Susanne

And you are saying that it is not easier than without surgery? It certainly is easier for me than ANY other attempt at weight loss I have done in the past 20 years, that's for sure. I am surprised people are claiming it is not. If you don't think so, I think it was a crazy decision to spend all the money and have major surgery without the advantage of much easier weight loss

Awesome, we have a treadmill and a bike and I love working out with my husband! I don't know the equipment you are talking about, I have tried a few "gimmicky" tools like the health rider or so, but I think in the end, it's the basic stuff like walking and riding the bike that we last! But like you said, start small and if you see you'll use it, you can "upgrade"

Would you feel guilty if you had found an easy way to make more money if it doesn't hurt others? Would you feel guilty if you found a faster way to work that only takes half the time? Would you feel guilty if you found the thing you have been looking for for many years at half off? No? Then why feel guilty now? It is not the EASY way but lets all admit it, it is an EASIER way, but there is no shame in this especially if you have tried every other way. A definition of insanity is to try the same thing over and over and expect a different outcome - well, you have tried something else now, and you got the different outcome you were hoping for, weight loss. Be happy, be proud and forget about those who think this is cheating.

I am no exercise specialist, but I think upping your exercise to at least 40 minutes is a good idea. I am not sure how intense your workout is, but make sure you actually break out a GOOD sweat. I don't think 15 minutes or below is workout - I was told to start with 15 minutes the weeks after surgery but soon try to work out to 30-40 minutes for 6 days a week. If you use a calculator online and calculate the burnt calories, please note that in most cases those are made for people in a more normal weight range for a much much lower bodyfat %. From what I read, they basically extrapolate fat and muscle according to weight which grossly overestimates your burnt calorie amount. So, if you are trying to eat back burnt calories, you can be seriously in trouble and eat way too much. Also, make sure you eat enough fat. I know, we have all been fat-phobic but you need fat to keep your body burning

You may look older but I am sure your better figure, increased energy, better posture etc. will counter act that...at least that's what I am hoping for. The other thing to consider is that often between the before and after, there are a couple of years so yeah, they look older because they ARE older :-)

The "exercise guy" at my surgeon said to aim for 7 days because you can almost never do that because of other commitments :-) I guess this year I have maybe NOT worked out on 10 days, so that works for me....and should I ever get to the 7 day week, I can sit down on the 7th day, go "na na nana na" and stick my tongue out at the treadmill

I cheated within my meal plan (I didn't have to do all liquid but a mix of high Protein drinks, bars and microwave dishes), so on some days I ate 2 Protein Bars. I also had some ready meals and I added a bit of eggbeater to eat (cooked eggbeater, not the raw stuff) and one day I was so hungry, I actually ate two microwave meals. I guess it would be OK to have a turkey burger, but in the end, it is meat and meat stays in your system/stomach longer than an Atkins shake so I wouldn't want to try it too close to the surgery date.

Same here, to complicated and WAY too obsessive. I have a sleeve to not have to obsess about food like that anymore. I firmly believe if you stay within your calories, you'll break a stall. And I believe a lot of people who stay stalled are victim of hidden calories or sloppy counting (I am guilty of that with flavored Coffeemate). I honestly believe it can hurt, maybe not on the scale but definitely your sanity. The other thing is, if you eat normal, your calories will automatically cycle just because of the nature of food, sometimes I have 800, sometimes 900 and on other days 1000 or 1100 calories. In addition it cycles for me due to the difference in exercise or general activities during a day. On some days I most likely burn an extra 100 calories because I cleaned the house or had tu run around at work a lot, which remains uncounted. 600 calories is not even remotely enough on a regular base unless you are in the first couple of months. Hell, people are questioning whether 1200 calories are enough - no one should STRIVE to eat (anorexic) 600 calories...I mean, EVER :omg_smile:

I don't know about you, but I am pretty sure we have all thought that - why does my skinny friend seem to eat loads of fatty/carby food and lose weight while I am picking at some low fat meal? Well, I just watched the BBC documentary "The Big Fat Truth about Low Fat Foods" and I think it's so true. You can check it out here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00yrvhg/The_Big_Fat_Truth_about_Low_Fat_Foods/ If it is not available in your area, you can find a torrent download in the "usual places". I have actually taken this very much to heart after surgery, when I decided to go back to eating "normal" food and try to avoid all "low fat", "low sugar", "low carb" foods. The only thing I have left is an occasional diet pop. Check it out - hope you like it and find it interesting! Susanne

I think tracking is important, I do that too. I am just always getting mad about those foods. Yesterday, my husband brought a bag of "baked" chips. They had 10 calories less for a serving but a lot more ingredients than regular chips. Add to that they don't even remotely taste as nice as normal chips - no good crunch, not as satisfying - and the calorie savings are really not worth mentioning. That said, I think it is perfectly fine to use less butter, use a cut of meat with less fat or use ground turkey instead of ground pork, but I think the problem starts when fat (sugar/carbs) are replaced with artificial stuff. I noticed from tracking, that I seem to not even get the recommended amount of fat even though I am eating 2% yogurt, drinking 2% milk and am cooking with olive oil...but I also don't want to eat a spoon full of Peanut Butter just to up the fat...but maybe I should? Or almond butter?

