newbees get mad

Hmm-make it four! I enjoy your posts--even if you can be a little "abrupt" sometimes.

We have a yahoo group for local WLS patients and we also have an unofficial support group that meets at a buffet once a month. We have one new Yahoo member *****ally got all out of shape because we were combining eating with socializing & felt that we should no longer do that. What she didn't know was that we all make very good food choices at this particular buffet & they honor our cards so we only pay $3.00 for the little we eat. She is a relative newbie trying to tell us veterans how we should be living. Obviously, she is not making many friends. I remember pre-op & early post-op that I thought I would never "cheat" after having the surgery. How I thought I'd accomplish that, I don't know because I never was able to stay on a diet before. They need to learn that just because we had this surgery we are not going to be able to totally change our lifestyles. As long as we make informed choices & know our limits we can get away with not adhearing to the "Bible." You just have to be sensible. It is possible to live in the world & still keep our weight off. Dixie

sounds like a common sense approach, but maybe because it pretyy much is my philosophy too.

It functions like religious conversion: converts make the best disciples. It takes a while to get the 'new' off them. Remember, you can't teach someone anything when they already know everything. Nowhere Man/PH/Jay

No truer words were ever spoken, Jay!

Jay!

funny looking at the replies. and the contrdictory responses. On one hand newbies are flamed for eating stuff like sf ice cream (which I do nearly every single day and with sf choclate syrup on top too ) I even had Pizza tonite. (not my usual dinner tho) and while some old timers are sure I and the others like me will fail, so far my weight has been very stable for quite a while. the ones who are really wanting to do their best and follow the rules are flamed for being rigid and not understanding long term life. I decided I am going to try for a normal life and eat like a normal thin person as opposed to how an obese person eats. an obese person alternates between total denial of certain foods, til they fall off the wagon and binge like crazy, feel guilty and binge some more. Or hide to eat food, and swear they don't eat hardly anything at all. been there done that for years on end. A always thin person eats a balanced diet and if they want a slice of pizza , not a whole pizza. a scoop of ice cream not a quart of ice cream. etc. and doesn't feel guilty OR ashamed of their chioices. then on the other hand other old timers saying everything in moderations. I'd like to do a poll on moderation people and long term maintainence and never ever eat any thing "bad" people and long term maintainence. the must have daily protein shakes (which pack pounds on me in no time) and the protien from food only people. I'm gonna hazard a guess that there are successful people in every category and people strugglin gin every category. My theory is that there is no one perfect way to eat. only what works for you. and we are all different

This is a wonderful topic. At 2+ years out, I would hope that I could eat like what I believe a "normal" thin person should eat like. A couple of bites of pizza, two tablespoons of ice cream, one Hershey's kiss, some real popcorn, mashed potatoes with gravy, a glass of wine, etc., etc. (NOT all at once, of course). If I was never to eat any of those things again in my life, then I would have no life. I am thankful that WLS accomplished what I always dreamed of, to make me want to make better choices because I WANTED TO, to allow me to be happy with two bites of pizza, and not half a large one, to be able to pass up ice cream, instead of having three scoops nightly, for six months at a time. That, my friends, is what I call success. If you are happy having carrots, dry chicken, and brussel sprouts and it works for you, you are living and enjoying your new life. But if you want to add butter to the brussel sprouts occasionally and put brown sugar on the carrots and still maintain your losses, you are a winner as well. The key, in my book, is if you feel good about how you are maintaining your losses, that's all that counts. I am loving my life and I only hope I am given a long enough to time to enjoy it to the fullest in my thin body. Hugs to everyone, you are all losers (and I mean that lovingly). Missy