WLS Do's and Don'ts

borrowed from LilMissDiva from VST

DO remove the word ONLY from your vocabulary. Ex: I’ve ONLY lost 10 Lbs in 2 weeks… Now let’s look at this again without the word ONLY: I’ve lost 10 Lbs in 2 weeks!! See what I mean? Perception is reality folks!!

DON’T assume you’ll never eat all of your favorite foods again. This is just an excuse your brain has designed to allow you to indulge. You WILL eat all your favorites again someday, just much less but find it to me more enjoyable. Which leads directly into the next:

DON’T do the “last meal” syndrome. You will only sabotage your weight loss you might have pre-surgery or set you back further from your ultimate goal post-op. This surgery is very serious and is for the serious minded. Use this time wisely to get the feeling of how life might be like post op.

DO learn all of the rules pre-op that you will endure post-op. Such as, no drinking with meals, using smaller utensils and plates, engaging in some type of workout routine, limiting your sugar and sodium intake, joining as many WLS support groups as you can.

DO celebrate every single pound lost! Imagine one pound of butter. Yeah… that’s gone from your body forever. It is noteworthy and worth every bit of a pat on the back as any others that may go along with it.

DON’T compare your successes and losses to others. Chances are very high that you will only come out on the short end and only find yourself disappointed. Everyone’s journeys are their own…

DO keep track of your losses in many different ways than just the scale! Examples:

DO keep one set of your largest clothes you’ve ever worn. Make it a point to try them on, especially when you’re having a down moment. You will find this will really pick up your spirits! This is a real rollercoaster of a ride, and anything that will keep you positive is what you should do!


DON'T keep any other fat clothes around. Get rid of them ASAP. You're never going to fit them again, right? So... off to donations they go.

DO take photos of yourself just before your surgery. Keep them close. Again, having a bad day? Look at them and compare them. As a matter of fact, take photos of yourself often. You will also find that the more you lose, the more you will want to take pictures. Nothing wrong with that!!! That goes with celebrating your losses. ;-)

DO take measurements of yourself often. Keeping track of all your inches lost will really keep you on the right track when your scale is being stubborn!!

DO reward yourself every time you hit a mini goal. Make some more worthy than others. I like to go shopping when I hit a goal, it is my favorite thing to do now.

DON’T let the scale define you. Great majority of us will endure many fluctuations and stalls in this journey. It is what it is… patience is the key here. Meditate and envision yourself months down the road at your goal. Smile, then move on!!

DO find out about measuring body fat! It’s more than just weight loss, FAT LOSS is the real goal here. Keep in mind that the BMI scale is greatly inaccurate and most Health Studies do prove this. According to the American Council on Exercise (ACE) our body fat % ranges should be average: 25-31% for Women and 18-24% for men. Any higher is considered obese. However it does go more in depth, according to ages and more. Everyone has different genetic make ups, frame sizes and fitness levels... even a different ethnicity can post differences.

DO have many goals in sight. Having only one, especially a simple weight goal you will find can be difficult. Have many MINI goals along your journey, and more than just ones that involve the scale. Such as, clothing size goals, body fat% goals, fitness or workout goals, dietary goals, etc…


DO challenge yourself always!! Whether it’s a global challenge with others, or personal challenges... It will keep you motivated and always willing to go further than you ever thought you could!

DO have a mentor! Find someone that you can trust and confide in, and that you know has “been there”. Preferably someone you know in person. You will find many folks in your life who have been there, for obesity is worldwide now and there are so many who have been able to defeat this demon. It’s not easy! It quite literally is the toughest feat I’ve ever had to endure. I can say this too, my job will never be done. This is for life!

And finally…

DON’T ever beat yourself up! We all make mistakes, and dare I say not one person on this Earth is perfect. I try hard to be, no doubt! I always admit that I’m a perfectionist – but I’m far from perfect. I just try to be… The only thing you can do is pick yourself up, give yourself a pep talk, perhaps contact your mentor for reassurance and move on!!! Again, this is for life. Every day you wake up is a second chance.

DO look for solutions to your problems. Otherwise they will just become excuses. 


DON’T EVER GIVE UP. I don’t think any explanation is necessary here.



Good luck to all of you. This journey is a tough one, but if you are here, then you believed in yourself enough to give yourself the life you’ve always dreamed of. YOU WILL BE successful. Always keep that in mind.

