Recent Posts
on 2/21/20 5:52 am, edited 2/20/20 9:53 pm - WI
I live in a very rural area and there are no support groups here. OH is my only support group. I visit this site every day and read. I actually lurked on this site for 3 years before I joined. The people who helped me the most are the vets *****fused to hand-pat and tell me I'm doing fine when I was screwing up. If that is what you need...this is your new WLS family.
There are some people on this site who think anything but a "hand-patting, mushy gushy" approach is bullying. It's not. Support, to me, is when someone who has been through the same issues slaps the cookie out of my hand and says, "what the hell are you doing? You know better". You may see a few of them calling out a WLS vet for being real with a newbie. I worry about those people influencing the success of that new WLS patient. That is the reason why many of us have stayed on this site (some for decades) to offer our advice. We want you to succeed.
You really can do this...many of us have...I had my first WLS in 1986 and revised to RNY in 2010...but that is another story. The point is, anything you will go through... there is likely someone on this site that will be able to help you out. Seriously though...with and alcohol problem, and obesity, you really need to get a great therapist. That will help you way more than a support group. Find one you really connect with. If you don't like the first therapist you meet... shop around. They are your employee. You can fire them. Just keep searching until you click with one.
HW 270 SW 236 GW 160 CW 145 (15 pounds below goal!)
VBG Aug. 7, 1986, Revised to RNY Nov. 18, 2010
Walking really helped me after any surgery.
Plus I was lucky that only 1 surgery I had there was still gas after the surgery. All the other time the surgeon took time and effort to remove the gas...
Give it time and good luck.
Hala. RNY 5/14/2008; Happy At Goal =HAG
"I can eat or do anything I want to - as long as I am willing to deal with the consequences"
"Failure is not falling down, It is not getting up once you fell... So pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again...."
I'm 3 days post op from getting sleeved. Should I be worried that all I could take in today was 20oz of liquid and half a pudding cup? The 20oz liquid contained 40grams of protein but I'm trying so hard not to be dehydrated and I'm scared. I'm not sure why this is so hard for me now ? It literally took me all day to finish 20oz. Any advice out there? Am I gonna be severely dehydrated now?
a lot of bariatric clinics have support groups. My does - but it only meets once a month, so I come here for daily support (I quit going to the support group at the clinic long ago, though - the people that went to mine were all pre-ops or new post-ops, so they have very different issues than I do....). But I've found this site very helpful.
Do you attend groups outside of this website? Are there support groups in your area that are as honest about this procedure as you are?
I've been to OA meetings but found them unhelpful. I think a support group for bariatric surgery may be helpful.
I would consider a therapist, but I am a member of AA so I find groups comfortable and helpful.
"Obesity is not cured, just put into remission."
This is a harsh reality. I guess I probably knew that, but to read it from someone else... thank you.
I am also an alcoholic, so I have put alcohol aside with the same knowledge that it is not cured only in remission as long as I do the work.
I've been to some OA meetings, but have not found them very helpful really. Do you do any groups outside of this online group?
The "average" weight loss is 100 pounds. Almost 100% regain 20 pounds by the end of year three.
50% regain 50 pounds by the end of year five. Some regain 100 pounds by year 10 or sooner. Some end up heavier than they started. We were taught to lose weight and then go to maintenance. With weight loss surgery, there is no maintenance.
Unless you watch your diet carefully and do not eat more than you burn you will regain the weight.
Obesity is not cured, just put into remission. You can easily go back to it.
Real life begins where your comfort zone ends
Surgery gives you about two years where losing is quick and easy. But the body is smart and it learns how to get back the weight that it feels you unfairly starved it of .
Think of your body like a person working at a job. Every week they expect to get paid and have money to spend. But one day the body is doing its same work, but the food is suddenly cut to almost nothing. It has to work with far fewer calories and loses weight.
Then it gets better and tells you to give it back all of its food. And by the third year after surgery, you can eat all of that food again.
The trick is to continue on the diet plan even after you are able to eat as much as before. Take the first years to learn new habits and then continue those habits and you will never have to worry much about regain.
I am on a diet and I will be on a diet every day of my life. If I quit the diet, I will gain the weight back.
Real life begins where your comfort zone ends
You have a good reason to worry. Long term it is so easy to gain. Just 100 cal extra per day above what our body need may result in 10 lbs gain per year.
in 3 years - that may grow to 30 lbs.
just 100 calories extra can be "good food" like protein shake per day.
Getting grip on what we are doing and how diligent we need to be is critical.
Hala. RNY 5/14/2008; Happy At Goal =HAG
"I can eat or do anything I want to - as long as I am willing to deal with the consequences"
"Failure is not falling down, It is not getting up once you fell... So pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again...."
I am so with Kim's and Laura's opinion here...
You just 1.5 years post op. You are talking about the experience you have here and now. I think you may get a rude awakening as the times go.
In my first 2 years, actually 2.5 years I had a problem stop losing. I got 10 lbs below my goal. And I was eating more. I had to eat more to maintain.
And then came year 3 post op and not doing anything different to what I was doing, I started gaining. I wanted to gain 10 lbs, but in almost no time I gained over 35 lbs. It then took me 6 months to lose 20, and then another year to reach my goal.
I am close to 12 years post op, and I know hat and how much I need to eat to maintain or lose. And what almost always guarantee I would start gaining.
I know one a couple of people IRL ( who are maintaining their weight (not counting people 5+post op here on OH). I know bunch of people IRL *****gained, and regained most if not all, or even more than they lost. Those people returned to eating the same things what they ate before WLS, and just eat less of it. They are gaining. some gain slowly than if the were before WLS, but after a few years it is visible.
Hala. RNY 5/14/2008; Happy At Goal =HAG
"I can eat or do anything I want to - as long as I am willing to deal with the consequences"
"Failure is not falling down, It is not getting up once you fell... So pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again...."
