Fear of Failure and Early Indicators of Success

Excellent Reply!

I suppose it depends on exactly what your goal is.  If your goal is to be a size 2, then "success" will be less likely than if your goal is simply to be a healthy person.  I would think that drinking a lot of water easily, being able to keep food down (as long as you are sticking at least close to your plan) and forgiving yourself when you aren't perfect are putting you on the road to being a healthy person. 
I can't imagine that anyone would WANT to have trouble with dehydration, throw up most of what they eat or spend any more time than required on a toilet.. that doesn't sound fun or healthy.  

  Why does there have to be more to it than track everything (making sure you are AWARE of what you put in your mouth), walk a lot (exercise), stay away from carbs and sugar (eat healthy), get a lot of protein (more eating healthy) and drink lots of fluids(stay hydrated while you eat healthy and exercise)?  Add that to vitamins and you have a pretty good plan for success.  Eating healthy + exercise + hydration + vitamins = weight loss and a healthy body.  It's not magic (although you can throw in some eye of newt if you'd like.. not sure how many carbs that might have).. =]  

I think you're going to do great!  Sounds to me like you are concerned with following the guidelines. 

Good luck!!

Remember pre-wls, how you knew people who could eat anything they wanted, never exercise and were still tiny? and you knew people who watched everything they ate, went to the gym everyday and still struggled with being overweight? The same is true post-wls. Some people are just able to lose weight/maintain weight more easily. All of our bodies are very different.

Before wls I made a list of "How Things Will Be Different" The list included things like shopping in "regular" stores and fitting comfortably in movie theater seats. When I look at that list and life has changed, I consider myself a success.

To really keep myself focused on my success, I also have a list "Things That Have Changed" That list includes things like going on the trampoline with my niece and being able to wear high heels without my legs throbbing with pain.

I think we should all "track what we eat, walk a lot, and stay away from cards and sugar" but we should also celebrate all of the ways our lives have  improved!

Keep up the good work!

I'm  right there with  you. I can eat more than I thought I would be able to. I can drink more and faster at one time than I thought I would be able to.  It takes more sugar to make me "dump" than I thought it would.  And I have the same fear of failure lurking around as you do.  I think it is a normal reaction because all of our attempts at weight loss have failed in the past.  As the pounds continue to come off, I have accepted that while I may not reach my set  goal I count myself a success at this point in  because I am on no meds for diabetes or high blood pressure or cholestrol at this point in time.  This could change even if I never gain another pound. But I am a success, because I can do things more easily than at anytime in the past 30 years.  I can get up and down off the floor, in  and out of the bathtub, sit easily in a booth at a restaurant, spend hours working in the yard even in the heat, walk the mall without my joints aching unbearably, and on and on. These are the type of markers we need to use when measuring success. If what you are doing at some point makes things harder for us, then we have the tools to adjust what we are doing. We never have to accept a "failure." We now have the tools and knowledge to help us get back on track at anytime, if we find we have become lax about things. As a member of another online support group says,  "We Can Do Hard Things!"  And make no mistake this journey is hard.  But the rewards are so worth it.
Good luck.

The RNY surgery gives us a new smaller stomach--it didn't touch our minds. I think success is determined by how much you are willing to change your mindset. Being able to eat chicken and drink water early out are good things. But it's up to you to work towards changing your mind to eating protein forward, your mindset to making exercise a part of your daily life (be it walking or more strenuous exercise), changing your mindset to how you and food relate to each other, changing your mind towards what you do if you eat something "off plan". I eat protein first but have learned that nothing can be off limits completely because deprivation leads me to binge eating and while I can't binge the way I use to if it became a habit it could be a problem.

It's a lot of work to change but if you are committed to change you will successful.