Been there done that.

I have a few questions for those further along in their journey. I have lost 73 lbs, 43 since surgery and I want to make sure I'm setting myself up for success.

1) For those who have backslid, is there something you wish you would have done in the beginning that you feel would have helped you in the long run? Do you should have just cut certain foods out for good?

2) For those with excess skin, did you exercise or do you feel that exercising would have helped?

Any other insights would be appreciated.

i'm dealing with regain because at some point i stopped following the rules. i stopped eating protein first and limiting/eliminating carbs. plain and simple. i ate the pounds i'm now working to lose. and its way harder to lose now than it was after RNY. there's a reason its called the honeymoon phase. 

for me, the mental shift was believing i was "normal" because i looked normal on the outside. well i don't have a normal gut and i don't have a normal brain (when it comes to food..otherwise functioning great!). i thought that since i was normal then i didn't need to follow the rules anymore. well that was the beginning of the end.

so don't fall for the trap of normal. follow the rules and make them your life. that's the easiest way to maintain success. any successful vet will simply say that s/he follows the rules 90% of the time. 

Do you feel that avoinding those foods all together would have helped? Or do you think moderation is key?

AVOID. i believed i could moderate because i was "normal". it's a slippery slope. and seriously...if any of us were such great moderators, how did we end up obese in the first place?

Thanks, that was my mindset going intothe surgery that I was saying goodbye to certain foods forever. There is so much conficting information out there. I think I will be one of the ppl who just cut it out completely rather than tempt fate.

many people say "i didn't have surgery so i could be on a diet for life or so i would have to give up xyz food for life". i was one of those people. well woop de doo...whaddaya know that kind of thinking leads to regain eventually.

i mean if a person has cake 1x a year on their birthday then sure, its no big deal. but if the thought is "i can have cake on special occasions" and you find yourself celebrating bastille day and the co-worker you hate's birthday....well you see where this can lead... 

A slippery slope of cake.

You make a whole bunch of fantastic points in your above posts Christina.

Forget normal. There is no such thing. There is what works, and what doesn't. Normal is a mirage.

Moderation is a trap. Sure, there are things I can eat in moderation, and I could pat myself on the back for it. But if I'm being honest, they are things that weren't my favorites to begin with. Not eating them isn't a big deal. I've had pizza 3 times in 3 years -- moderation, right? But before surgery, I only had pizza every 2 or 3 months, so it was never a problem. But put a pile of anything by Little Debbie in front of me, and I'd still trample your mother to get at them. Moderation doesn't exist for that stuff.

Keep fighting the good fight Christina. It's always great to see you posting.

thanks grim. 

that debbie has alot of nerve.