Finding the discipline

How do you find the discipline to do what you need to do when I never had the discipline to do it in the first place ??? You know losing weight, exercising, etc.....how do you find it AFTER surgery???

This is something I'll ask people that are considering surgery.. "What is going to make this any different? What are you going to do differently this time and why?"

Personally.. I'm 16.. I was born with Insulin Resistance.. Completely genetic.. I've been dieting and exersizing my whole life.. on metformin since i was 9 years old. When i was 13 my family life kindof crashed.. i didn't see my doctors as often and I got really off track.. and developed type 2 diabetes, hypothyroidism, pcos, hypertension, and sleep apnea.. My doctors had told my parents my whole life if it didn't get and stay under controll I'd be a gonner by the time I was 40... Well i finally got to an endocrinologist again at 15.. After I had already tried starving myself and doign everything I cuold t olose weight.. and it iddn't work.. And had secretly already started looking into surgery.. my doctor flat out told me I would be dieing by the time i was 35.. dialisys, renal failure, heart disease, everything. And that was a huge wakeup call..

I never took my health seriously. my parents forced me to do everything when I was younger. I had so much resentment towards my mother for it.. But nwo looking back.. Where would I be without it? and it's not my parents responsiblity. it's mine. so I had the decision to have the VSG (with parents and doctors approval)... I knew this was my last shot... I had never lost weight.. only maintained for periods.. and then gained. i was determiend to make this work. 15 yaers old. half my life pretty much already over? no. so... That's how I found the motivation..

Tough love I guess. Then just a major reality check. i wanted to be nromal. like other people my age. I dont' want to have to worry about my health as much... IR will never go away for me.. But it can be better controlled. I have an amazign team of doctors helping keep me on track and blogging actually helped me a lot too.. its a motivation. i want to do well. to prove to peopel i can do well. all the people that are against teenage bariatric surgery.. I want to prove them wrong.. and I am.

That's my motivation. Proving people wrong, and living. I had never lost weight, even with doctors and medications.. diets and exersize.. I was determined to accomplish this. Surgery was a last resort.. and I was going to make it work. Get to a normal healthy bmi. and live my life...  most of all.. I didn't want to die the same way I had to watch my grandma (with exactly the same medical conditions as me.. plus heart disease and only one kidney..) die. and guess what? 8 months out, no longer diabetic (still ir though), no longer hypertensive, no longer morbidly obese.. (stil obese.. but my bmi isn't in the morbid/extreme range anymore..) I can wear jeans from a store that my friends shop at.. somethign i could enver do before... because i'm short and all my weight is in my stomach/waiste.. it was impossible. but now I can. it's amaznig feeling.. and totally worth it.. and now that i know i've accomplisehd it thus far, it makes me even more determined to keep going. 

Everyones story is different though. That's just mine. (:

Ashley, amazing story, and you are doing wonderful!

Thanks. (:

Ashley--you are so mature! WTG on taking  control of your health.  I LOVE the quote at the bottom of your signature, btw ("Be kinder than necessary...). I actually had that in my signature on my email account for a long time.

You should be so proud of yourself!

Hugs,
Pam

Hi, thanks so much. (: Me too. I actually got it tattooed back in september, on my wrist. I love it.

Yeah, I am. thanks again. (:

-ashley.

I found the motivation in steps.
Early on after surgery, you cant eat and you dont want to.
The weight just kind of falls off without much effort.
When I lost the first 50 lbs and started eating in a more "normal" way I realized I could actually lose ALL the excess weight. All I had to do was stick to an eating program and get some regular exersize.

The sleeve made the eating sustainable very sustainable. Notice I didn't say easy?
It's not always easy although sometimes it's very easy. But it's definately sustainable. I simply cannot eat a lot at one sitting.

The exersize was a habit I purposely developed. When I lost the first 50 I could actually move without breathing heavy and/or being in pain so I took advantage of this.
I  started walking on the treadmill everyday for 15 minutes. After a while I just started going longer and faster. Especially after I started noticing how my legs were shaping up. Great motivation.

Bottom line...the sleeve makes it possible if you try.
Try one more time after the sleeve and you will see.

donna

 What makes this different than my other weightloss attempts?  In the past, I'd follow diets, work out, and then lose weight slowly and be very hungry.  Being very hungry would lead to periods of overeating then weight gain, and the cycle would continue.

Now, I get full on less food, and when I work out, the weight falls off AND I'm not starving all of the time.  I'm able to see my weightloss.  I was able to get to a healthy weight in less than a year.  Seeing results helps to keep me disciplined :)

That makes so much sense that seeing the weight loss is what keeps you disciplined. I would assume that it's easier to stay focused when you see that something is really working.

I haven't been sleeved yet and have wondered the same thing that the op asked about. But many people on the board say that something just changes in you after surgery (along with the physical changes of a smaller stomach, reduced hunger).  When people post about eating 800 calories per day-I just cannot imagine doing that with my full-sized stomach.

As PP said at first you really can't eat, even if you wanted to.  Fear of failure was a motivator for me, certainly for the first month or so.  WLS is kind of the last stop. If you can't make that work, then what?  So I walked and I went to the gym and I started tracking everything.

Then there is less hunger (for me...some people have none) and positive feedback from weight loss.  In the past I would start a plan, lose a bit at first, hit a stall, get discouraged and slowly slip back into old bad habits.  And believe me that slowing down/stalling is really anxiety provoking for me because I know that I can slip back into some of those old bad habits despite the sleeve.  I'm a salty carbs gal and those will slide right on down.  Had my run ins with Cheetos.

So it is still a fight, it's not a gimme.  I'm trying to be consistent with exercise, get my protein and water, and keep the reins pulled in on everything else.  I want to reach my goal weight, or less.

But even if I fail, even if I don't get to goal, the surgery was still worth it.  The sixty pounds I've already lost was worth it. Not having aching knees and feet was worth it.  Shopping in regular stores was worth it.

I think that people considering surgery should know that.  I'm not quitting.  I want to reach 100% EWL.  But even if you don't, even if you are one of the people who only reaches 60% EWL it is still worth it.