Rootman

Actually I did nothing the first 4 months and then started swimming 3 days a week and going to the gym 2 days a week on some weeks. In the last month I really started settling in on a swim routine and do 120 lengths of a 25 yard pool in 90 minutes. I am building muscle so I may be trading straight fat and weight loss for heavier muscle mass.

I eat a few saltine crackers and limit myself to a max of 3. Takes the edge off and helps me sleep. Not too high in calories.

Well when I dropped to about 240 and hit the 65% excess weight loss I was in heaven, I really look nice, feel good and consider myself "normal" sized now. While technically still obese I carry my weight well and did not look any where near the weight I am. I breathed a sigh of relief and told myself that I was "there" and anything else I gained by further loss was just a bonus ... till I started down into the 220's, I then realized that my BMI was going to drop below 30 for the first time in decades and I was officially going from "obese" to the "overweight" category - AND I WANT IT - BAD - REAL BAD! Man, my weight loss recently has trickled off compared to what it did at first, only 2 or 3 pounds a week, pretty good and considered "great success" by other diet plans like Weight Watchers but it can't come off soon enough for me. I'm sitting here at 227 and am itching to lose another 7 pounds to get to 220 and be below a BMI of 30. I feel more apprehension now then I did before hitting the "magic" marks of 350, 300, then 250 then the 240 and 65% weight loss. Don't know why I'm writing this, guess I just need to spill my guts. Wish me luck!

Yes, at this stage of the game for you it will take an intolerable long time to partake. It gets better and at about 6 months out you will level out and be able to eat pretty much normally - that is a NEW normal not stuffing yourself the way we USED to eat.

Yes it is common but not universal issue with most sleevers. The stomach is reduced in size and the acid pumps are thereby reduced but the amount of acid that is produced by those remaining pumps can sometimes tend to produce too much for the small space and make the sloshing feeling we confuse with hunger.

Yes, eat at regularly scheduled times, monitor either by weight or measure you portions and keep the snacking, grazing and treats to a minimum. You DO tend to revert back to old bad habits when driven by such a strong basic instinct as hunger.

Sometimes what we have always perceived as "hunger" is actually acid churning in the stomach, you may need a PPI like Prilosec to calm it down. I know my tummy was incredibly noisy the first month or so out and it always made me thing "Gee I'm hungry" but I would stop and evaluate the actual sensations and realize I was NOT and was just using the old clue of "tummy rumbles" as a trigger to eat. I was actually NOT hungry and DID NOT want to eat, I was simply sliding back into an old BAD learned behavior.

Congrats Shanny! Woot! Woot!

Maybe, I think I still have a few left from a few years ago scar from cancer removal I have. Even the tape starts peeling on me too but the super sticky foam like stuff seems to stick for a while. I'll have to shave the area to keep ... OUCH! ... the ... OUCH! ... hairs from pulling out with the tape though!

Woot! Foxy chick alert !!!!! You look great!

There might be but considering how cheap and small Iron tablets are why bother? Just pick up a bottle of iron tablets for a few bucks and take both. ALSO: be sure you are NOT taking iron with either a multivalent with Calcium or with your calcium tablets if you take any, the two do not play well together and the iron actually inhibits the calcium uptake. I take the multi for Breakfast along with a calcium, an iron pill at lunch and another calcium at dinner. Take them at least 2 hours apart I've heard..

Nope, and the commercial ones are pretty much useless as well. Some swear by vitamin E, others use the silicone bandages which help if you can keep them on, I have oily skin so they end up coming off in a few hours.

There is no best and what seems to really matter is the taste - which varies widly and suits each person. Give on or the other a try and pick one you can stomach and stick wit it.

Congrats! Yep, nothing like being at home, soooo much more comfy.

10 minutes sounds a little long but then again I never timed it and just sucked on it till it was gone. I started out with a daily tablet and when I had my blood panel the B12 was high - pretty harmless as B12 is Water soluble and simply flout with the urine, so the doc had me go every third day. I switched over to EmergenC drink, which also has B12 in it. I was having issues with kidney stones and needed the Vitamin C to keep my urine acidic and keep the stones at bay. I take the drink with twice the water, 12 ozs as compared to 6 ozs so as not to hit my tiny stomach with that much concentrated acid. When you have a blood panel done they should measure the level, till then just stick with what the doc says, after all the vitamin people just want you to buy more stuff, the doc just wants you to get the proper amount.

Almanza too. Perfectly adequate, you will not get the bells and whistles but will get the same procedure at a lower cost. The facility is safe, clean and, well adequate. It has worked wonders for me.

