Antioxident Protein Drink Mixes
10g Protein/Serving

High Quality Whey Protein Isolate by America's Protein Experts Designer Whey.

Include as part of your healthy diet and weight management with weight loss surgery.

Try Our 2-Serving Sample1 Serving each flavor: Orange Mango & Pomegranate Fruit  

General Store

Books

Soup Mixes

Seasoning Blends

5 Day Pouch Test Support 

Twelve things I *Think*

I know about LivingAfterWLS

The more I learn about the human condition and the weight loss surgery journey, the less I know. So today I share things that are important to me today, right now, on the 12-year anniversary of my gastric bypass surgery in  September 1999. I say these are things I *THINK* I know today but tomorrow's experience may take me in another direction. I hope you find some of these tidbits useful in your WLS experience and I wish you the best along the way.

 

#1: The tool requires maintenance.

Just like a saw blade that needs sharpening, so does the weight loss surgery tool require maintenance. For me that means daily feedings of vitamins, copious water consumption, eating appropriate foods and a healthy dose of daily exercise. Without maintenance the tool becomes worn down by use and occasional misuse. Maintenance keeps it in tip-top shape so that it may function in the way it was intended.

 

 #2: Fat days are okay.  It is easy for me to forget just how big I really was, and I don't keep photos around to remind me. (I am sharing some pre-WLS pictures here in response to many requests.) Even though my weight has maintained the last several years (15 pounds above my low weight) there are days when I just feel fat. Do you have fat days?  I have come to understand for me "fat days" have nothing to do with my weight, my WLS, or even the bathroom scale. The thing is, in life we have up days and we have down days. Our society wants to treat and medicate us out of the "bad" days. But humans have good days and bad days. So I have learned to take the fat days along with the skinny days and be grateful for both.

#3: Self-Worth & Weight: I still mix them up. Even though I know better I occasionally measure some of my personal self-worth by the size of my clothes or the number on the scale. I discourage others from doing this and speak of positive affirmations that celebrate each of us a whole beings. It is so easy to teach, so hard to abide. Like fat days, this is part of the ebb and flow of human nature. When I find myself on the flogging end of self-criticism I try to find what is truly behind the need for self-ridicule. Doing so helps me see the ebb and flow of my life.

#4: Four Rules are Still Working. The same eating plan that helped me lose weight is most effective for weight maintenance. Certainly there are times when I have tweaked the post-WLS diet just to see what I could get away with. My experiments have proven many times over that nothing works as well for weight maintenance as the basic weight loss surgery diet of lean-clean protein, light sauces, minimal veggies and fruits and no starches. Exercise, no snacking, and lots of water round out the four rules that still work for me, and many others as well.

Four Rules Reviewed in 2011 Refresher Course 

#5: Public Perception of WLS Still Negative. I am disappointed that little improvement has been made in the way the public perceives weight loss surgery. I still hear from outsiders that WLS is "the easy way out" and "lazy way to lose weight." With what is known now about the metabolic disorder of obesity this attitude should be changing. And I dare say anyone a few years out from surgery will happily report that there is nothing "easy" about healthy weight management with surgery. Even with the screaming headlines about the obesity crisis weight loss surgery gets a bad rap. As with all important social movements I believe the case for medically appropriate obesity treatment will happen one person at a time.

 #6: I am me, I am not my disease. As important as it is to understand that obesity is a disease (why else would it be treated with major gastric surgery?) we must separate the disease from the person we are. Since kindergarten the word fat defined me. For many years I thought fat was who I was because "You are fat" and "Hey fatty!" were constant phrases in my world. By about age 40 I finally figured out that I am not fat. i have obesity, a disease. Have you heard a heart attack patient say "I am heart disease" or a leukemia patient say, "I am cancer"? We are not the disease! We have a disease that is part of the whole person that makes us the wonderfully unique and powerful person we are. I am me, I am not my disease. Say it often until you believe it.

Article & Video: I am me, I am not my disease   

#7: We own the responsibility to manage our disease. I consider it a good thing that so much of the burden for disease management with obesity is placed on me, the patient. Unlike other diseases at the mercy of drugs and in-patient treatment protocols, we play a starring role in our obesity management. After surgery when the disease relapses --as manifest with weight gain-- we can take immediate action. We know the relapse is most likely due to one of four reasons: failed gastric surgery; non-compliant patient behavior and failure to evolve eating and exercise habits; the active intestine has become more efficient at absorbing calories; and/or potential stomach pouch stretch. The patient is the first to become of relapse by a change in weight or clothing fit. From the very front line the patient may immediately begin "treatment" that usually requires dietary and exercise changes. We are smart people and we usually know where we have gone off-track. That gives us the power to know what we need to do to get back on track in our own proactive participation in the treatment of the disease.

Use the 5 Day Pouch Test to Get Back on Track 

#8: Stop assigning food moral values. Food is not good or bad; food is nutritional or non-nutritional. Food is healthy or unhealthy. If we give food moral values we then transfer those values to our-self when eating. How many times have you said "I was so bad, I ate a whole bag of (fill in the blank)!" It is so easy to let one "bad" moment spiral into a day, then week, then month of "bad" eating. Instead we should simply note we have partaken of unhealthy food and must eat something healthy at our next meal. No downward spiral allowed. 

#9: Redefine Carbohydrates. In keeping with #8, we need to embrace a new relationship with carbohydrates and eliminate the good carb/bad carb categories:

• Simple Carbohydrates: Foods that contain a lot of sugar -- syrups, jelly, honey, soda, molasses -- and have few, if any, vitamins and minerals and no fiber. Keep these to a minimum in your diet.
• Complex Carbohydrates: Foods that contain a lot of starch --vegetables, fruits, beans, whole grains, and pasta. They are rich in vitamins, minerals, and fiber. Include these as sides to your lean protein.

#10: The Quarterly Self-Assessment

is My Roadmap. I use the LivingAfterWLS Quarterly Self-Assessment worksheet four times a year to find out where I am in the WLS journey and decide where I want to go. Many of the LivingAfterWLS Neighbors use this tool as well.

Download it Free and find out where you are and where you want to go.

#11: Daily Exercise Brings Great Rewards. For me exercise never comes easily and I struggle with this rule the most. But I can say with deep conviction that I consistently feel better on the days I exercise versus the days I do not. Jane Fonda was recently quoted, "I don't like to exercise. I do it because the reward is so delicious and worthwhile."  

#12: Many Afters. We only have one "Before" but our "Afters" are unlimited. In the culture of obesity we often define the journey in pictures with a "Before" and "After". The reality is, we are stuck with the "Before" picture but we will have many "Afters". Never stop looking for a new "After" and define the journey you dream to live every step of the way.

The Neighborhood

Your Safe Haven Circle of Friends
10,223 Neighbors - 165,312 Posts  

NEW!!! 

Save 15% on Bundle

Day 6 Bargain Bundle 

SKU: 5545823BB

List: $45.95