I don't know who to believe about what it is like after surgery

Great reply. Thanks for your honesty. Very relatable for me. 

 I'm only 11 months out. I consider myself to still be a newbie, so take this as you will. I could very possibly be talking out of my a**.  

Be proactive; act now. No harm ( IMHO ) can come from changing your eating habits now, and working out any possible food issues this early on in your process. It will make for an easier transition for your life-long healthier way of eating. 

Doing the above has made my post-op experience thus far go very smoothly. I do, of course, have the rest of my life to live...and can in no way predict my own future ( let alone anyone else's. ) but, I've had no problems sticking to my food plan. I really believe that dealing with my food issues AND having changed my eating habits way before surgery really helped me.  

It is MUCH easier post op to control how much you eat at 1 time. Period end of discussion.  However, nothing nothing but your brain will stop you from eating an hour later. So YOU still have to control your urges. You also control what you eat when you sit down for a meal. You may only eat a cup of food. Will it be a cup of chocolate cake or a lean protein rich meal?  That is on you. It is easier, but it is not a magic pill. You must be willing to change your behavior for long term success. 

My thoughts exactly! I am only 8 days post-op, so I don't know if I can be successful or not.  I do know that I was stunned and tickled pink that I followed the two-week liquid diet exactly. I had never been able to stick to something that long. I only lost 7.5 lbs on it, so that worried me a bit. Good luck!

I guess the answer I come up with is that everything you've heard is correct.  Like many others responding, I can only answer for my experiences.  (Sorry - this is kinda long.)

"Things change after surgery and it is easier to control what you eat"

Yes, this is true. Your pouch is tiny and especially at the beginning, you probably will not physically be able to eat very much or such a variety. If I eat too much, I get very uncomfortable to the point where I feel like #$(*&$ and have to lie down for at least 30 minutes.  This, and worse, may happen to you if you eat too much or eat junk.  

For the first 12 to 18 months, you probably won't feel hunger.  I do not AT ALL get the same feeling of hunger right now that I got before surgery.  I do get a hollow feeling inside that helps remind me to look at the clock and eat something. I do not feel the gnawing pains I would get before.

When I follow the rules and eat protein first, there simply isn't room in my pouch for junk.

"They don't operate on your brain"

Yes, this is also true. I don't feel the same hunger at all.  However, I certainly can still have "cravings" based on how I remember something tastes and how it used to make me feel.  This has resulted in some of the few "lie down until you feel better" sessions mentioned above when I made poor choices.  The bad feeling helped me reinforce my determination to follow the rules.

However - if you are too emotionally attached to food, or you simply are not willing to follow the rules, then you can certainly overcome the advantages of the procedure. If you haven't done the work to prepare your head and emotions, either alone or with therapy, then you can end up right back where you are now even after the surgery.  You can drink while you eat and afterwards - this enables you to eat a lot more. You can fight through the "feel bad" or "dumping" sessions and desensitize yourself so you can eat junk and lots of it.  You can find the sneaky slider foods that don't make your pouch full and enable you to eat just as many calories as you do now. 

The number of ways that your brain/emotions can sabotage you is amazing and you have to be prepared for the battle.

My conclusion

I determined that I WOULD succeed.  I WOULD follow the rules. I WOULD recognize that I will make mistakes, but I WOULD pick myself up and move forward. I put myself in a positive state of mind. I managed to get my brain and emotions fully invested in making the best possible success with this grand tool I have given myself. I recognize that I am learning my new food patterns that I need to (and plan to) follow for the rest of my life.  I recognize that these rules are not temporary. I will always need to eat protein first, drink lots of water (but not when or after I eat), take my supplements, etc.

Like someone else on here told you - you really do not want to get yourself in the mindset for failure.  You want to succeed.  Failure is giving up.  Failure is not shaking it off, learning from your mistakes and moving forward.

This is not a diet. This is a life change. Changes are scary.  Changes can be permanent. They can be good and necessary to our well being.  

It was scary to stop staying home with mommy and going to school.  It was scary to finish school and go out on your own.  It is scary to change jobs. It is scary to make emotional commitments like getting married.  It is scary to have a child.

Believe me - it was scary to have this surgery.  Everyone has different reasons for their fear.  Fear of failure. Fear of surgery. Fear of their friends treating them differently. We all have fears.  I encourage you to decide if you can work with your fear and move forward with the surgery.  It isn't for everyone and I certainly wouldn't think badly for you for deciding it wasn't for you.  But I do NOT regret it at all.  It has already changed my life for the better. 

Best wishes and I hope you succeed in all of your life!

I hated being MO and sick, miserable and in pain, there is no food on earth worth going back to that.  The difference is after you lose weight you are maintaining from a different perspective, mine is keep my ass under size 6 or be naked since I tossed out anything bigger. It's worked for nine years so far.