I know this is hard for some folks to understand and accept, but you went into this process with the knowledge that you were “sharing the wheel" with your tool.

 

Some of you feel you are losing weight too fast. While there are things you can do to counteract that, part of it is what your body is going to do. My suggestion would be to consult with your surgeon. They see many, many patients (if you’ve chosen a good surgeon) and if they aren’t concerned than it may mean your concern is, at least in part, psychological. And that’s understandable. You’re changing fast, faster than you can wrap your mind around the process. And you wonder if you’ll waste away or what will be left of you. Perhaps you liked your voluptuous hips or your apple bottom and they are quickly disappearing.

 

Others worry that they are losing too slowly. Because you knew someone who knew someone who knew someone who lost all their weight in six months. That’s just not realistic. For many of us, the losses come in fits and starts that are tempered with maddening stalls and, sadly, sometimes even more maddening plateaus (if you don’t know the difference between a stall and a plateau…a stall is usually shorter and temporary…a plateau usually is the end of your weight loss unless you put some significant effort into changing that fact).

Bottom line: we all know the rules. I’m not going to re-state them. Some of us have real cause for concern because we can’t eat or we can’t digest food properly. Those sorts of problems should be addressed aggressively.

But the weight? If you follow the rules it will most likely come off. I haven’t known a single person who had RNY that didn’t lose a significant amount of weight when they acted right. It may not happen all at once…in fact most of it happens while you’re busy fretting over whether it WON’T happen. But if you do the work, you will get the results.

 

For those worrying about losing too fast. Trust me when I say your body knows when to stop. The human body has strong self preservation mechanisms. You will not waste away. You may not see the bounce back that so many dread. It may just be that your body gets to a weight it likes and stays there no matter what you do. If that’s smaller than you envisioned yourself, that’s hard. But I’d say starting at about 18 months post-op especially, your work is mainly in self-acceptance. No matter if you are a size 0 or 10 or 14 you are worthy of happiness and inner peace. Work toward that.

 

Have a great day.

*whew* I have about 9 more months before I have accept myself. I just experienced my first gain since surgery. I also noticed I was retaining water. It just so happens that I started taking fiber supplements but did NOT increase my water intake. DUH! The weekend came and let's just say all the water I had retained found its way out! I'm back down the 7lbs I gained in no time flat.

This is a comforting post! I think we in the WLS community tend to freak out over small changes and things we can do NOTHING about. Learning the balance between relaxing and letting the tool work, and being sure to do all that we've been advised to has been my GREATEST challenge thus far.

thank you for posting this...
"It may not happen all at once...in fact most of it happens while you're busy fretting over whether it WON'T happen. But if you do the work, you will get the results." ----> COULDNT AGREE WITH THIS MORE!
I have learned that when I focus on the numbers and really fret, then there is no movement...if I relax and just "work my tool" then things fall into place. It's hard to be patient, but I am learning to enjoy this entire journey.

I need to get there...I'm not there yet.  I am "stresser" and a "fretter" and I am obsessed with THE number.  I'm scared every day I'm done losing...thing is I am putting in the work BIG TIME--I'm just waiting for the freaking payoff.  The scale barely moves anymore...I keep saying I'm going to toss it in the trash, BUT, I'm right back on it the next morning cussing it out.  More often than not the scale puts me in a bad place, I know this--yet I continue with the behavior.

Nik--I definitely agree with what you are saying--but I whole-heartily believe that my transfer addiction is the scale and being able to see those numbers go down as a result of busting my ass everyday--it ain't happening right now (the numbers going down part) and no matter how hard I try to come to peace with my body through positive self-talk, I can't make peace with it...I still feel huge.  I'm mad that my body 'doesn't' work and wants to stay fat for some reason and I'm still just a few BMI points from being back in the obese range and I'm NOT happy with where I am I.  IF I were to stop losing today I would be crushed and completely devastated.  How do I get past this??? Again, I hear what you're saying and I believe what you're saying, but I can't embody what you're saying.  I still beat myself up everyday over the scale and I can't stop it.  It is a serious addiction...I'm like an addict waiting for their fix--only I can't seem to get a fix lately and that makes me feel completely out of control.  :( 

Took me a minute to get to this BUT Im starting to now learn to somewhat like this size 2 to 4 staring back at me. Although still praying for that bounceback after 18 months....

You can have some of mine!

Although mine seems to be only a bit in the belly and hips but mostly in my boobs! I did not want ot end up with big boobs! And here I am...with big boobs still. I can't win.

id gladly take those over my douche bags now LOL 

I with you - the saggy bags are ick.
I am definitely getting a boob job for REAL once I stop.

i need one but at my age SOOO not worried about them

Diva!  I really wish we could swap bodies!!  My measurements are 37-27.5-40--I'm an 8 on top and a curvy 10 (if I can find them) but mostly I have to buy 12's on bottom.  I hope to get to a 6--I'm not sure my body will get there.  I work at this everyday--It is on my brain from morning til night--maybe that is my problem--I'm obessed--you're looking forward to the 18 month mark--I'm dreading it--I'm completely terrified of bounceback--If I bounced back today my BMI would be back to obese--that would put me over the edge!!

Again--I think you look FAB--I would trade with you if I could!!