Thank you....

I would like to thank you all for the wonderful comments to my most recent thread.  Your supportive comments...encouraging words...and kindness is greatly appreciated.  Although I am very down with myself right now, I know that we all go through these moments.  A very wise person told me that after we lose weight, and are "thin"...we are constantly complimented and supported.  After awhile..the weight loss stops..and being "thin" is simply the way it is.  Sadly, it becomes anti-climatic..and it is as though we lose our purpose.  I know for myself..  I have lost that purpose.. I have to wonder if I allowed myself to gain..only so that I could feel sorry for myself..to then inspire the renewed weight loss.  If that makes sense.   I know that I am not happy with myself.  I know that I am tired....work has be dragged out...and that life at home is having its moments...but tell me somebody not in the same situation. I know that in all things...this tooooo shall pass.   I have really taken the bull by the horns this week.  I have been doing light breakfasts, (protein shakes), I have been doing yogurt for lunch, a package (6) crackers and peanut butter (as a day snack), and then a sensible dinner.  As long as I watch what I do....continue to exercise... I will be okay.... OF course, part of being okay...is knowing that you are out there for me... THANKS!!!!!

Daniel, Well that’s some great news! I completely related to the - “After awhile..the weight loss stops..and being "thin" is simply the way it is. “ People stop commenting once you stabilize for a while. I find I get a little boost when I run into folks I haven’t seen (or rather, who haven’t seen me) since losing the weight. I recently had a whole weekend of-

“OMG!!! I wouldn’t have recognized You!!” Those a great little perks, but fewer and fewer each year. One week at a time, forever. Bit by bit, even this gets easier. ”watching what we do…” That seems to be the biggest part of the whole Post-op experience. That ‘self-consciousness’ that keeps us from ever doing stuff without questioning ourselves about it. Mindfulness.  It’s not just a “Zen-Thing” anymore…. Keep reminding yourself of all that you are doing right To help balance out those disappointments over the very few things that slip through the cracks. Best Wishes- Dx

I have very little knowledge of or training in psychology, so I'm just musing here, but I have often wondered if a part of what makes us prone to obesity is having too external of a locus of control. That is to say, we go through life making all of the tiny little decisions that contribute towards making  up who we are based on how we feel others will relate to them rather than concentrating on whether it's good or not good for us.  As a consequence we often choose not to do things that are in our best interest, like eat sensibly, in order to be "sociable" or "friendly" or  "accepted" by others around us. I'm getting better about selfishly seeking my own satisfaction, but my first impulse is to please those around me whom I like and respect. Probably a giant load of **** but it's something I've wondered about and would be interested to hear others reflections. To finish my thought, I think we need to be very careful about letting the praise and complements of others motivate our behavior. Of course it's quite natural, but as Dx states so well, it can lead us into a trap of feeling down when the accolades stop. It would seem to be similar to the syndrome we see with great athletes or famous entertainers turning in to total fuckups when the crowds stop paying to see them perform.

Dang JFish, you're gettin' plumb "cerebral"!! Hope I have that happen to me after my WLS!!!  Hehehe!!

Hey Jfish,  I especially liked the giant load of **** part! I agree with you, its always fun to be stroked. But its important that we don't let that become the motivating factor in our journey. Because if we do, we're doomed to fail. Doug  PS It's still cold up here. How cold, Damn cold. did you catch the frozen waterfall pics on the national news last nite? Pretty "cool" eh?

Obesity is a disease that is as much physical  as psychological, it's hard to know  which one came first...like the chicken and the egg. Scott

Sounds like you got back on track this week Daniel. You can do it man.

It dident work for me .Im still a dumb ass .   Nick            ( Ps )   Jfish that sounded like you were reading it out of a book !

Don't make the mistake of assuming that I can read.

You sound like you might be depressed.  Don't get scared!  It's just an illness and it may only be a temporary condition.  I'd suggest that you see your primary doc and have him give you a prescription for a mild antidepressant.  If you are just in a slump, you'll probably only take them for a couple months and be weaned off of them. I know that I sound like a broken record in giving this advice to many of the men here.  There's nothing wrong with having a temporay mental illness.  Our society would be much better off if people would treat this common ailment the way they treat high BP or blood sugar problems. There's a paperback book called Feeling Good--The New Mood Therapy which is about 20 years old and has a reliable test you can self-administer to determine how depressed you are.  Put your answers on a separate sheet and not in the book so you can use it again if necessary.  You might even be able to find a copy in your library.  It works good for the person who doesn't get depressed often.  Plus, the book has many strategies for combatting depression.  One that used to work for me was to take a simple stroke counter (you just click a button to add a stroke to your count) and count your negative thoughts in a day.  Write the number of negative thoughts down at the end of the day and repeat the process for several days.  I usually stopped having any negative thoughts after just a few days.  That was way back when I was only occasionally mildly depressed. Now, I'm full blown bi-polar and have been dealing with the patient's side of treatment for depression for about 27 years now.  I've been retired due to bi-polar disease since July, 1992.  Yeah, I know, I gave too much info.