3 months post op

So all of us who got our surgery done just before christmas(which is alot of us) are just about at our 3 month mark.  mine was 3 days ago which completely passed me by.
When I was pre-op I thought this was such a huge life changing event and will affect every moment of the rest of my life.  I thought the rules would be so hard and I would never be able to eat anything without fear of being sick. 
Wow what a load - the stuff they tell you in orientation I have decided was mostly just to scare you!  Everyone reacts differently to the surgery but If I hadn't been there myself I wouldn't even know I had ever had it done.  I can eat  larger variety of foods than I could pre op because I am no longer lactose intolerant!
The amount of food I can eat really feels like alot!  I can eat a while 1/2lb steak for dinner(if I take my time ofcourse and don't eat anything else- but who needs sides)!
I have not dumped very often I think maybe only 3 times - once on plain greek yogurt, once on egg at 1 mo out (i can eat egg fine now) and once on a protein shake which I have every morning so have no idea what happened there.

To everyone who is considering or waiting for surgery i will tell you this.  Nothing changes post op. I thought I wouldn't crave or feel hungery but I do just like I did before.  I actually ordered 2 small pizzas on a craving one night this month ... paid $30 + tip.  I had one slice and decided it wasn't worth losing my momentum over and threw them both in the garbage - It is so hard to throw food out but it is something you must learn to do post op.  Something I wish I learned pre op is that you don't have to finish everything on your plate.  This still comes as a tough lesson because if i eat slow enough i can keep shoveling it in. 

It is very easy to cheat your pouch! So it is still very much all will power and mind over matter.
Avoiding sugary/greesey foods will cut down on cravings anyways without surgery but it is imporatnt to remember that if you slip then you need to catch yourself and reset your mind to stop the craving cycle.

Feelings post op are crazy.  Just after surgery i felt glad that  finally got it done and I was so ready to go with exercise and a while new life style that I started everything too early - this set back my healing and i had to stop my exercising for another couple months because i was too impatient to wait the extra 3 weeks!  Because I wasn't exercising it slowed my weight loss and I felt sad and regretted surgery because the loss was just crawling along.  So about 2 months in I felt like crap - I was back to work and everyone asked how my weight loss was coming daily and they would comment on how I had told them the same number the week before....  oh well  Soon enough the number started changing again and people would start commenting on how amazing I looked.  I actually got about 6 comments a day on how amazing my hair looked(even though I had not done anything to my hair since before surgery....)
I still only feel it is a small change even at 61 lbs lost I don't feel any different.  
My mother recently asked me how much i would have to way to really accept that I has lost weight and i told her when i was 220 I think i will feel it... that is a 100lb loss from where i started so if i don't feel a change there i guess i never will?

Anyways long post about my experience I remember that I liked to read these posts pre op so i thought I should share.

Good luck to you all!

Thanks Katie - I'm 2 months out and really struggling. Your post really helped!

Thanks for this honest post.  

There is no magic to this surgery.  I see so many people go in with a false sense that surgery is going to cure their food issues.   Being a long timer, I can say that it gets much harder down the line and people need to listen to their centre about changing habits preop and wrapping your head around the issues of why they eat.  

I get worries when I see people fast tracked in 3 months.  You need to work on habits before surgery or they will bite you in the butt at some point.  

Surgery changes our bodies, not our brain. Old habits die hard.  It's going to be about willpower, determination, resilience and making food choices for the rest of our lives. 

Thanks for keeping it real,

dawn

Well said Dawn.  I was definitely one who thought it would be a cure all - I thought I would magically wake up and not want to eat any bad foods and I would naturally fall in to measuring and weighing food but I really didn't.  I went to a support group to see how other dealt with making the changes and he group only made things harder because everyone there still ate crap and didn't weigh or measure anything.
I don't want that to be me.  now that reality has set in i see the importance of making those changes myself.  There are lessons I wish I had listened to but I was definitely blinded by the excitement.

Seeing others eating crap has definitely put me in my right mind. I wouldn't wish that on anyone (not using their tool) but it has helped me to see a few women I know who had WLS ahead of me eating pizza and chips and fried greasy food. I am not one to measure or weigh, I hardly ever keep a log, my weight loss is slower than others that started at my weight... But I am the only one doing this, it's just me in this body. Just like it's just you. If you're capable of self-reflection (which you are, from this post!) you can pick out your patterns and stop yourself before you get started - like throwing out the pizza. It won't be a perfect road, it will be slow and arduous with moments of incredibly freeing happiness. Even if the weight flies off you it's not guaranteed to change your mindset... You are going to do great. Just keep being honest with yourself, keep yourself accountable, keep making the positive changes so that they stick :)