Understanding: Notes for Newbies and Vets

Dr.C just talked about this at our last meeting..... I think he was talking to your Russian friend..... the comment to him was something like..... "everyone here (referring to the post-ops in the room) has made personal changes to be successful.....it's just not the surgery"...... something like that....did I get that right?

frisco

You got it.  I spent about two hours talking to him about this too.  As far as I see it, realizing that surgery is just a part, a very important part, but only one part of success is a crucial piece of this journey.  Many people are not given the correct information and therefore have wrong expectations.  This leads to eventual failure to achieve goal.  Dr. Cirangle has always been very forthright in explaining the limitations of surgery.

I said something similar in my speech at Christmas.  I woke the room up staying that I did not lose the weight because I had Bariatric surgery,  I lost the weight because I put in the hard mental work.  What the surgery did for me was to put biology on my side for the first time in my life.  It gave me a period where biochemistry wasn't overwhelming me and I could work on the mental issues.  

Thats one thing I wish surgeons would make crystal clear, the surgery is not a cure its a tool.  The tool, in too many cases, has a limited shelf life because the people wielding it are not taught how to truly use it.  It dulls in about 6 months - as we know all too well from some posts on here.

Surgeons should also stress the need for mental healthcare while going through this process as well...the tool he/she gives you is a powerful one, but we are also responsible for caring for the most powerful tool we have--our brains. 

Thank you for your initial post--it resonates with me on many levels.

This post is so true and thank you for posting it!  I know that even though I have lost a lot of weight that this will be a battle that I will wage within myself for the rest of life.  If I don't keep fighting then I will lose the battle and that is not acceptable.  I still have a ways to go but I started at size 22/24 and am down to a 12/14 but my self image is still a size 26.  I am still continuing to work on my self image and what got me to where I was when I had surgery.  I don't want to go back there.

Your self image usually lags your physical realit by about 6 months.  It will change without you realizing it until one day you just don't recognize an old picture of yourself.  Keep up the good work and you'll get there.

Well said

This is such a great post and great responses. I feel that I have identified a lot of my issues for abusing food and even for stalling now. But understanding what's going on inside doesn't necessarily help you fix those things. I wi**** were easier.

Youre right, it's always going to be a lifelong battle.

Man!

I LOVE it when I read a thread that is real and raw!!! Talk about waking up!! Yes!!!

I'm on board with the "Trojan horse" theme Elina speaks of. We think it's just WLS...but find out the WLS is not what REALLY gets the job done!

I took my time to get the surgery and USED my psych eval to help me really figure out what the real deal was with me. Then I worked on it for a while...then had the surgery and still see my head guy when I'm in need.

I really wonder how many folks would go thru with WLS if someone said " Oh yeah...the surgery will make your stomach smaller..but you're going to gain all the weight back and be an obese person with a HISTORY of WLS if you don't get therapy and be ready to work your brain...not just the treadmill".

~Deb

You are so exactly right, Rob. By far the hardest part of this journey has been having to work inward to get outward results. This is a wonderful reminder for both newbies and vets- and those of us still floating in the middle!