Some friendly advice from someone who is (almost) 2 years out.

Thanks! I just want my heart regulated now. I am trying not to live in the past haha, but this is new and I really wish they had caught it when i was young.

I wish you continued success. I must say for me, looking back, the first 2 years were easy. Maintaining at almost 9 years out is hard, extremely hard. MUCH harder than losing.

Do not get complacent. Ever.

AMEN!!

Thanks! I know it's a long road and I have already watched a lot of people I had surgery with regain a lot of the weight. :( That actually motivates me to keep my food choices clean. It is a whole new life.

I agree that your message came across as 'this is how I feel, you'll likely experience the same feelings'. Couldn't be further from the truth for me for so many things that you said.

I never questioned or regretted my surgery

I could write the Bible on Thyroid issues, having been on both sides of the coin hyper and hypo.

I've never truly felt bad about myself- pre or post op.

It's great that none of this applied to your personal experience.

One thing I've found is that there are very few statements that apply to everyone.

For example - I never regretted my decision for WLS, not even for a second. Not every surgery results in "absorbing so little." I definitely don't feel lumpy and gross about my excess skin even though I am looking forward to my upcoming plastic surgeries.

I'm glad that you've had such a great experience and I hope it continues! I hope you stick around to give advice and be helpful to others in the OH community.

Same here. Not once, for one iota of a second, have I regretted my decision to have surgery. Even now that I have regained weight and have some deficiencies. The do regret that it took me so long to have it, though.

This is just in the first week - 2 weeks. I have coached a lot of people who go through an emotional roller coaster and regret it, but that feeling goes away really quickly. It's awesome you didn't get that feeling.

It sounds like your program is not very good at preparing its participants. You could probably help people by steering them here where they'll learn all about life after surgery - the good, the bad and the ugly.

I was absolutely prepared for mine, physically, and psychosocially. We even discussed finances for food, vitamins and the possibility of plastic surgery.

I have not had 1 second of regret, not even immediately after surgery, as I understood exactly what I was letting myself in for.

There is NO EXCUSE for bad programming these days, if we were better prepared 13 years ago!!!