Here's my experience - it is NOT easy. It takes a lot of commitment. I feel like many people who have surgery are not prepared mentally and don't understand the seriousness of the commitment. When you are told that you will have to make lifestyle changes, permanent ones, believe it. For me the first year was a breeze. The second year wasn't bad either. But something about that year three... I let life get in the way, made excuses, made bad choices,and gained back 30 lbs of the 200+ that I lost. If was surprisingly and frighteningly easy to put that weight back on. I am chipping away at that now by going back to basics, meaning I am pretty much eating the way I did the first year or two after surgery. I HAVE to keep my physical activity consistent. The advice I would give is stick to the plan you are given by your surgeon and his team. Abandon old habits for good. If you even try to engage in them, they can take over. Leave them behind. Also, a bad day doesn't have to turn into a bad week or a bad month or a bad year. Remember why you had surgery and appreciate the benefits you have gotten from it - for me the benefits were better health and a better quality of life. I am grateful for that and it keeps me wanting to do better every day.

I know I've wrote this before on these boards but the simplest thing to do is cut refined carbohydrates as much as possible. Specifically sugar. I think the reason folks gain weight or struggle to maintain a loss is because they don't truly change their habits.

I'm coming up on 3 years in March and the only weight gain I experienced is last year when I had shingles. But I nipped that in the bud and lost even more weight. Don't get me wrong, it's not easy especially at first. But when I broke away from the CICO thinking it opened a whole new world of thinking for me. I hardly even weigh myself now. I just try to eat right and exercise moderately. That's what works for me.

It's always sad when I read about people struggling with weight loss after surgery. No one goes into the surgery with the wish that they will struggle with the process and immediately start to regain. I have friends who have regained and when I ask what happened they tell me they fell back into their old habits of chips, soda, bread, and fast food and they don't exercise.

Don't start looking forward to your favorite foods. Those are the ones that contributed to your being overweight. Make a list of those foods and know you can't go back to them.

Success comes down to sticking with the plan even when you don't want to. Log your food daily even the bites you might take when you're cooking to make sure the food is seasoned correctly. Those bites add up to calories and you need to own them. Start off your day with exercise. I walk in place while I'm brushing my teeth, that's at least 2 minutes of walking, get another 2 minutes in while you're brewing coffee, and 60 seconds while heating up breakfast in the microwave.

Attend some type of support meetings to help you stay on track. Stay active on the bariatric boards here or other sites.

Be willing to be the oddball. If you have to eat fast food be willing to order and immediately 'fix' your food so that you won't be tempted to overeat. If you get a chicken sandwich or burger throw away the bun, count out 10 french fries and throw the rest in the trash. You'll get some odd looks but who cares, this is your life and you have to do what it takes to be successful. If dining out, put your food on an appetizer plate and box up the rest. I don't care how expensive the restaurant is, do it anyway. Ask for your food to be cooked the way you need it cooked. They want your money and will comply. I once had the chef come out of the kitchen to ask me a question about my strange request. I explained what I needed and he made a recommendation to get my needs met.

Reach out to your doctor's office for support if you struggle. They want you to succeed. They have seen it all. Nothing you can say will shock them and if it does they are professionals and need to figure it out for you. Take your food journal and exercise log. Be 100% honest with them.

Be your own cheerleader.

VGS on 7/15. lowest 160, currently 192.

The hunger comes back. The ability to eat crap food comes back. The urge to snack comes back.
Carbs will be my enemy for the rest of my life, especially in the form of beer and munchies
Grazing/snacking are my biggest enemies as a boredom-snacker.

It's amazing how a year ago, I had felt successful and was so excited to be at such a small size and fitness level. I was running 10ks for the first time in my life.

Over the last year, I've all-but stopped exercising, but keep active. I eat what I want (sometimes with reckless abandon. For a while I think I became a functioning alcoholic. I snack, and drink, and get lazy. I watched all of those brand-new Medium-sized clothes grow too small, until I needed to buy a bigger size (something I promised myself I'd not do).. In short, I have become a "Bad Barry (Bari)".

For me, the point is that this is a life change, and it's relatively new. I spent 37 years living in a sugar/bread/beer dominated lifestyle. I've had less-than two years in this new life, so I expect to backslide. I have (mostly) quit drinking, and started exercising again. I have the tools to get where I want to be. I've been there once, and I'll get there again.

Also, marriage and kids do not help at all when trying to focus on yourself.

It's only a tool. You need to bring your determination and willingness to change, and employ those DAILY.

It is a journey you will be on THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.

It ain't a temporary diet; it is a lifestyle. You need to figure out a) what you need to do to employ your new tool for weight loss, and b) when you hit your goal weight, what you need to do to KEEP your new more slender self.

This is hard work! If possible, make sure you have a supportive family and circle of friends. If anyone disparages you for taking the easy way out, ignore them (and ease them out of your daily circle, if at all possible. Who needs negativity, particularly ill-informed negativity?)

I had RNY in Dec 2012. I'm down 160 pounds. I have another 60 I want to lose before starting a series of body tucks, and I plan to lose that weight in 2018, a pound a week. I track every bite and sip. I exercise daily. This keeps me accountable. I'm 64, from a long-lived family, so I expect to do this for 30 years. I'm worth it.

The first year was easy for me, lost 100 pounds. Second year, third year, didn't work at it, didn't gain but didn't lose. Finally, half-way through the fourth year, I got serious about weight loss again. It took me about 9 months to figure out a routine whereby I could lose a pound a week, and not feel deprived.

Yeah, it's hard work!

I was sleeved August 2016. Lost right at 100lbs and ended up at 193.2. I wanted to lose another 25 to be in the "healthy" weight range. I was wearing nice clothes and felt great. My wife became pregnant in December which we found out about in late January 2017. She was a high risk pregnancy being diabetic and her age. We had to make 3 trips a week to St. Louis to her doctor for monitoring, etc and after the baby was born, he stayed in the NICU for 13 days. I'm absolutely NOT making any excuses, but during these days I lived on gas station grub and fast food joints. I found myself drinking soda again as well. Little man was born on August 15, 2017 and the months of bad eating had wrecked me. Leading into the holiday's, my willpower wasn't there. I ate candy around Halloween, indulged in sweets during Thanksgiving and ate junk at Christmas & New Years and all the time in-between. I went from 193 to 231 when I finally worked up the courage to get on the scale.

So I've gone back to what worked for me during that first year post-op. Protein drinks, protein bars, healthy foods, little soda (I have one once in a while) and logging every morsel. I down at LEAST 80oz of water a day too. I'm feeling great and am back down to 213.2, 20lbs away from my lowest weight. I'm optimistic and committed and haven't indulged in any of the donuts or other junk that people keep bringing in to work. Though my baby is a more-than-full-time-job and keeps me from exercising, I'm looking forward to warmer weather and getting back outside.

You have to stay committed! This is for life. Eating the old junk that made you fat in the first place will only take you back there. I've found that while I can only eat about a cup of food at one time at most, I can eat more often. It doesn't take long when you are grazing during the day to over-eat. Make a plan, choose the right foods, log everything and focus on why you had the surgery in the first place.