what my surgery does, what I do myself

I've been thinking about this a lot lately and I hope I can put it into words.  I often hear people talk about having WLS versus "doing it on their own."  Here's the thing.  I didn't lose weight all on my own, but it's not like I just had surgery and then all the weight was gone and stayed gone.  Surgery helped me, but there is plenty I've had to do myself.

The main thing surgery did for me that I don't see how I could have done myself is cause me to feel full on small amounts of food.  Yeah, I could have measured my portions and tried to eat only small amounts of food without having surgery, but I was always hungry when I tried to do that.  The surgery allowed me to do that and feel satisfied, which of course makes it a lot easier to continue doing that.

Before I had surgery, I was hoping surgery would do a lot to control my food choices, and it really hasn't.  I do dump if I eat too much sugar, but I can eat small amounts of sugar or I can eat larger amounts of sugar free treats, so I still have to do the work of making good food choices.  I also have to do the work of not eating when I'm not hungry, like if I'm bored.  And those things are hard to do.

It seems like a lot of people are surprised at how much work they still have to do after surgery.  I was.  The surgery is still a huge help, but it doesn't do all the work.  At least not for me.

You are so right, Kelly.  People think this is another one of those "magic bullets" that have been crammed down our throats for years.  Take this and you will be thin, take that and you will be thin.  Well, it's not like that now is it.  The surgery is wonderful and I thank God for this journey, but being on this forum, I have learned that it IS a journey and it is for a lifetime.  It is alot of hard work making sure that you get in the vitamins, water, protein and then some, by making HEALTHY choices.  Thanks for posting this, because we would all like this surgery to have been the way you put it, just the surgery and all the weight was gone and stayed gone.  Just not so.
Thanks again.

 I love this post... you are so right.  Thanks for all you do in this forum to help me and others.

Great post and a great reminder!

I am so glad to see this post today. I am 15 months out and starting to backslide already. I have lost 130 pounds but have not been exercising and I have been eating the wrong things to deal with emotional stress and depression. It's not easy. I have to remember what my surgeon said. It's a tool, I get to chose what I do with that tool. 

Yeah, we do get to choose what we do with our tool.  It's not that I thought having surgery would make everything easy, but I guess I hoped it would.  I mean, I knew having surgery on my stomach would not make me love exercise.  But I was surprised at how much effort and work I have to put into maintaining my weight loss.  I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting it to be easier, that seems like a normal thing to want.  It's just important to understand that it's not always going to be easy.  I don't like exercising post op any more than I did pre op.  Having surgery did not make that any easier for me.

I somehow thought that once the excess weight was gone, I'd have tons of energy and I'd be wanting to exercise all the time.  This simply hasn't been true.  For a while, I was so disappointed in my lack of energy and lack of desire to exercise.  I definitely had some unrealistic expectations. 

I was hoping that by having WLS, I wouldn't have to "diet" anymore. After going to all the required appointments (before surgery), I found out that I need to think about food more than I ever had. Protein amounts, carbs vs sugar, water, etc. I'm very happy that I had RNY surgery, but it s a lot of hard work!

What I need to do after surgery feels a lot different than dieting pre op felt, to me.  The main different is that pre op I felt like dieting meant being hungry all the time.  I also felt like it meant I couldn't eat an occasional treat.  Post op, I don't go around hungry all the time and I do eat treats on occasion.  So it's a lot different than dieting, to me.

It's still hard work, though.

Terrific post.  I am still early (3mths post op) but keep reminding myself that this is not a quick fix and I WILL have to work continously to maintain the benefits of WLS.  What you describe Kelly is much more of a normal way to eat...even with the hard work it sounds wonderful!

Andrea.