OH Articles - this one fits - The WLS Honeymoon

Aug 15, 2014

I've enjoyed the frequent articles from OH that show up in my email. Some days they are a distraction, nothing of great import.  Today's rang so true for me. I'll save this one to read again during my journey - this paragraph grabbed my attention.

(excerpt)    What I didn't realize at the time, and what I now know to be true for anyone looking to sustain long-term success, is that WLS is a temporary solution to a chronic and often recurring problem. Here’s the big secret that no one tells you:  WLS can help you get thin, but it will not keep you thin. You need to keep you thin because everything that got you fat before can get you fat again. Without a secondary intervention that targets and transforms the mental, emotional, and behavioral patterns that led to obesity in the first place, you are at significant risk to regain the weight or substitute another (equally dangerous) addiction in place of eating.

After The Honeymoon: What You Can Expect After Weight Loss Surgery - ObesityHelp.com

				After The Honeymoon: What You Can Expect After Weight... After the honeymoon, what you can expect after wls.
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While I mentally know surgery is a tool, one of many to employ for success, I can also see how it might be too easy to rely on it completely and not make, and continually reinforce / refresh, the good habits that will provide a lifetime of better health. I've seen so many posts, as well as TV shows, where people all excited about the surgery but may not have done the "head work" that belongs with it.  

I think that is why my pre-op program is making so much sense to me - I already know how to be obese - it's very easy.  I need to learn to be a different person in relationship to food and what it does for me, finding happiness in other activities, and learning that I am a worthy person.  

OK, I'll get off my soapbox....

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