How much work did you think this journey would be?

You ain't NEVA lied!!!!  OMG - the $$ it takes is KILLER!!!!!!

But - WORTH every freakin penny!!!!!!!!!

Well I for one am guilty of buying into the silly notion early that once you have WLS you will lose all the unwanted weight and forever be thin for the rest of your life.  I never imagined the amount of work behind it and the cost/need for protein, which becomes your lifeblood to a certain extent. 

Even though I thought a man is SUPPOSED to get a bit of a gut or spare tire when he reaches middle age, the old lifestyle (couch potato) and eating habits (comfort foods) that I had were actually killing me.  Rapidly seeing results in weight-reduction has gotten me up off of the couch and exercising again.  I love that!!!

If I had to do it all over again I would but this time I'd be better prepared and smarter about some of the things that freak me out now (i.e. stalls, gaining 1 or 2lbs. during a stall).

~smh~ yes, that is a silly, silly notion!!!! 

And no man or woman is SUPPOSED to have a gut - that's the bull**** we feed ourselves and one another to make that **** FEEL alright......

So glad you are on the right track - stay focused - and being persnickety about your weight is actually a GOOD thing - it's when you lose that vigilence that bad things happen.......

 @ it's when you lose that vigilence that bad things happen.......

Yo, I had heard the exact same thing from a few people on here as a matter of fact, so that's why I'm truly trying to make this an actual lifestyle change for me and not just a new thing for me to try. 

Man - I cannot TELL you how much you should heed those words of wisdom!!  OMG - once you pass the 24 mos mark - you have to FIGHT like Sophia and the men in her life for every pound lost!!!!  Gotta tell them pounds like Celie told Harpo -  BEAT HER!!!!  LMAOOOOOOOOO

i can say i THOUGHT this journey was going to be EASY..it AINT..lol..early on it was easy to loose the weight..but what is so crazy to me is just how EASY it is to gain the weight back..i'm still not eating as much as I did before surgery..i still dont eat as much as some people..but i'm still gaining weight..i have to be so very consious of everything i eat...they say do 4 small meals and 2 snacks...well if i do that i gain weight..dont ask me how but i do..i dont know about those darn malabsortion issues that i'm supposed to have..i seem to absorb any and everything..lol..it is a journey..and it is a long one..

 I'm almost 9 months out. Am I still a newbie? Anyway, I used to say that my only regret was not doing this years ago. I've come to realize that this journey is more mental than anything, and I wasn't mentally ready for the lifestyle change until I was ready, and not a moment sooner. If I'd had the surgery years ago, I probably would have struggled much more than I have. 

I must confess that I thought the surgery would do all the work for me and I'd magically drop 100 lbs with little effort. That might work for some, but that wasn't the case for me. I've had to work for each and every pound I shed and I've had to accept that exercise WILL be a permanent fixture in my life, much like protein, vitamins and water. Do I love exercise now? I can honestly say that yes, I like it. It does a million time more good for me than that extra hour of sleep I can get in the mornings if I skip my workout. 

I'm still early out, and I worry about my lab work all the time. I want to make sure I don't experience vitamin deficiencies that are common in WLS patients. I am and always will be a work on progress.

I will be 4 years in Aug and I am STILL LEARNING - so are you a newbie????    Hiizzzelll to the mofoin YEAHHHHHHH!!!!!!  LMAOOOO

I feel you on the mental part - I had lost 80lbs on Atkins a year before my surgery but gained it back, I always thought that I would have been so much smaller today if I had surgery when I was down to 300 instead of 350 - but my mind was not right and I wasn't REALLY ready to DO this..... so - it's true, all things in DUE time......

Oh, yeah, one of thing that I never saw coming with WLS, I have a hard time accepting compliments about my weight loss. Weird, I know, but I still see myself at 305 lbs, but, now I'm so far away from that in terms of the number on the scale. I never saw this coming. I've actually cringed a time or two when someone has mentioned it. Like how could people not mention when you've shed such a large amount of weight. In my mind, I think it should be ignored for some reason.

Again, weird, but I'm still working with a therapist to figure it all out. I figured that it wasn't just pizza and ice cream that got me to the point of needing WLS, so I'd better figure out the mental side of it before I find myself back up to 305 lbs again. 

One more thing. Now that I'm shopping in the "normal" sizes, I'm very self conscious. I recently started shopping in New York & Company, and I feel like I don't belong there.  I find myself still creeping over to the plus size section in Macy's. Oh, and here's the ultimate in weird. I pull clothes out of the "normal" section in Macy's, but I walk all the way over to the fitting room in the plus size section to try them on. Hmm... now that I've written this down, I realize how screwed up I might be. 

@ the plus size section...... chile, the last time I walked into Ashley Stewart I almost ended up on a milk carton cause them *****es was about to CUT me!!!!!!!

You should shop WITH someone for a while - let them eyeball and tell you when you are wrong!!!  LOL