Preparing Myself???

    I have been wondering, what kind of work is required of me after sugery. I am totally pumped, and already do the gym thing, and supplementing with protein shakes and stuff to prepare myself. The thing is, that some people say that it was tons of work, while others say, "i just kept comming off no matter what I did."  For the people who say it is work, is it a mental thing, where you battle yourself? or a physical struggle to get the extra weight off?

    And for those of you who said it was easy.... why? Does it only get more difficult with time?
I am trying to prepare for the mental process, ( I know I will play catch up) and I am preparing the physical side, but I would be really encouraged o hear your story.
I hope to be able to answer my question some day. But I can't right now, can you?

D.S.

Hi,

I'm over 5 yrs post, and I have to say it wasn't difficult physically to get the extra weight off, it was all mental.  I knew about the mental process, but nothing can really prepare you for it.

I'd had heard of folks that leave their significant others and thought NO WAY! That would never be me..but you start losing weight, and you start to learn things about yourself, your relationships (from family, to friends, to significant others, to strangers).  I left my guy after 2 yrs.

I used to have to battle with mentally catching up, too.  I would walk through shopping centers or stores and from the corner of my eye, catch an asian girl staring me down.  It would upset me!  But than I'd realize that asian girl was just a mirror of me!  FUNNIE..but not.

Plus, I was very challenged w/having to coup with people seeing me as this attractive woman, and me looking in the mirror and seeing who I have always known myself to be..just me.  But over the years, people treat you a certain way, and "Me" is someone who is ugly, blends in with the crowd, not interesting, boring, not worth listening to or conversating with, the chick that is left on the side of the road if her car breaks down, etc...

After the first year and a half of mental challenges w/the changes, your body adjusts (your stomach stretches) and your able to eat alot more..almost like normal people meals.  You can eat things you couldn't before, so it takes more discipline to make the right food choices. 

You can easily gain back the weight you've lost, if your not careful.

I initially lost 116 or so LBS within the first year and a half, but gained back about 30-40 LBS at one time.  I'm now back to my original loss of 116 LBS, but make the mental decision to pass on unhealthy food everyday.  I have to make the decsion to not eat big portions..like a normal person must.

 Hello!  

First off, congrats for taking the time to realize that you need to be prepared both physically and mentally.  So many people I think underestimate the mental aspect of the surgery and to me, it's the hardest part.  In my opinion, nothing is easy...if everything was easy then we wouldn't have people gaining weight back.   For me it's both mental and physical.

I never really realized this until after surgery but I struggle with compulsive and mild binge eating disorder.  I eat when I'm not hungry.  If food is there, I will eat it or I will think about eating it so much it eventually drives me crazy.  I often think about food and when I can eat again...sometimes I feel out of control.  I use the present tense because even being post op, this hasn't changed...only the portion size.   However after reading several books on the topic and seeking some professional help, I realize that my behavior can be reconditioned (with practice) so I won't feel the need to eat constantly or binge just because food is available.  That's why I tell people with almost every post on almost every topic is you have to take things day by day.  Some days are good, some aren't but you have to realize the big picture.  If you are doing what you need to do a majority of the time, then you will be fine but as soon as the bad days out number the good ones that's when you have to take a step back and reevaluate your situation.  

As far as physical, I do work out a lot and I credit a lot of my success because of it.  It's something we have to do and it might be scary because some of us never have exercised in our lives but you have to start somewhere.  I thankfully  had no complications related to surgery but that's always a possibility we have to be prepared for also.  


I realize not everyone struggles with the same problems that I do but steps to help ourselves are all the same...being mindful of what we are doing and realizing that we need to treat our bodies well.  

I wish you the best of luck in your journey!

~Emily~