Or:

"I didn't have this surgery to have to diet the rest of my life"

Sorry to bring you the bad news.....call it what you want, most of us have to diet.

For most, surgery is not a fix. Think of it more as an adjustment.

If diet means following a guideline and watching what you eat......than your on a diet.

Saying it's a lifestyle change is true, but just another way to say diet.

Forever is a long time and if you can't adopt a proper eating guideline (diet) it probably is not going to work out and you will get fat again.

All that said and what I believe is the unfiltered truth for most.......

It is sooooo worth it !!!

If your in WL...... keep it tight and don't waiver..... stay vigilant, it's ok to go a little (or a lot) berserk !!!

If your in maintenance...... protect your skinny !!!! 

frisco

I agree 100%. As soon as we stop paying attention to how much we eat, we start to gain. Some of us have to pay closer attention than others -- I still weigh everything on a kitchen scale -- but we all need to pay attention. Ignore it at your own peril.

The other thing I hear a lot is "I just want to eat like a normal person." There's no such thing as normal. The world is getting more obese every day. And if you pay close attention to "normal" people, they're careful about how much they eat too. They just have a lifetime of good habits to reinforce their behavior, while we have a lifetime of bad habits behind ours.

I agree. I do think of myself as eating like a "normal, average sized person" now. Except for my daughter, and a few like her who have hollow legs and never gain, the majority of averaged-sized people do watch what they eat and make healthy choices most of the time. And when they gain a few pounds, they stop the gain in it's tracks and lose it instead of letting it snowball into a 50+ pound gain. It's definitely not magic. We are in control of our weight.

Amen, brother, amen! 

You know, some people "get it" right away. Some people "get it" but stumble about a bit, yet find the right path because they don't give up looking for it. (Put me in that camp.) It's the group that thinks the surgery is "The Fix" is the group that doesn't do so well in the long run. 

For those that don't want to diet, well, my advice is work, research, learn and figure out an eating plan that works to keep your weight off and that you can live with. It is possible, because that's what the successful people do. At a point the new way of eating is no longer a diet, but just the way you eat. 

Your "diet" is simply what you eat. Only during this last generation has it taken on the meaning that most people now associate with the term.

diet

Definition of diet

1. 1a :  food and drink regularly provided or consumedb :  habitual nourishment

2. Origin of diet

   Middle English diete, from Anglo-French, from Latin diaeta, from Greek diaita, literally, manner of living, from diaitasthai to lead one's life

   
   First Known Use: 13th century

Well said. A friend of mine and I (who also had WLS) got into an argument recently about her eating. She exercises every day, makes pretty good food choices, but her serving sizes are HUGE (she posts pictures a lot on fb)!! She is an over-sharer and was complaining about now losing so I told her how wonderful her exercise schedule is and how great her food choices are, but that she may want to try cutting back on her serving sizes. She went ballistic and told me I did not understand and that she has to eat a lot because otherwise she gets cranky. I learned my lesson. I will not give her advice anymore. Some people do not want to hear the truth.

Surgery is not magic. I will work my ass off every day to keep the weight off. 

Your friend gets "cranky"??  That's a laugh.  Guess she'd rather be fat and jolly; but she'll end up fat and miserable like most of us used to be.  It amazes me -- the excuses people come up to rationalize their bad eating habits.  Why bother with the surgery if you're not going to follow the guidelines?

Mary

She medicated herself with food.... I've been there. Now - if I get stressed - I take thryptophan... As good as extra carbs I used to take. And no calories..

She gets cranky when she doesn't eat? It sounds like she gets cranky when she does eat.

Thank you for this post!  It's spot on.  And as a recent "in maintenance" person I absolutely want to protect my skinny!