Dispensing of medical advice- a warning for Newbies

There are a few health professionals on here, but not one worth their salt will attempt any sort of diagnosis on this board - a complete medical history is required to even attempt to help someone with advice - even when it's in your specialty

There are people on OH who see grey - who have enough experience to understand that their way is not the only way.   Posters who deal in black and white, special surgeons, surgery types etc are not the people who should be dispensing advice in general.   By all means share what works for them, but there should be no pressure bought to bear that makes people feel inadequate or to persuade other people to work outside of THEIR surgeon's plans.

The only area where surgeons advice is often wrong is on the subject of vitamin/mineral supplementation, labs and potential deficiences.   A well informed veteran can be way better informed than even the best surgeons or their staff.

I have survived - no thrived - without constant contact with my surgeon because I am my own best health advocate and I urge everyone to do their own research from the time they decide they have surgery.

You are so right, Kim, about surgeons knowing very little about vitamins, supplements, etc.  The other thing they don't know jack-**** about is nutrition.  My surgeon has great hand skills but - honest-to-god - I know more about recent research on nutrition and proper eating for the sleeve than he does.   

My hubby went in for his 3-month post-op visit yesterday and all the staff was STUNNED at his progress and at how perfect his labs were.  They all asked him (even the doctor), "what are you doing?"  And you know what he said:  "exactly what Tracy tells me to do!"   LOL!  

But I only have good advice to share because of my experience, my own research and common sense, and the great advice I've gotten from all of you on these boards.  

I have never followed the "popular" plan, and have had great success. BUT I have always taken the good things I have learned from all posters to help me succeed. I always enjoy your posts.

Anne 

Excellent Post!  I wish I had read this truth when I was a newbie during the weightloss phase.  I was trying so hard to do it "right" and spent far too much time scolding myself because I couldn't be as disciplined as some of the vets who got to or below goal weight in record time.  I will not spend the rest of my life obsessing over 5 lb gains, yes, yes it's a slippery slope...but I will not ride the crazy train of food obsessing anymore, I've done that my entire life and this surgery was to free me from that burden.  And you know what?  It's has!

Thank you for reminding us all about this, HappyTeacher.

I am really glad that I did not check into this board pre-op, as I would have seriously reconsidered the appropriateness of the sleeve for me. Thankfully, I had been in this game for several years as a result of my wife's WLS and had been effectively living a WLS maintenance life for much of that time. So when I first checked in here shortly after surgery and saw one of our (not so, at the time,) vets beating up some poor woman for the sin of putting a banana in her protein shake to make it tolerable to meet her early protein requirements, it really pegged my BS meter - I knew she was slinging a load of crap. Their perspective is from a doc who by all reports has done a great job in stretching (so to speak) the sleeve's performance well up the BMI scale, but unfortunately applies that as a cookie cutter to all (or at least his disciples do - I'm not so sure that the doc himself is as irresponsible as they make him out to be.) My perspective is from working with a program (over ten years, now) that doesn't promote carb abstinance (minimizing sugars and simple carbs while losing, yes - healthy complex carbs that we need in our diets over the long term, no,) but yields results are as good as anyone in the business, (85-100% EWL is the normally expected result) and yet I don't see nearly the long term problems with cravings and carb monkeys in our group as we see here - people tend to be much more healthy and normal years out as a result of having a more normal healthy human diet early on. As HT suggests, this may not be for everyone, and may not be the best thing for those in the seriously high BMI ranks who need to maximize everything to get the weight off - they may need to make these early vs. late compromises - but it provides great sustainable results. We are not in a one-size-fits-all world (as most any of us with these weight problems will attest!)

Most particularly be skeptical of surgeons' medical advice as washed through these boards - we here are not professionals and are not generally present (and aware) of what goes on in the OR. We trust (and sometimes even love, lol) our docs or we wouldn't allow them to be doing what they are doing to our insides - but we really don't know (or fully understand) the details and as much as we try to vet our docs with testimonials and research, bad news often lags. There are docs out there who have been OH darlings (and major board sponsors,) who have fallen from grace, to put it mildly. They may come across as very professional and caring, have a wonderful CV and website, but have been fired by some of the best (and not so best) - even the pros have a hard time evaluating their peers until they actually see them in the OR. So, take what you hear transmitted by us patients with just a few kilos of salt. You hired your doc(s) for a reason, so use them - but they, too, are not beyond questioning and if something doesn't seem right, talk to them about it. There are many different approaches that work, but some may or may not be appropriate for different individuals;  some ideas may be trendy and transient while others may seem "old school" but enduring and still work - which is best for you? Be your own advocate.

thank you thank you thank you thank you... Yes. Frankly it scares me to see how many people take the word of a select few posters as gospel. We are all different and have to find what works best for us as individuals. For a "tip-of-the-iceberg" example, if I were to follow a diet that was for, say, someone who is 5' tall, I'd starve to death as a 5'10" individual. I just can't get by on 600 calories a day. I feel like I'm going to faint if I do... Literally. I get tunnel vision and have to frequently bend over to get the blood to rush to my brain at 600 calories a day. I also can't keep my carbs as low as some of the VSG elite would have me keep them. I have always dealt with blood sugar issues and experience the same aforementioned weakness when my carbs are uber low.

In the end, it's a matter of taking your surgeon's plan and working it to the best of your ability. If your surgeon didn't give you a super detailed plan (the boat that I'm in), then you have the task of finding what works your you and your body. As long as the scale gets to where you want it in a time span that you're comfortable with, then who gives a flying flip whether or not you survive solely on any sort of "miracle soup" in the process? Take what you find works for you and what makes you comfortable, and leave the rest. No one should feel pressured to follow any proclaimed "One True Way."

Love your soggy, btw. Another carb-eater here... And, frankly, I could care less what size bougie was used to make my sleeve ;)

Thanks for posting this HappyTeacher and thanks for spelling things out transparently without sending folks looking for a hidden meaning or secret code between the lines! I am one who had no follow up program with my surgeon, so I constructed my own based on OH and other resources. I did it my way and for me and while I am not at the lower end of my notmal BMI range, I am doing pretty damn well and having the occasional glass of wine, eating a healthy diet, balanced and mindful while not drastic on any food group restrictions, eating full fat, having the occasional bite of mashed potatoes or chocolate or whatever I happen to feel like - mindfully - having a larger sleeve as well and a fantastic quality of life now with no complications or issues stemming from the surgery itself nor the sleeve I have been blessed with.

Had I been more hard core and restrictive yes I could have lost more and faster but was that my objective? Nope. My objective was and always will be, to be off all meds, put all co-morbidities into the remission drawer and have a full, fun and active life. Doing that in a size 6-8 or 8-10 or 4-6 is all just fine with me. 

There are great ideas and tips to be picked up from everyone's wealth of experience. Trick is to not fall into the trap of the one and only right way because with health and food, like with any other aspect of life, the one right way is like the starvation myth. It just doesn't exist.

The one thing that does come through everyone's posts though, and that just might be a universal truth in effective weight management if one did have to exist, is commitment to the process, to yourself and your wellness, mindfullness and education. 

The pre ops and newly post ops need to be confident in their path!

I'm reading a book titled Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat by Michelle May, MD. From the chapters I've read thus far, your eating style matches exactly to what she writes about; eating what you love but doing so mindfully. My program psychologist is the one *****commended this book to me.

Cool! I'll have to have a look at it. 

You can download the first chapter for free here  http://amihungry.com/marketplace/  They also have companion workbooks for general food issues as well as binge eating, diabetes and bariatric surgery. I'm also using the bariatric surgery workbook, it's not aimed at just pre-ops!