I have a friend who worked at a hospital ER room, she relates a story about a mother and daughter who came in complaining of green poop and cramps. After a lot of questions that got no where they took blood tests and an x-ray and asked if one or both could provide a sample. It was green - florescent green, far to green to be caused by natural causes. After more questioning the finally fessed up to eating 3 whole packages of Christmas cookie dough - EACH, the stuff with the green Christmas tree in the center! The cramps were just their colons getting packed up with the raw dough.

Loose skin depends on a lot of factors, most of which are out of your control. Factors like genetics, age, skin elasticity and seems like just sheer luck play a role. Most of us have SOME excess skin when it's all over, how much just depends. Yeah it sucks but as Jhayze points out it's better than being fat. Save up and get a lift. Or just wear modest clothes and cover it up.

We all wish you the best and hope you get to feeling better and taking in calories soon. BTW: I don't know if you actually like Gatorade or not but I think it's nasty tasting, I did however use Pedialite, I know it's for kids but the taste is tolerable and it did the trick.

Yeah, same for us. We use so little - even my wife since I've been eating healthier she has too. With the small amount we eat I don't expect it matters what you use. I had a toasted cheese sandwich the other night, first amount of butter i've used in weeks. Just pick something you like the taste of and watch the portions like a hawk.

Unfortunately we sometimes don't lose directly in the areas that need the larger sizes, this seems to be more so for females than males. The pants will get baggy in the legs and perhaps the seat but the waist is still the same for instance. I know I am down to a 38 and should be in 36's but the waist is too tight in 36's yet, even though the legs and seat fit fine. It will come.

Sounds like sensational BS to me, though I have to admit that I don't know anyone that has had the surgery more than a few years ago. My sister had a bypass years ago and now has heart issues although every indication points to it being the same congenital issue that our mother suffered from. My older brother had a bypass too about 3 years ago or so and is doing fine although he gained back some of the weight that he lost initially. This board is dedicated to people who have a VSG - which is NOT a bypass, this eliminates MOST of the issues associated with a bypass, mainly of malnutrition due to malabsorbtion as NO part of the intestinal tract is bypassed, the stomach is simply made smaller to create a physical restriction. The VSG has only been done for the last 5 years or so, so not much long term data is available. However, removal of parts of or even the entire stomach has been done for decades, sometimes in the case of disease, sometime due to injury or situation like massive ulcers. I've even read about a couple of families that had a double whammy of genes that made it quite certain that they would come down with a certain stomach cancer, they all elected to have their stomachs removed entirely to eliminate the disease taking their lives later. They seem to be doing fine. The people who have this done survive and thrive if they adhere to a proper diet that provides proper balanced nutrition. It's hard to tell if any such data is real or just sensationalism. So your home work and come to your own conclusion. For me it is a god send.

Primary Care Physician, your regular doctor

Yes, as Marie said there are probably slightly better choices but in the long run I don't really think it matters. Slim-Fast is cheap and readily available. You could do a lot worse. Just don't slam a few a day and use it at first for a liquid replacement, after a few months slack off and just use them as a Meal Replacement a few times a week. I personally use Boost! nutritional drink. Smaller portions and the taste isn't quite as yucky as a few others I tasted.

I too was a man given to large appetite. I too enjoyed food immensely and was worried that I would really be denying myself and living miserably without it. For me it worked out just the opposite. After the sleeve the absolute gnawing hunger and desire I had for food is pretty much gone. It was really after 6 months before I honestly could say that I felt any real hunger, some people claim they never do and a few claim the ALWAYS do, so YMMV. I eat very small portions and I immediately fill up and cannot eat any more or else I am miserable and in a lot of pain as my stomach rebels and keeps telling me NO MORE-NO MORE! When you're full with the sleeve the difference between FULL and TOO MUCH is the matter of a few bites, not another whole portion. I feel satisfied after a meal, I enjoy the food in smaller portions just as much as I did before and appreciate going out to eat MORE now than I did then, for one reason is that we eat out less, another is that I am not entirely focused on the food and enjoy the conversation and people watching more than I did before. My tastes have changed, many things are just too sweet for me to eat and I avoid them, cakes and ice cream and such just don't excite me the way they did. I always loved chocolate, especially milk chocolate. Now all I like is the bitter taste of dark chocolate. I was a moderate coffee drinker of 3 or 4 cups a day, now its maybe 3 or 4 a WEEK, just not the same as it was before. I was a salt-o-holic and loaded up nearly everything up with salt, now many things are a real turn off because they are too salty. I always enjoyed fairly spicy food, now I REALLY enjoy spicy food. Things seem to have real flavor now. Dr. Pepper was always my favorite drink and now I can actually taste some of the distinct flavoring that it has. I enjoy it a lot more. So you ARE taking a chance of shutting out a chapter of your life that you have thoroughly enjoyed but are opening a new one, one that will probably have far healthier consequences and perhaps allow you to live longer. IT'S WORTH IT!