Kind of worried! A personal Babble:)

I've been traveling oodles the past few months and have had the privilege of mixing with bunches of post-wls buds across the U.S.

One thing remains the same regardless of what type of surgery a person has elected: EVERYONE will face the challenge of some regain!  Some will manage it well and have learned how to really work their tools.  Some have regained all or most of their weight.  Many have had revisions of some type and still have struggles with regain after a time!

Yikes!

Remember when you had your first surgery and you read the posts from other newbies?  All was going well and they loved their surgeons and were in awe of their personal success!

Remember when you first popped on this forum and read from those who had been revised and who loved their surgeon and were in awe of their personal success!  Many claiming that their type of revision had the best stats ever!  Claiming that they should have chosen this or that in the first place!!!  Or that their peeps in a support group did best with a certain type or that a certain surgeon knew the answer to solve world peace and that we should only go to him/her if we REALLY wanted to be successful!  Gheesh!

I have stopped losing weight (this is o.k. cuz I went below 100 pounds) and have regained a little (this is also o.k. because my BMI is 19 and in the healthy zone)  BUT.......will it stop being O.K. again?  Will I be on this board in 5 years again seeing what the new revision is?  I KNOW I don't have the magical solution!

Is anyone as afraid of WLS failure the 2nd time around as I am???!!! 

I think that if I've learned anything at all, its that regardless of what type of surgery we have, we can OUT EAT it!  We can sabbotage ourselves!  We can fall back into old cycles and blame the surgery or the surgeon for our troubles.

I'm just venting my worries.  There's not a real answer here that i'm after.  I"m just considering my own journey and worried that I have not learned my lessons well; that I can't let myself go on auto pilot for a second!  I need to stay in tuned with support, with seminars, with my surgeon and with each of YOU!

Let's beat the crap out of the rotten stats and find our own success!  I LOVE being thin!  But....I know it's a lot of work.....and that work isn't an event that lasts just a few months.....It's for a LIFETIME!!!!  Plz help me out on my journey!  I need info, support and occasional kicks in the back side! 

I agree!!!!

Hi Joyce,
I think you hit the nail on the head with your comments. We are all fighting the same battle here.  I wish that one surgery could fix us for life and the battle would go away, but it just doesn't .  I am less than a week away from an endoscopic procedure that I hope will help me stop my weight gain and reverse some of it.  I am not back to where I was before my original RNY (feb 2002) but I know that I am well on my way.  If I can use it to get my eating back under control, I can do the rest myself.  I am certainly ready to give it everything I have.   this message board is part of it.....we can support one another.  Good luck!  

I'm 10 months out. I had a revision from an RNY, and before that, I had an RNY revision. So I've had three surgeries. I am 50lbs from goal. Or 40 or so. I figure a few years out I might have regain of 20 or so pounds. But NEVER the amount of regain I had after my RNY revision.

I got down to 236 and regained back up to 350. I can't see that happening again. Not that large amount of weight. Yes, it is work to stay on track with the vitamins and protein. But it's worth it.

I never want too see 350 again. And inside I know I never will. That's why I chose the DS.

Years from now, who knows what my weight will be. As long as I'm still in the 100's, I can live with a regain of sorts.

I'm more worried about my labs than regain.

Dana

I am scared of exactly that.  The feeling of being a failure after round one is and has been difficult I can't imagine what I would do after round 2 I put my family thru alot my DH is so supportive this has been such a battle and I would like to think I have taken this journey for a reason and I will have greater success but this is the first time I have said or typed out loud how scared I am of failure again. 

Yess!  Only I am afraid that I will be a failure to even make a normal weight period,  after 2 wls attempts!  I am struggling to loose with this erny!  I never got into a normal weight with the rny to begin with!

You are definately not alone!

Here, Here Shele....I'm with you all the way...What Joyce say's is so true...That fear lurks in all of us who have been through WL Surgery...

I still remember my first WL Surgery and because I was so successful and lost the weight so fast...I thought I would never gain it bac****il I began to...It was a heart sick feeling...But when I found out it was the tool that broke (my staple line ruptured) and they told me they would revise me to an RNY I figured well here we go again....And again, I lost weight so fast and was so successful and kept the weight off for 16 years...But when one lets down there guard and becomes sedentary and feels they have a guarantee...all bets are off....Now that I've had my 3rd procedure; the ERNY....I'm finding that this is nothing like my last two surgeries and the weight isn't coming off the same way...It is so frightning to think I've gone through this and I might not lose to my goal...

Joyce you have been a major inspiration to me on this journey...I see you involved in the support groups and active on so many boards to help others...But it is all about us and what we do to help ourselves succeed and more importantly help others succeed...I need to get to a meeting somewhere quick...I have become very depressed that I'm not losing in the same manner as my last two surgeries even though I knew going in I wouldn't....I still expect more out of myself...I went into surgery at 214 and now weigh 187...It seems I lose 2 lbs and gain 2 lbs then lose a lb and maintain for a few days...then I start again so I normally drop 1-3 lbs a week, which is really good but I'm used to the 5-7 lb a week loss it's hard to compare...I had my surgery on May 20th so 6 weeks ago tomorrow....The biggest portion of my loss came from the pre-op liquid diet...But I will hang in there, follow the rules, learn how to care for me and begin a new life at eating....I've decided I'm no longer going to Live to Eat but learn how to Eat to Live....Love you all!

Janie

having stopped losing weight with rny 6 months after surgery and then having a revision to a distal and have the weight coming off very slow is very scary to me. I am taking the time to change the way I think about food. I don't eat all the time just because I'm bored. When I need to eat and don't have time to prepare a meal I have found ways of ordering something that keeps it healthy, the calories low and high in protein. When I go to the grocery stores now the candy and pastries aren't screaming out my name. When I want a treat I now turn to fruit or maybe even peanut butter. Do I always make perfect choices? No, but I am doing what it takes to keep the scale moving even at a snails pace. I am determined to get and stay healthy. I'm hoping that if I keep making the life style changes that I am that I won't be that failure.

I think this was a very good topic and I hope it gets everyone to thinking how they have to stay determined and stay on track in order to have a life time of success or should I say good health. Everyone be encouraged and make the best out of each and every day that we are given.