread this AM toasted for breakfast.  I did not like it.  It was too thick and tasted different then I remembered. I do see other post ops eating food that should not be eaten but it is their choice  not mine.  I have too much invested in this to go back. Allow the food choices to work for you not against you.  That is the good thing about the St. V's program.  If it is not on the yellow sheet don't eat it.  Weigh and measure your food.  Get a good scale.  Eat foods that you make, I try to eat nothing that comes in a box, jar or made by a corporation.   By as you need it.  I can easily fall back into a full freezer and pantry and fight the urge to get it because it is cheaper in bulk purchase. Remember God loves you. E

I dont think of food being post op as I did when I was pre op.  I really thought a lot about that pre op. Pre op if I ate something that was really good, I would eat and eat and eat it until I was ready to puke.  I thought how will I do this after surgery.  I just dont think of food like I used to.  Actually one day I was talking with my MIL and she asked how I do it. I said food just isnt an important part of my life anymore.  She said that is a good attitude to have and you are right.  I would have never said that pre op.  It is just pretty much a mind thing.  You are doing this surgery as a life changing thing and it is not always easy.  It is a tool and if you abuse the tool it will not work. Just think of it that way.  I have never had the head hunger either.  People can even eat all kinds of desserts in front of me and it normally doesnt bother me.  If it does, I just go into another room for awhile.  Hope this helps some.  Good luck!

Linda, I am 3+ yrs post-op. I don't regret having my RNY..but I do wish I had the wisdom and will-power to make the lifestyle changes that my RNY promoted that first year (and I kept up after that). If I had, perhaps I wouldn't have needed the RNY. The first year  or so post-op, you go through a honeymoon stage to which your pouch (stomach) won't allow you to eat very much at a time. It can also regulate what you eat. Head hunger does affect many people. Some can't pass by a Rally's without longing for their fries..or a DQ without craving a Blizzard. Others, the mere thought of food turns them off. No one can predict which way their body/brain will go. We are all unique. After that first year, it gets easier to eat more & more. It also gets easier to sneak in a bite of cake, etc. That is why it is so important to get some healthy lifestyle changes into your every day living during that first year. Up until October, food was the last thing on my mind. Since then, I've had a battery of problems. Because of constant diarea, I had lost 30 lbs when the docs thought I'd lose 15. I have to eat pretty much constantly just to maintain my weight. And that's still a maybe. I thought I ate pretty good yesterday...my weight was 2 lbs less today than yesterday. Mine is a unique situation (not just the losing added weight but everything that's occurred since October) and one I hope no one else finds themself in. My brain thinks differently about food than it did +3 yrs ago. I eat because I must, not because I want to now. As has been said before, I eat to live, not live to eat. And nothing really tastes as yummy as my memory thinks it was. I'm not one who believes that if you were a habitual eater, you'll become a habitual something else (man chaser, alcoholic, shopper, etc) post-op. I firmly believe that if you become a gambler post-op, you had the propensity to be a gambler pre-op. I get aggrevated when I see WLS (weight loss surgery) blamed for people doing wrong. It just kinda strikes me as 'the devil made me do it' that folks tried to use as an excuse in the 70's. On another thread people were talking about the Oprah show from yesterday. I have never heard her, Dr. Oz, or Dr. Phil say one positive thing about WLS..not for any person regardless of age, size, or comorbidities. And I know that is also where the emotional transference once you are post-op belief comes from. She's had a few shows on it. I was a shopper pre-op, I'm a shopper now (only now I also shop for me). I drank some and smoked 3 packs a day pre-op. I don't drink or smoke at all now. I flirted more with guys pre-op than I do now. I buy scratch-off lottery tickets now just like before..and I enjoy Vegas about the same now as pre-op. So..if anything, I lost a few of my 'habits' with WLS. lol. As I said, we're all unique..but I really don't think I'm alone in this. Many people has replaced their TV habit with an exercise habit. I see no fault with that provided they are doing it in a healthy manner. Having WLS is something no one should go into without considerable thought and research. Without it, it will take a lifestyle behavior change in order to lose weight and maintain that loss (NOT a diet). If you do have a WLS, those same changes must take place or after the first year or so, you will regain the weight. The difference is that WLS helps to promote and instill those changes. I would never try to discourage or encourage someone from having a WLS. It is a very personal decision. I do encourage you how ever to research the heck out of it. One final note..there is definately a risk of complications either way. Without it, if you don't promote and adopt a healthy lifestyle, your weight will continue to increase, you will probably become a diabetic (if you aren't already), your joints begin to fail and need replaced, sleep apnea, mentrual cycles mess up and make pregnancies difficult, the list can go on & on. However, with WLS, there are also a risk of complications occuring. Be sure you discuss these with your surgeon. Ask what they are, how serious they are, and how frequent they happen! Do NOT go into this believing that complications only happen to 'other people'. I did. Boy was I surprised when that 'other people' was ME. So trust me, from personal experience, know what they are!  I do not regret having my RNY...but I do sincerely wish I had the intelligence and will-power to do what the docs told me all those years beforehand...eat less, exercise more, drink water. Because of my problems, my kids (all grown) want nothing to do with WLS. They are also obese. So what do I tell them? Eat less, exercise more, drink water. So far, they listen to me about as well as I had listened to my docs. Sherri

Linda, Don't beat yourself up over needing WLS to help change your eating lifestyle. We've all been there. And as long as you DO change your lifestyle post-op, you will succeed! We all know someone *****gained the weight they lost post-op. Those are the ones who didn't make those honeymoon changes a permanent lifestyle change and always looked for a way around doing what they were suppose to do. As long as you do what the surgeon & dietician tells you to do though, you will lose weight & keep it off. WLS is an excellent tool to help you make those changes. WLS is not a magical wand to remove any and all bad habits..food or otherwise. It won't make people instantly thin, instantly beautiful, or instantly anything. To think it is the cure-all makes about as much sence of having a baby will instantly fix a bad marriage. It could happen...but in reality? Very rare! I have been through several complications since my RNY. I don't regret having it and if I had to do it over again and KNOW I would definately go through all I have, I would choose to do it again. That is the one thing I recommend to pre-ops really..know what the complications are, how frequent they occur, and fully understand that they do not always happen to the other guy (and they DO happen even when you follow everything to a 'T'.). After having gone through all I have, I get very frustrated when I hear someone think that WLS is an 'easy way out'. Some people go through it all post-op without a lick of problems other than wishing now & then they could have a hot fudge sundae. Lucky them. In reality though? Most people, even with no complications, find that first 3 months (especially the first 4-6 weeks) a real struggle. You can make it through it though! And it is SO worth it!! I have a section in my profile just for pre-ops & new post-ops, if you'd be interested. Sherri ps..Over the course of the past 3.5 years since I've been a post-op, I have heard WLS be blamed for people's bad habits..on national tv. I no longer watch that show at all. I also know a few people who decided to act like they are part of a 'Post WLS gone wild' show..and also try to accredit WLS for their bad behavior instead of owning up to it themself. I've never heard it being credited as a 'cure' for a bad habit. Well..actually, for me, it was for me stopping smoking. I had to quit to have the surgery and I was very fortunate in that all desire to smoke left with the habit.