Add-ons by other experienced sleevers:


DO keep a list of NSV (Non scale victories) to reflect on when times are getting hard. Can you walk up 2 extra flights of stairs before getting winded? Cross your legs?" and

"DO NOT be afraid to change things if they aren't working. Stalls happen even gains happen. If you are on a long stall look at your eating and decided if changes need to be made. Utilize your tool!" -- Southern Sleever

DO: Keep a food diary of what you eat and drink. This is a great learning tool as to which foods have what amounts of fat, protein and carbs that add up to your daily intake goals. There are many ways to diary your food - from old fashioned pen and notebook to many options via smartphone apps. Keeping one is the important thing - however is right for you. I use mine now to look back for meal ideas when I hit a blank as to what to prepare for a day or a week.

DO: Realize this is not a diet to be followed for a while then set aside. This is a permanent lifestyle change. Yes, the amount of food you eat will increase as time passes, but your relationship with food will be forever altered. How you celebrate your joys, successes and holidays will be different. How you mourn your sorrows will be different. Some people need outside help to get through the sometimes overwhelming mental changes this process brings. If you need help with this part of the deal- reach out and get it. -- SKCUNNINGHAM

DO roll with the punches!! -- fern

This site makes me sad

http://www.whyeat.net/forum/threads/7432-How-long-do-you-have-to-throw-up-after-a-meal


I found it because hubby has mentioned that 's been feeling the need to vomit after meals and its been happening daily.  It's not that he wants to, he just suddenly gets nausea and goes running.  So I googled "throwing up after eating" and found myself on this site...

I just want to hug all these girls (mostly females I'm willing to bet) and tell them that they're beautiful and not to fear food.

Had a pretty good day all things considered.  I slept late, lazed around a little bit and then went out and got some flowers and went to the cemetery. It was good, I feel very peaceful after spending some time there.  Afterwards I went and got a lottery ticket ... fingers crossed!!

Came home and spent some time doing computer stuff with my bro, tried on some new threads I picked up yesterday and then had a good workout with Bob and Biggest Loser on the Kinect.  Feeling good

Only minus to the day... I ate too fast and ended up worshipping the porcelain god.  Haven't done that in awhile.... my bad.

Mini fashion show below :)

A serious moment and remembrance

April 6, 1992  I lost my younger brother (middle child) to suicide.  He ended his life over the Easter long weekend and I was the one that found him the morning we were all going back to school.

I was 15 years old and he was 13.

It was the worst day of my life and I know that with certainty.  I honestly cannot imagine something worse than that day. I lost my mom only a few years later where I, as the eldest, had to make the decision to turn off machines and chose to be there when it happened... that wasn't a good choice, it was equally traumatizing and will remain in my memory almost as clearly as the day we lost my brother.

Today is Shawn Michael Massey's 20th year without his family that loved him deeply.  I decided to post this because I felt the strong need to remember him this year since I'll be leaving Alberta and will have little chance to visit his grave site after this anniversary.  Also I posted it to remember the pain I felt and have continued to feel in the 20 years since.  I've had nightmares of that day for the last 20 years and I wish I could let them go.  It's very hard not to remember things etched in your memory with dynamite.  Paint or wallpaper... or denial.... they're all easier to remove.

To my little brother that would be 33 years old today if he had still been here.  I love you.  I always will.  Take care of mom.

I don't normally post stuff quite so intimate, private or personal but this is important and I want it to be logged on the internet for all time because my family is my family for all time.  I still count my brother among my siblings even though he's no longer of this earth.  He is the only thing that makes me want to believe in a higher power.  And in that higher power, I pray hard... constantly... for leniency and forgiveness in this choice he made.

WLS musings

I'm having some difficulty on the boards of late.  I see these posts asking about making choices post op (early post op especially) for different foods they "think" they can have and if its ok. For some reason I think that if they get the "approval" from their anonymous online peers then it must be ok and then they have someone to blame other than themselves when it all goes wrong

All I have been able to reply is basically this:

Do you want to lose weight?
Do you want to keep it off?
Do you want to change your relationship with food?
Do you want to be posting about stalls (or worse complications!) because of your choices?
Do you want to be among the statistics of people that REGAIN their weight?

You only get one good shot at this post op.  Why make choices that you KNOW aren't good for you or not on your surgeons plan?  Do you think that the surgeon made the plan up purely to torture you?

