Ok everyone, let's have a frank discussion about regain...

"You can’t imagine how someone can regain? I may sound harsh here, but HAVE YOU LEARNED NOTHING FROM A LIFETIME OF BEING FAT????"

And...
"Have you learned nothing from your research of WLS?  DID you research WLS?"

Oy.  Those posts scare me. 

How your pouch feels early out, 4 months out, 8 months out, etc. CHANGES.  When I was early out I couldn't imagine eating more than 1/4 - 1/2 c of food because my pouch was so sensitive.  As a result of doing my homework about WLS, even early out I knew regain was possible and that intense feeling of fullness wouldn't last forever.  The pouch matures, it tolerates more, your body NEEDS more long term, especially when you amp up the exercise.

There was a great article in ODE magazine recently, talking about optimism versus pessimism.  Summarizing, it said optimism with a dose of pessimism thrown in is the best way to live.  Optimism alone, naivety about it forever being easy to lose weight and keep it off, actually produced LESS weight loss in a study, compared to those that were optimistic about their ability, but also acknowledged that they'd have to put in hard work to make it happen.  

This was very eye opening for me.  We can be optimists with our head in the clouds all of the time about our shiny new tool and magical weight loss - but reality WILL set in as our body changes and things in our environment change.  If we're not ready for it, we can get tripped up hard core.  Be real with yourself and do your homework about this process.  

Yes, like the others.... thank you for posting this Nik!!  I'm only 4months out and already concerned about regain.  It's already an effort to choose protein vs carbs, take vits regularly, get enough water and excercise.   It's so much of a mental thing that pre-op I never even knew existed.  I felt it was ALLLLL physical - meaning, my stomach dictated all the choices I made.  Now I know otherwise.
However, going into this my surgeon let me know regain is sort of inevitable - rebound weight is what he called it.  I can only pray and believe God that he'll help me to stay on track.  I can do nothing without Him!!

Those kind of comments from newbies are one of the many reasons I decided to take a break from OH for a while and just pop in once a week or so.  Although I have gained back less than 10 pounds at 3+ years out, the "I'll NEVER let that happen to ME because I am committed to my surgery... how COULD you let it happen to YOU?!?" judgmental attitude from people who haven't even had surgery yet or are only 3 months out was really ******g me off.  Think it's hard the first 6 months after surgery when your weight is falling off?  Wait 2 years.  It's a diffferent kind of "hard", but MUCH harder to maintain the loss than to lose it after surgery.  There are so many factors that contribute to regain... not the least of which is that the surgery (well, the lack of food afterward) even further screws up your metabolism... so for MANY people it will be EASIER to gain weight once you reach your goal weight than it was BEFORE you had surgery.  That is reality.  Don't make the mistake of believing that your "100% commitment" to your surgery will keep you from regaining... or that someone who HAS regained was any LESS committed to keeping the weight off than you are.

Lora

EXACTLY!!!  (sorry for shouting through caps but I couldn't agree more!!)

This surgery is not on our brain, its on our stomach!  The mental desire to eat inappropriate foods and quantities never goes away--as far as I am concerned.  Being able to say "no" is a lifelong struggle!

I loved (and needed) this post! Thanks so much for the kick in the butt.....

I like to think it's kinda like being in my 20's I thought I knew everything and was invincible, now at 48 I look back and laugh, they will too one day.   But honestly it's posting's like that that makes me shy away from this and the main boards (that and the fact that I get sick of reading the same questions every week).  I wish the Graduates and over 18 month boards would get more active. 

Edie

" I wish the Graduates and over 18 month boards would get more active" Me too!

I went on both today and responded, we need to get active, I see your one of the only active ones on Graduates, I promise I'll be there more often!

Edie

Ummm...heading there now...

AMAZING thread!! And, so true!! :D Such a good reminder that the work doesn't stop... and one thing I have learned is that the work doesn't stop for people who are thin around us either. I always kind of thought that thin people were just naturally that way. And, a few of them are, but most of them work their asses off to be the size that they are... :O

Huggles!!
~Sarah~