Newbie Here

Dee!! Hi, stranger!! So glad to see you posting again!! 

Welcome!!!  This is a great place to come.  They lived it now I'm living it.   Yup binged, yup was on medication a while back but off for several years.  

Liquid diet wasnt ant horrible and it was over so quick no biggie.  I craved pickle juice and olives pretty bad though.  Drank it and pretty miserable. 

Short term discomfort and now into my long term satisfaction.  Trying to get used to my newer body, but it has been a ride.  So glad I took the step to happier healthier me.  I'm in my 40s and I knew if I didn't get it together, this slippery slope would kill me early.

congratulations and hang in there.

Wow!  Congratulations on your loss - that's so encouraging!

Welcome to the forum. I hope you find it as supportive and informative as I have.

I had my surgery at 63, and I weighed 385 pounds at my top weight.  I would have been happy just to be under 300 pounds again and I never thought I'd get below 200 pounds.  But I did.  I lost 98% of my excess body weight and I now weigh 162 with a BMI of 24. 

This surgery really works.  It makes the weight loss possible -- not easy, but possible.  I also want to emphasize that it takes diligence to succeed.  WLS is a tool for managing obesity.  It is not a cure.  We will be managing our obesity for the rest of our lives, but the sleeve makes it possible to succeed.

A lot of people do have favorite meals before the surgery.  But I didn't.  I figured I already had 50 years of eating too much of the wrong foods.  Plus, I can eat anything now that I'm in maintenance.  I just eat smaller quantities.  There are still foods I avoid like pizza and lasagna, and pasta dishes, and deserts.  But I can have them if I choose, as long as I get back on track right after.  So you are not saying good bye forever - just for a while.

Best of luck on your weight loss journey.

Carol

Thank you!  I've been considering surgery for several years now and it feels like WLS is all that's in my brain at this point.  I am thankful to not be going into this blind and find myself on journey I thought would be simple.  I'm sure there are docs and programs that let people just slide by.  I'm glad that mine is not one of them.  I had my pre-op appt and they gave me a quiz to fill out - one side for the dietitian and one for the nurse.  I am glad they take this seriously, because I sure do!

It drives me crazy when people say that WLS is taking the "easy way out."  They have NO idea!  It took a journey (a very unhealthy one) to get to our highest weight; it's an entire journey to get back to wait.  It's sort of nice for me knowing that I'll be sick if I eat too much or the wrong things, especially at the beginning.  That alone provides a bonus level of motivation.

Thanks!

Down over 340 lbs! WLS without any complications is absolutely the easy way out! Dieting without a tool is the hard way.

Congrats on your loss - that's SO great!  My comment about WLS being the easy way out is when people think you have the surgery and don't have to make any changes to have success.  So many people think it's a cop-out.  They think that once you have the surgery there isn't any work involved, that you can eat the same foods and the same was as before surgery and that you don't need to be active.  Sure, any of us who are here preparing for surgery or post-op have tried many times to lose weight and know how hard that is.  People who haven't been in our shoes shouldn't judge us.  We are making decisions for our bodies, taking responsibility for ourselves.

I think the hard part is you must follow a lifelong change of eating or you will fail. Having a small sleeve prevents you from eating huge portions and that can be frustrating for some. 

It's work to have a healthy body whether you have WLS or not, but it's 1000x easier with WLS.

I'm sorry for misunderstanding what you were saying.  We're on the same page, for sure.  For me, knowing that I'll get sick will be a big motivation towards keeping the lifestyle necessary to lose and maintain a certain weight.

Unfortunately not all sleevers get sick when overeating. I haven't gotten sick once since 2012. I know few who do. The DS is a WLS who causes discomforts for bad eating but the sleeve does not.