The WLS journey is not for the weak (for those that need encouragement)

For Kenji and others.....



No matter how hard this gets, push through with determination and strength...

  It helps to turn to a friend.  Having support and someone to cheer you on helps.  Even a quick chat with someone from a support group will remind you that you're not alone and will possibly give you incentive to keep going.

  Often view the before and after photos on OH...  This was very helpful to me and encouraged me to believe that could happen for me too. 

  You must remember there is not a bariatric surgery out there that is a cure for morbid obesity.  They are tools to assist patients in losing weight.  Your food choices and behavior will directly result in the amount of weight loss that occurs.

  Gastric Bypass and other WLS procedures  will assist you in eating smaller meals, less hunger and will make it easier to snack less.  The snacking is a huge down fall for most of us.  To be successful, we have to avoid snacking, avoid high calorie meals and liquids, and avoid foods that flow through our new stomachs easily.  Pretty much all my comfort foods which sucks....LOL...

  So, in a nutshell, We have to eat high protein, healthy meals, get active and exercise and make necessary psychological adjustments to be successful...(The psychological thingy is a hard one for me... I have to work on that daily....)

  So see, it only gets harder and harder as you go....  The WLS journey is not for the weak...  That is why you can not give up...  Take all this in, get mad... and go fight harder....  It is so worth it when you reach the other side.....

Trina, I agree...  My statement or mantra is very similar to yours.  I have adopted it within the past few months - this wls journey is not for the faint of heart.  I say it often.  I think it often.  I think of it when folks get discouraged.  I want to tattoo it to my arm and pull up my sleeve when I see someone struggling - "Here, read this."  And let them soak it in for a few moments.  It takes guts.  Motivation.  Perseverance.  Audacity.  Patience.  Strength.  Determination.  So much... and sometimes we fail...  sometimes we get disappointed, whether with others our ourselves...  and we have to dig  deep inside of ourselves to find that thing that keeps us going...  the thing that motivates us...  it's not always easy.  Thank goodness we have friends and support group members who understand our struggles all too well and we can turn to them for strength.  That is a tremendous comfort.

Trina is right!  Mel is right!  It is work everyday and some days we do better than other days, but never give up.  I know that support group has been very helpful for me.  Lunch bunch and dinner clubs have been great too.  I haven't been active in the last 4 or 5 months here on OH, but on the days I am feeling like life has got me down, I can always come here to OH and see the wonderful faces of those who have gone before me and hopefully encourage those who are coming after me.  Thank you Trina for keeping me centered. 

**Had to edit to correct a spelling error. Ooops!

Trina and Mel-- you are great encouragements to all of us. Thank you for the support you givve us--I really think maybe I can do this with the AWESOME support of this forum!

Good topic Trina!

It reminds me of the story we read the other day to the kids at RIP.  "The Little Engine That Could" by Watty Piper. The engine kept saying, "I think I can, I think I can". 

I know before surgery, I kept saying those same things.  I think I can eat like that.  I think I can drink that much water.  I think I can survive on such a small amount of food.

Our mentality has to change form I think I can, to I know I can! 

You are right, this lifestyle is not for the weak of mind or faint of heart.  To be a successful WLS patient (and that's a whole other topic...What is a success?), you have to be confident in what you are doing.  You have to have that same thought process as that little engine and move from "I think I can", to "I know I can".

So, that brings me to this...If you are willing to fight for something, then fight for it.  If you are wavering in your thought process with those thoughts of "Will I be able to do this?"  You are not alone!, we've all done it!

Come to the boards here, find a forum you like, attend a support group, talk to someone about it! 

At the support group I attend, Paula (I love her by the way and my wife knows it!), always ends the evening telling the pre ops/new ops to find someone who is a post op, and talk to them.  Ask those questions that are in the back of your mind.  It's a great opportunity to speak to someone who has walked that road you are about to travel!

Don't let that smidgen of doubt rob you of your dreams!  Morbid obesity robbed me of too much already!

I'm finished!

Never forget who you are fighting for! You ! and if you don't fight for you then who will" So sweetie, stand up and say why and how  I'm gonna get this thing done!!!!  If you are determined and want this that bad, then you will work to have it, and learn to know all you can about it. Dig deep inside, it is in you ! Then pick youself up, it's alright hon, we've all been there, let me count the ways, but how many of us aren't humane??? O.K. today is the new day, start again and do what you gotta to get it done. And if we aren't there in body, never forget that the support group is there in spirit. Glitter Graphics ::: glitterwink.comBarb

Humor me here just a moment.... while I turn to my online dictionary and thesaurus.  

LIFESTYLE:

Synonyms:  behavior, conduct, habits, style of living, way of acting.

Definition:  a way of life or style of living that reflects the attitudes and values of a person or group.

 We have heard and often refer to our lives after WLS as "NOT a diet, BUT a lifestyle."  Remember the past when we went on a diet...  we did good for about four hours, maybe four days, and if we were very fortunate and had self control, POSSIBLY four weeks.  And I was never able to stick in there for four months!  We became wearied in our efforts.  We failed by eating a bite of something that we were not allowed.  Our hunger took over and we had to satisfy the beast.  Then quite possibly, if you were like me, you sat down to a feast of your favorite foods and ate until your belly was full and your mind was happy too.  NO WONDER DIETING DIDN'T WORK!  It was too easy to be disappointed, sidetracked, tempted, frustrated...  and we sabotaged all our own efforts by consuming massive amounts of the forbidden food, simply because we had denied ourselves and then one bite led to a total forfeit of that particular chosen diet program.

When we choose to have wls, and are forced to jump through all the hoops (whether its the requirements of our chosen program, our insurance companies, saving our down payments for copays, and the dreaded losing 10% of overall body weight)...  it is surely not easy.  And how easy would it be to slip into that old diet mentality:  ITS HARD SO GIVE UP.  Then anger, just as with those stinking diets, settles in....  accompanied with disappointment...  and it is the perfect time to start practicing the same "lifestyle" or attitude that you will most definitely need after your wls:  GET DETERMINED; CHANNEL THAT ANGER AND DISAPPOINTMENT INTO THE RIGHT DIRECTION.  Utilize those feelings to help obtain the goals that you now have, and that is to have the surgery. 

Our lives change at the moment we determine that we are on the wls journey.  No more giving up.  Oh yes, that first year of losing weight when the pounds FLY off...  its easy to get all excited and caught up in the moment from victory to victory (whether wow moments or non scale victories)...  compliments keep us soaring to the sky, our clothes shrink.  We feel great!

And then there comes the "normal" or most normal life we can have after wls.  the weight is gone.  People stop noticing.  We don't have to continue being the food nazis that many of us were ("OH MY GOD, DID YOU SEE WHAT THEY ATE?  THAT IS SO GROSS!" lol).   And much later down the road, perhaps five pounds creeps us.  But it still requires the new changes, attitudes, beliefs that each, or the group have...  and that is to once again, channel that frustration, disappointment in such a way that it causes you to achieve a goal....  

Oh yes how easy it is to give up.  But I say DO NOT GIVE UP.  Channel all of that negative energy in such a way that it causes you to reach for your goals even more, until you are able to hold them in your hands as your very own accomplished dreams....  

Posts like this don't happen often, but when they do....

This is what every WLS patient needs to hear - every day. A mantra, if you will. Every forum I surf has those dear people who just don't have their head in the game.

Thanks to all of you for your posts. Words like these will help me achieve my goal - and stay there!