Yesterday was my three year anniversary on MFP. It is also three years from the orientation session for my Bariatric Program. It has been a momentous three years in my life, taking me from 425 pounds down to 240 pounds the first year, spending the second year trying to figure out maintenance, followed by this past year with a lot of personal and family issues that have showed me that all of my issues with food and feelings weren't solved with the surgery. I am now sitting about 40 pounds from my goal, working hard to reintegrate the habits and behaviors that made me successful pre- and post surgery. having gone through it recently, I know what to do, and am optimistic that i will find the path again.

Overall, though, I am blessed to have a great primary care doctor who pushed me to consider surgery for a few years before I saw it as the right way, fortunate to have a wonderful family who have supported me through the process and lucky to have gone through a program that was strong on education and support.

you can read my previous milestone posts here:

community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10123987/six-month-ramblings/p1

community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10376334/two-years

I walked into the bariatric orientation meeting still convinced that I was finally giving in to "the easy way". I still remember the meeting where they give us the 5 rules to start immediately:

1. 1500 calories per day
2. 80-100 g protein
3. 64 ounces of water
4. Log everything
5. Start moving

I have always been a pretty good rule follower, with many diets in my past which had been successful for months at a time, followed by a collapse and regain. finding MFP, this group and having the surgery ahead of me helped me to hit the pre-surgery plan hard. Over the spring and summer I lost fantastic amounts of weight, found good things at the gym by focusing on getting there rather than killing myself while there and I got to my surgery date right at 100 pounds lost. I was questioning the wisdom of continuing through with the surgery, but in the end I decided to go through with it and I am so happy that I did. This past year would have been my undoing, but having the physical restriction has helped me to minimize the regain and will help me right the ship and return to the right path.

It has been interesting to watch this group develop of the past three years as well. We have always had a great group of veterans to help the new folks understand what they are heading toward. So much good experience is here, (almost) always friendly and honest about the facts of life with WLS. I like to tell people to read as many past discussions as they can, not necessarily to find the specific answer to their questions, but to see the breadth of experiences that we have been through and to feel confident that your individual experience will most likely fall somewhere in that space and take heart.

my advice to those looking toward surgery:

1. hit the pre-surgery plan as hard as you can. Especially if you have a lot to lose, every pound you can lose prior to surgery will be a pound you don't have to lose afterwards. the 6-9 months after surgery is when it will be the easiest. Take advantage of them to get as close to goal as you can. Which also leads to . . .
2. Don't sweat the insurance requirements and program delays. If you are doing the pre-surgery work, you are ingraining the habits and behaviors that will make you successful. Let the surgery come in time.
3. Get into as good shape as you can prior to surgery. My post-surgery experience was quite easy. Because I had been losing and exercising prior to suregry, I was up and about the day of surgery walking the halls. I got over 11k steps in and was being teased by the nurses on the ward.
4. Prepare for the first few months, but don't sweat them. You will hurt, you will be frustrated by the liquid diet and puree and the horrible taste of the Actigall, but it will all be a blur after a couple of months. The first few weeks are a time for healing; don't push it. Once the first few days have passed, every day and week gets better than the previous.
5. When you get to goal, find maintenance within the same structure that got you to goal. This was my big mistake. I was eager to try and resume normalcy, and the inertial of my success allowed me to add back foods and drinks that got me back into bad habits. When the inertia wore off, I was gaining again. I am working hard ot get back to protein-first, not drinking calories and logging everything.
6. lastly, don't demonize food or beat yourself up too much. I really never swore off any food groups or foods, relying instead on the macro setup of MFP and a calorie limit to keep nutritionally suspect foods to a minimum. Likewise, beating myself up was an old habit that led to eventually giving up any semblance of control and wallowing in self-abuse. This time around, I am doing my best to remain optimistic and see it as a long term game that I need to right the ship and get back to what I know works.

I tend to ramble on, but I hope that those of you who are still with me keep positive and find you own way to success in this process. Wherever you are, there are no obstacles we cannot overcome. Just get on with making the next good decision and watch the success roll in!

Rob