what's been your biggest challenge, once you got through the first year?

i've found that maintenance is a B___H!!!!! the only way i'm managing is by eating every 4 hours [not 2!!!!] and exercising a MINIMUM of an hour a day. it's not all that different than what other people have to do, but i'm not liking this!!! and heaven knows i'm not perfect!!!!!

but, let's face it - i could go back to weighing 500 pounds OR i could suck it up and live like real people...

I am trying to come up with a different answer for you, Jif, but I'd have to agree. Maintenance is hard. As time goes on and life gets more hectic, it is easier to slip back into old habits. My "fat head" is still there. It actually took a few years to come back, but it is definitely back now. If I don't watch what I am doing, I can fall back into something very similar to pre-surgery eating patterns, and that is a nightmare.

I have been fighting with the same 10 lb for about two years. Up and down. I only know that if I wasn't watching it and making myself accountable, I would probably have gained quite a bit more by now.

I remember wanting a level playing field with everyone else, and I figure a 43 year old woman is going to be fighting to maintain her weight, whether she has had WLS, has lost weight through some other means, or simply has the slowing metabolic rate that plagues most people as they age. So, although it is hard, it is exactly what I wanted, and I am grateful to be here.

dawna

So many things have been so much more difficult than I had imagined... Not just with weightloss, but with the emotions and head-stuff that comes with it.

I've never been married, so being a single 42-year old is fun. NOT!! I think I always assumed that IF I COULD JUST LOSE WEIGHT my life would be suddenly wonderful. I'd have guys wanting to date me, I'd feel good about myself, I'd become very active in life... etc., etc. Coming to terms with the fact that none of things are true has been SO hard.

Just in the last year I've been seeing some weight gain. I became severely anemic and stopped exercising. I'm now back to being healthy and have started up the exercise again, but am also needing to "watch what I eat". Or, at least I know I need to start thinking about it. LOL

I've been snacking way too much. I need to cut back to 3 meals a day. It is hard, though, once you've developed the bad habits...

Jiffy-You still have to workout and just to maintain. Well I know it sounds silly to think you wouldn't but after all that pain and stuff. I thought maybe it would be easier, this thred just helped me make my decision. If I'm going to have to do it anyway I might as well keep all my insides intact.

I'll just have to keep trying till I get it.

Rea - you've hit the nail right on the head. this surgery gives us a tool so that we become 'normal.' dawna calls it 'leveling the playing field.' no matter how you view it, at a certain point, it's all back to basics.

BUT for those of us who have tried and tried and tried and failed every time, this often 'corrects' whatever went haywire. that's about the only way i can describe it.

sooooo. even if farther down the road [even years!] you decide that the surgery is the right choice for you, whatever steps you take to develop new, improved habits before then will see you through.

What Pookie said.

Even though I've been struggling with a few pounds lately, I am so thankful for my surgery because I also weigh less than I have in decades... Just last night I was shopping for some capris and was upset because I had to buy a size 16 instead of the 14 that I'd been wearing... HELLO!!! Reality check. It had been over 15 years since I'd been in an 18, let alone a 16. It is all a matter of perspective.

When I had my surgery, I was at the end of my rope. I didn't have ANY energy or desire to try another diet. Probably because the last few tries had not even resulted in more than a 5 pound loss.

I'm a total believer that the surgery helps us GET there, but staying there is up to us, just like the rest of society. Losing 130 pounds was beyond anything that I could do on my own.

Mind if I ask how much did you guys weigh before wls (I see yours Jiffy, this is to Pookie and Juliesday)

I weighed 320-325 before surgery and hover around 190-200 for the last year.