Hardest After Surgery and Most Important After Surgery???

TO those WLS grads out there on this forum: I'm new to less site, and am having my first consult with the WLS surgeon next month. What would you say (for you) was the hardest thing to do/follow after surgery, and also, what turned out to be the most important thing you did/followed after surgery re your success?

Thanks for any replies....this site is fantastic!

Laughingeyes/Liz C.

hardest is to drink the protein after surgery.  your taste changes and it seems impossible to drink it all, but it's necessary.  I write alot of my thoughts on my profile which you are welcome to read and get ideas from.  Don't  eat any white stuff till at least 6 months after surgery, then protein vegetables fruits, then white stuff.  Eat that way the rest of your life. Don't fool yourself into eating pudding, and potatoes after surgery because they are "soft".NOT.  They are carbs.  they are your enemy. There are good carbs and bad carbs, basically the bad carbs are our enemies....potatoes rice, baked goods....breads......get the picture.

to be successful you have to view this as a tool for life.  If you are not care

you have to drink protein for the rest of your life.  you are having mal absorption surgery.  Good whey protein.  Try samples and find the one you like.  your taste will change. I like pro joe or believe.  I also like one from GNC dark chocolate powder and I mix it in my coffee for a mocha drink.  you can't absorb enoug protein or vitamins, so you will have to take good supplements and protein  throughout the day forever.  Watch your labs. be deligent on this.  I track mine on a log and adjust my vitamins accordingly. exercise.  Your doctor won'****ch this as closely as you.  Don't wait till you have a vitamin deficiency, prevent it by watching your labs. 

Go to vitalady.com and read what she says, she is 17 plus years out from surgery and is successful.  I am 8 years out and successful.  I fight every day to be successful.  Yes I go up and down 5-7 lbs, but I fight it back down and I  fight.  I am not a success because of me, its because I have a good tool.  

Well, I've blabbed enough.  I'm glad to help cheer you on in any way I can. blessings, tamilynn

Hardest thing after surgery:  Existing in the environment of "normal people."  Let's face it: if you're only eating a 1/2 cup of food, the office outing for lunch is problematic.

Most important thing I did: Excercise like a monkey.  I run 5K three times a week and go the gym 2x in winter and 1x in summer. 

Remember: Excercise, Excercise, Excercise and then Excercise

The hardest thing for me to learn was to not treat my surgery like "just another diet fad" but to actually make life style changes to eat healthy foods at home and out for meals and to keep active enough to call it exercise!  Once I did embrace this change, things became much easier...Temptation can be hard at times, and I even allow myself some things in moderation...but I always shop the outside perimeter of the grocery store and stay away from the aisles except to pick up dry beans or grains...and an occasional can of soup or baking supplies...I make 90 % of my meals and snacks from real, fresh, natural foods from the produce, meats, dairy, and grain sections....and that has been a tried and true way of life to maintain my weight loss for 9 years. That and I also stay physically active. If not I have to exercise and that's not my fav thing to do...so I make sure I walk, or kayak or even mow the lawn (push kind!)  I never became a teeny person...but I am within 20 pounds of my weight in HS...and I'm healthy for age 48...It's also important to take your vitamins and get tested for vitamin deficiencies always!!  Recently, I also learned how important it is to also see a bariatric doctor at least once a year or so and report any symptoms not matter how small they are...Because even the smallest symptom can be something important to examine (only by a bariatric doc or  a doc who has had a lot of experience in bariatric patients).

So to sum it up:  Most important thing is to eat healthy and be healthy  (Mind, body and spirit) because that is the best reward of WLS and to me that is what "success" means...and not exactly how much you weigh...

Identify the issues surrounding your weight - otherwise you will swap one addiction for another!

B

I could not stand to go out in venues where people were eating. I became highly aware of the SOUNDS of people eating -- junk food wrappers being torn open at the ball game, sodas being slurped at the movies, knives and forks clanging off plates in a restaurant. It was a cacophony of gluttony amplified in my ears in a very surreal way... and I hated it.