Question:
coping with new lifestyle change

i am preop, may 20th is my date. what i would like to know is how people who have weighed 500lbs plus have coped with the big change in eating. do you think it is more difficult than if you are at the bottom end of the wls scale?    — JULIE B. (posted on May 11, 2003)

May 11, 2003
I was 400 pounds when i had surgery in december. It really hasn't been too big of a deal. I mean, you still eat and get full...sometimes REALLY full. The amount of food is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy less, but you still get that full feeling. Not like a diet at all. Good luck to you! April open rny 12/26/03 405/320/185
   — thekatinthehat

May 11, 2003
The hardest part for me was craving something really bad and then trying it and discovering that my stomach no longer liked it - heck sometimes my mouth doesn't even like it. Like donuts, cookies, chips, etc. It's a kind of mourning thing that happens with me. Cause the memories are there of how much I enjoyed them. But I have to say, I do mentally enjoy having less room for food - it makes it much easier to make good food choices. Oh and I started out at 425 so maybe someone over 500 might feel differently.
   — [Deactivated Member]

May 11, 2003
Haven't been any real cravings for anything. I don't miss the sweets at all. I have this fear of being one of the minority who don't dump on sweets, so I've stayed away from them and haven't tested the waters, so to speak. Oh, I will take a couple of french fries out of my son's order, but before I was eating a supersized meal with a regular (vs diet) coke. Breakfast (fast-food style) was two sausage & egg biscuit sandwiches and a medium OJ. Now, breakfast is a hard-boiled egg, or some imitation crabmeat or some other protein source. If I want something filling, I eat some salad - which I've learned to eat and enjoy w/o dressing (it's almost like finger food when you eat it at home) or with a little bit of vinaigrette dressing on it. Before, it was sitting there with a bag of chips or a box of Wheat Thins. <p> It's weird, because my wife just had <b>her</b> RNY last Tuesday and I've got watch my calories - because I am getting too few right now. I was back and forth to the hospital during the week and now that she's home (came home Friday) and not eating yet (on liquids for 2 weeks), I find myself eating less - partially because I don't want to eat in front of her. <p> Yes, there is probably a bit more difficulty that being at the low end of the scale - because we super-obese simply have (or had) to take in some many more calories to maintain that super-obese state than the merely morbidly obese. Consider that it takes twice as much energy to haul a 500-pound body around than a 250-pound body. But the lifestyle adjust can be made, simply because the surgery forces you to do it - at least early on. But, *you* have to learn the new ways of eating. You have to adopt a healthier lifestyle that involves exercise in all forms - including something as simple as parking as far as you can from the store and walking that extra bit rather than looking for the spots next to the handicapped spaces. Otherwise, this surgery will only take you so far...JR (open RNY 07/17/02 427/255/213???)
   — John Rushton

May 11, 2003
Well to answer your question i started off at 495 now its 7 months later and im 346 and very rarely i have cravings for sweets but when i do i either make sugar freee pudding or jello like last night i had a craving and made sf pudding and only ate 3 bites which is great for me because i would before eat a whole box. But i stay on a low carb diet and im doing great i thought it would be alot harder but it really isnt. I hope this helps a good luck.
   — qtalleycat68