The 80/20 rule: 

People spend 80% of the time worrying about the surgery and about 20% of the changes in their own behavior.

Someone wrote: ( To the Bandsters email list server )
"Say what you said again (or maybe that was Jen) about how people spend 80% of the time worrying about the surgical details and only 20% of the time worrying about changing their behavior afterwards when it ought to be the other way around. "

Reply One:
I did make a comment about the 80-20 rule.. probably others have said the same thing. For me personally, I worried about stuff like:

-dying from the amnesthia used during surgery
-the scars
-that fills would hurt
-having a foreign object in my body
-that an abdominal port placement would cause problems
-every possible complication that anyone on the planet has ever experienced
-alien invasions and other terribly unlikely events

Reality check
-the surgery is very low risk,
-the scars are small and who really cares,
-fills for me are not painful and only mildly uncomfortable. No port problems - and my doc has been doing this since 1995 and has a method that seems to work.
-this foreign object is helping me change my life for the better
-reflux, which I had never even heard of, is the only real complication I have experienced. It is quite manageable and not a real problem for me.
-My European colleagues assure me that all alien landings are in the USA, just watch the XFiles if you doubt it

What I SHOULD have focused on:
-learning to listen to my body (what does it mean to feel full?)
-readjusting serving sizes and eating expectations
-how does it really feel to give up snacking?
-do you realize how little food you really need? How do you get your mind and eyes to understand that?
-what do I really want to get out of WLS?
-what will it take to make this really work for me and make my goals come true? Do I have the persistence and
patience to make it through the good and the bad times?
-how will I ask for help when I really need it?

I did think of these things, but it was probably the 20% instead of the 80% it should have been

Sheryl
[Wayne Comment] Printed with full permission of the author


NOTICE:  All opinions expressed herein are the author's own.  None of this is to be construed as to being medical advice.


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