The DS IQ test

[Elizabeth N.]

If you have landed here via other WLS forums, chances are you have seen a reference to something like a "DS IQ test."

We realize this is jolting language, especially since apparently nobody with RNY, VSG or crapband has ever bothered to broach this subject, even though it should be publicized widely.

There are multiple facets/layers to WLS, and we DSers believe they are all multiplied in the DS. The DS requires more raw intelligence, more assertiveness, more....well, lots of things.

This thread is to talk about the facets of what some of us believe should be included in the DS IQ test.

 

[newanatomy]

1. Basic nutrition. What is a carb, protein, etc.
2. What are acceptable soft foods early post-op?
3. How much water do you need to consume per day post-op?
4. What kind of supplements will you need and in what forms post-op?
5. When do you start taking supplements? All at once?

There are lots more of course but, here are a few.

 

[DianaCox]

How to learn for yourself.
How to speak up for yourself.
How to argue with a doctor.
How to plan ahead EVERY SINGLE DAY to have protein and fluid handy - and potentially, a bathroom.
How to deal with the idea that you might fart in a big important business meeting, and how to ACTUALLY deal with it.
How to search and read a PubMed abstract.

 

[Elizabeth N.]

The PSYCH EVALUATION and the (usually) MANDATORY THERAPY. *grrrr*

 

[Spiky Bugger]

Knowing why your PCP will probably diagnose you with hyperparathyroidism and why s/he needs to UNdiagnose you. Explain how you will convince her/him that you have an altogether different problem...and what that problem is.

 

[Sheanie]

Have the ability to learn to read, chart and follow your own lab results. Also to be able to take advice from vets on line without getting your panties in a fine little twist. The ability to know what a carb is, what protein is and is not (collagen), the ability to read and decipher food labels through "DS glasses", and to understand "DS Math".

An added bonus would be the ability to explain things to newbies patiently (I lack this talent).

Oh. And the ability to cook. Because fast food isn't really DS friendly.

 

[jpcello]

Understanding you're not on a diet anymore - this is your life.

 

[Sheanie]

Understanding you're not on a diet anymore - this is your life.

(Sarcastic Voice here) You mean, we don't have to go to Weight Watchers just for the support at the meetings? Read this on Facebook recently, and snorted so loud Mr. Sheanie thought I was having a stroke.

 

[Elizabeth N.]

Well, if a WW meeting is part of how you define your life, and it helps you feel better, more power to you. I'd rather spend that money on steak or clothes.

 

[Sheanie]

I wouldn't give WW another thin dime. The women in my family have, over the years, probably paid WW more than $25K in fees and food products. I remember slicing their WW ice cream to get a "serving". I have an aunt who currently weighs over 500# who spent a large fortune on WW over the years. What a waste of time, money, and effort.

 

[shann]

I know, right? I did WW for the first time the summer before 10th grade. At that point, it was counting exchanges. Through the years, I've filled in bubbles and counted points. Every single time, I struggled and starved to barely lose. I think it might be great for somebody who needs to lose 25 pounds or less, but it's a travesty for people who are MO!

 

[Spiky Bugger]

Another too-long story. Back in the early 1960's, Jean Niditch in NY started WW. She recruited her good friend Selma, who lived in The L.A. Area, to purchase the franchises for all of Los Angeles county and some adjoining areas...a huge area. It started doing so well that Selma's husband quit his day job and joined her in running the operation.

Selma was out and about promoting and her hubby was in the office, hiring, firing and crunching numbers. Selma was eating out a lot and STILL having trouble with her weight. Her husband was spending time with suddenly slim-trim-outgoing women who were getting hired as lecturers.

He fell in love with a supervising lecturer. It was messy. She was fired by Selma and rehired by Selma's husband. He moved out, rented two lovely ADJACENT (that's how you did it back then if you could afford it...harder to prove adultery as grounds for divorce) apartments in an UPSCALE area and filed for divorce. The girlfriend told everyone (meaning ALL the WW lecturers she had supervised and MANY WW "members") she didn't mind "being kept" by a man of his means...her life was wonderful and she was planning her wedding. And it mostly was a wonderful life.

Until about a week before the divorce...when he dropped dead of a heart attack.

So...Selma continued to own a ginormous WW franchise (it's been sold by now) and her kids...who were normal neighborhood folks back in the day...have had charmed lives, except, I guess, for the memory that their dad was an ass...are VERY COMFORTABLE with all their wealth. I ran into the son at one of my HS reunions last year...and he looked and acted like someone who has had a good life.

But WW, from the very beginning, has had some unattractive undercurrents. Just thought you'd like the dirt.

 

[brooklyngirl]

I did weight watchers a bunch of times and was "successful" each time in that I lost weight, but I could never get into it as a lifestyle and therefore could never keep the weight off. The last time was right before I met my husband, my best friend and I joined together, and after our weekly meetings (since, ya know, the previous week's tracking was over and the next week's didn't begin until the next day) we'd go out to eat something TERRIBLE in large quantities and think there was nothing wrong with the mentality of feeling so restricted that we had to invent some loophole system.

Each time I did the program I'd get to a point of eating something I shouldn't, then feeling guilty about it and saying "oh well, I fucked up my day, I might as well go all out" then the day would turn into a week and I would be afraid to go to the meeting and weigh in. That cycle would continue until I said fuck it and quit and gained back all the weight, plus more.

The point that I was at before my DS was after losing 75 pounds, then gaining almost 200 over the next 7 years, and always having that same "fuck it" attitude about dieting. I just COULD NOT do it anymore. My food issues were out of control and I could not get a hold on them until the day of surgery.

 

[ProteinSnob]

Until about a week before the divorce...when he dropped dead of a heart attack.

Sounds like Karma to me!

 

[Sheanie]

Thanks for the "dirt" on WW, EN. I very much enjoyed it. I still see the main lecturer from my days at WW, she's regained all and then some. I know of only one person who lectured for WW and kept her weight off, and she walks MILES every day. WW for me was always successful, I was an expert at taking the weight off. I just had BG's "fuck it" attitude when I was done and trying to maintain. One piece of Fanny Farmer's chocolate and BAM! I was regaining even faster. The last time I knew it would kill me if I regained again. Started having heart issues, palpitations and rattling cough, wore a heart monitor for the doctor I recently fired that showed nothing in a whole weekend full of chest pain. That's when I met my mentor in WLS at Knit Night and the rest is history. My mentor has regained with her sleeve, sadly.

We did Overeaters Anonymous, TOPS, and a host of other diet fads back in the day. Even a "one food" diet where you ate only one food each day. Like hard boiled eggs; lettuce; that type of thing. I lasted one day on that, my sister lost 75 pounds. My mom lost a ton also, but then sat down hard roller skating and broke her back in 3 places. So, I guess she robbed her bones with all that horseshit. The idiocy stuns me today, thinking back on what we put ourselves through for a temporary fix.