How much work did you think this journey would be?

 My mother and one of my friends cringe when I say I'm going shopping alone. They know that the situation is delicate and I need a little companionship until my confidence builds. I'm a freaking basket-case in the malls now. Who knew this craziness would be a side effect.

See - you are the opposite of me, I am staying out of the malls right now because I am not finished with my body and anything I buy right now will be garbage in about 3 months - after THAT..... whooooweeee!!!!  I'm going to BLOW UP the ghetto malls for club clothes and the discount warehouses for work clothes.......

Before I thought it would be easy and the weight would come off easily.  Now I know it something that you got to work at for the rest of your life.  The weight can be gain back just as easily as it come off.  It's a maintenace job for the rest of your life..

Thanks for the words to match my thoughts, SS!!!

10 years later & it is still work, as I now understand it will remain my entire lifetime. 

All in all, I'm as glad today that I went through with it as I was when I reached & held my goal weight for 5 years!

My only regrets are 1) that I should have done it sooner; I was overweight for about 10 years (24ish to 34 when I had WLS)
and 2) that I allowed my vigilance to be slowly replaced my foolish complacency years out, which led to a 40 pound regain.

I'm back on track now & I thank God that the pouch still works when I work it!!

...greatquestion, MM!!  Glad to see you recovering so well!

The first two years after surgery were so fun,  getting thin wearing small clothes and looking cute.  But lord after that the work got hard, real hard.    You gain back a few pounds and it is dam near impossible to get them off just like it was for me before surgery.

I really thought I would not have to worry as much about weight after surgery but I worry about it more now.    It is such a huge struggle and it is heart wrenching at times.

The struggle will probably never end and I hate that part of it.   But I sure in hell don't regret it cause if I hadn't had surgery I would just be fat and still struggling instead of almost fat and still struggling.

I can honestly say that my expectation and reality is just about even with each other.

I am one of those strange one who did not do it to lost weight but to maintain the weight as I lose it.

My exercise level was/is such that I lose the weight but once I go back to eating as before, the pounds comes back with a vengeance, but with this new lifestyle and my little friend, I can do like the normal skinny folks and give myself a 5 pounds window.  As long as I don't gain more than 5 pounds before doing something about it, I am happy and I did not give myself a certain time frame to lose the weight.  I am over 3 years and have not reach goal, and I am OK with it.

Ahh - but when you say you have not reached goal, is that YOUR goal or your surgeon's goal or the goal on the infamous weight charts????

My surgeon didnt set a goal, and my personal goal varies, depend on how I am feeling, I know that I always have to have something to work towards.

MM, I thought it would be easier and that I would reach my personal goal, of 100 lbs lost, by now.  I would do it again in a heartbeat and wish I had applied myself more in the earlier days.  It is not over but it just harder to stay on track.   It's a real bummer but I will always have to fight the fat. 

I expected it to be a ***** but it is a ***** on wheels and on fire. 

This is the hardest personal endevor I have ever voluntarily undertaken.  I really don't know for sure if I would do it again.  I struggle so much daily and I am working this thing hard but with mixed results.  The point of wls was to finally be certain about the results. 

I am frustrated and disapointed and angry.  The one bright spot is that my still high BP is out of the stroke range.  I pray everything comes together and my issues are resolves.  I wonder if I had the wrong wls.  A ds may have been more suitable to my metabolic needs. 

I hope I don't come to regret having this rny.  I'm focusing on that one bright spot.