Your Best Advice or What You Wish You Had Known

I thought the press-n-seal was a genius idea-still do! 

The Hag thing happened because someone called me and a few others "hags" in her replies. This was about 16 months ago or so on the main board. We took the name and ran with it. 

Edited because this Hag can't type! 

Haha.  I was wondering why you and ohers have the Hag in your name.  I was rhinking it had to do with you being like moderators... and then was so happy for JB when she recently added Hag.  I imagined it being a promotion 

Haha nope. Just a joke between me and Grim. I decided to run with it :)

Not mods...lol..not by a long shot. Just an inside joke of sorts. 

There is plenty of info if you just read through the boards....

I did this but I wasn't convinced I'd be successful.... I couldn't conceive it in my mind ...but here I am 2+ years out, below goal and #noregrets #littleenginethatcould

That being said Maintenance is HARD....maybe there will be a point where it won't be...but for me I know I need to stay focused that is why I am on these Boards every single day.

As Daisy said the Honeymoon is shorter than you think... Lose the weight quick.... follow the rules. Not that you can't continue losing weight, but it just doesn't happen as easily or quickly.

There are some rules that everyone will agree on - like don't drink with meals...and there are other 'rules' or suggestions that you have to figure out what works for you. Some people will tell you "get off the scale' don't weigh yourself everyday.... I weigh myself daily and that works for me... It is part of my accountability. Journaling? I journal an eating plan for the day rather than just writing down what I've eaten...it changes as the day progresses often, but I like having thought about a plan. I do not do My fitness Pal regularly- I do what I call 'spot check weeks' I am too obsessive and it actually makes me want to eat more rather than controlling my eating...

Caffeine- never gave up caffeine and was never asked to by my Doc. Had caffeine on my tray day 1 in the Hospital.... so not all 'rules' are the same...

Some advice you get from your center won't be the best, and that is where this place comes in- they may tell you too many calories, too many carbs...learn from the experiences here...

My centre told me I don't have to give up caffeine either! I was thrilled. 

Dumping was not like I expected. I expected that if I consumed sugar I'd be in the fetal position writhing in pain. Or praying to the porcelain gods. 

Its very subtle for me- and dangerously easy to ignore. It took me a while to Figure out when I was having A negative reaction. 

Can you describe? I had a reaction today I'm trying to figure out.

My reaction to ingesting too much sugar is the increased heart rate-- I have an apple watch and can monitor my heart rate any time . Normally I'm about 60-65bpm-- after eating a lot of sugar it goes to 80+ Bpm and I can feel it.   My stomach feels a little queasy too, enough to make me grimmace-- nothing that would prevent me from functioning though. At times I'll get sweaty too. 

Fats (i.e. Fried foods) give me worse stomach upset than sugar. Initially after surgery I didn't understand what was going on-- I knew I hadn't had sugar, so couldn't figure out what was making feel so ill. Then I realized it was the fat content I was reacting to. No increased heart rate, or sweatiness with fats- just miserable stomach upset. I will not eat anything fried cause I don't want to have the stomach upset. That is a lay down and  moan type stomach upset for me. I still can't eat bacon-- too fatty.

carbs (boxed cereals mostly) make me horribly gassy. I don't bother with them either.

I agree with Peach. Dumping is not wildly dramatic for me, but it's definitely there. After a handful of m&ms I get a general "green" / queasy feeling that stops me from overindulging much more. But if I wanted to pu**** I could (I have). The reaction isn't bad enough for me to avoid those m&ms again, just bad enough for me to avoid eating the entire bag in one sitting...