Think about this.  Think about your choices post op.  And then after that, its up to you to make this choice.  You can eat the foods you're not cleared to because you think its ok... or you can eat the foods you're supposed to because you want to optimize your results for as long as you can!

I'm having less and less patience with this as I get further from my surgery.  Are people really thinking this or are they just trolling?  I'm having difficulty deciding if they REALLY wanted this healthy life or just chose surgery simply to get SKINNY.



signed (nearly) 1 year post op and lower than goal

Iron issues

I'm starting to wonder.  I go to a close-by medicentre to get my weekly injections and the doc there pulled my bloodwork info because he said I should have seen SOME changes in my bloodwork with all these injections.  He said that my ferritin level is fine at 17 (low is 12)  and so is my hemoglobin at 121 (low is 120).... so now I am really confused. I see my doc on the 11th so I plan to ask her what the heck she's seeing that he's not and if this is all really necessary at all.  It still doesn't explain my dizziness, fatigue and fainting but at least if I can stop with these darn weekly injections, its a plus... especially if they're unnecessary which it sounds like they are?!  A week ago I was freaking that I was a step away from a transfusion and today I'm wondering if the last 1.5 months of weekly injections were even ever required...

Figured out what my iron injection feels like that I get every week.

A charley horse in your ass muscle.  It HURTS!

Body Image... and Plastics?

Why is it that when I was 100 lbs heavier I actually was LESS self conscious of my body? Is it some kind of body dysmorphia, was I actually more confident or was it all a facade to keep myself in a bubble of denial?

When I was heavier I had no problem prancing around nekkid in the house. I didn't even care if I passed in front of an open window. I felt comfortable in my skin (I thought so anyway) and I felt like a sexy beast.

Now I want to turn the lights off. I feel like I have little grandma boobages (I went from 38E to 34D) and the amount of wrinkly ass extra skin on my tummy makes me want to hide my body. All I can focus on was how badly I want to get plastics and how to best hold my body so I and my hubby can't see the yucky skin.

When I was bigger I remember saying to myself and others... he's is just happy you're naked, he's not judging your body, you are! And now, pot meet kettle. I can't even listen to my own damn advice.

Do any of my dear readers have these body image issues with yo yo dieting? How can you get past them? I get it .. love yourself, that's a no brainer. Is there anything else you can do though??

Weight updates

Today I'm at 133 lbs.  I'm not trying to lose any more weight.  It's still coming off too easily for my liking.  I've added Pro Performance Mass I.V. instead of the lower calorie one (1/2 serving) to get more calories in.  I am striving to get in 1200-1500 calories a day now that I've finally gone back to the gym.  I've been twice now with the new trainer.  I hurt.  lol.

http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12409762"]http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12409762   With 980 calories, 60 grams of protein (from 8 different sources!) and only 10 grams of sugar, Mass I.V. gives you more of what you want and less of what you don’t.


I hope it gives me the energy, calories and protein I need to build some muscle and stop losing weight!

More iron lamentations...

As I've mentioned, I'm having a lot of problems with my iron. I honestly do not feel that my sleeve has anything to do with it as I've had issues for a lot of my life with anemia (as a child) and even a platelet transfusion due to an allergic reaction to a drug when I was 6 years old... it basically made me a hemophilic as I couldn't stop bruising. My platelets weren't working. I had a condition called thrombocytopena purpura.

I'm wondering if that condition somehow transformed or something. I'm now waiting on my doc to actually GIVE me my numbers but after a fainting episode due to Low BP and Anemia complication, I have been on Iron injections every week (daily for a week, then weekly since). I've experienced a great deal of fatigue since my surgery and just chalked it up to a little but of laziness and more of not enough calories. Now, it appears I may actually have a medical reason why I'm so very very tired all the time.

After a couple of months of oral iron supplementation with zero results, I had moved to injected iron. Still, no results (as of today). The nurse called and told me that my doc wants another 3 months of iron injections (done weekly of 2ml) and then another re-test to see if there's any changes. I'm scared now. I feel like if they're going to have to transfuse, then just DO IT. I'm moving to another province in 2.5 months and I'd like to not do this from scratch with a new doc....

I don't know what to say. I'm mostly nervous, scared there's something FOREVER wrong with me (because of, or exacerbated by my sleeve) and I don't really know where to turn right now. I've got an appt with my PCP April 11 and I plan to ask for a hemotogist referral at that time.

Any suggestions, feedback, commiseration, thoughts... anything.....