I chime in for the GNC Wheybolic Extreme chocolate WHEY BO LIC, WHEY BO LIC, WHEY BO LIC, WHEY BO LIC, WHEY BO LIC, WHEY BO LIC, WHEY BO LIC, WHEY BO LIC, WHEY BO LIC, WHEY BO LIC, WHEY BO LIC, WHEY BO LIC, WHEY BO LIC, WHEY BO LIC I wish I wasn't at work and could slam my fist on the desk while saying it!

EDIT: Ah, scratch that...

I am knocking with you, I haven't puked yet either. Once I tried to drink too soon after eating and it basically never made it all the way down - I don't consider that puking, it was almost like spitting it out, ie. like it never even left my mouth. That was about 1 month out, and I have never had it again. Admitted, I am not a puker (btw, LOL at "through or upper" - I had to read that 5 times before I understood it was supposed to be "thrower upper" as in throw up) and I am "Vomit free since 93" or something like that :-)

You'll get more demanding, I guarantee it. I was looking at my initial blog posts, and I noticed that I was thrilled to hear I could lose 20-30 pounds within a month or so but then you just want more and faster :-) The thing is, it probably is not easy for you to stay around 1500 calories right now, but afterward it is actually not too difficult to stay at lower calorie ranges and that alone will take a HUGE burden off your shoulders.

WARNING! Super Protein Vanilla Al'mondo Protein Soymilk Protein Drink has 40g of protein....and 760 calories One bottle is 4 servings!

Don't worry about the fridge, in the US almost all hotels have some sort of ice dispensing machine. Try to find a bottle with a big opening, where you can pour in Protein powder, Water and top it off with ice to shake it. The "ready to drink" stuff may look like a better alternative, but in most cases warm Protein Drink are awful and you are better off with a mix shaken on ice. I do like GNC too, and they are very generous if you buy something you don't like. You can just bring it back - even opened and used (moderately used of course), no problem at all. I like the GNC Wheybolic Extreme chocolate - chocolate has almost no aftertaste and a serving has 280 calories and 60g of protein (I usually have half a serving for breakfast). I mix it with water. Don't forget, in the US you can pretty much tell the waiter what you like and what you don't like - I am from Germany (but living in the US for 11 years now) and most waiters in Germany would slap me over the head if I would tell them "No butter, no croutons, dressing on the side, no almond slivers on the salad and no mayo on the bun" etc. I imagine Denmark is similar :-) And I don't think anything on here is ever TMI :-) Have a great trip!

Hmm, I just thought about this this morning. I used to love my cocktails and tequila, probably more than most. Since the surgery, I just don't have it like that anymore. I believe I was drinking like I was eating - loving the taste of a nice Cosmo, Daiquiri, Margaritas. We never bought mixes, always did our own sour mix etc. - damn you Alton Brown who introduced me to "hand-made" cocktails on Good Eats. At least right now, I can take it or leave it...just like most foods. Now, admittedly, I am only 3.5 months out and my booziest months were summer months on the patio, in the hot tub, while having people over so that hasn't happened yet anyway since I was sleeved in November. I used to be a wine drinker before I got my taste for cocktails, but it is the same with that. A glass is fine, I can have more, but there really is no "wanting" it like I used to.

It almost sounds like heartburn - was this the first time that you didn't take your PPI by any chance or that you took a different PPI?

I understand your husband's concern and I can tell you that it will be slower to lose weight if you ate a lower amount of calories. I believe this is the case for me, I have been logging my caloric intake on and off since 5 years or so. I averaged maybe 1200 during a weekday and maybe 1800 on a weekend day. I am 3.5 months out and have lost 47 pounds, and I had about the same stats as you - 5'6" and 260 pounds -- so it works, but not as fast as some others here. I believe I am one of those people who messed up their metabolism by lots of diets early on. Before surgery, I never ate fast food, I never drank sugar pop, I wasn't a "candyholic", I never had take-out. We always cooked and we always cooked with lots of fresh ingredients. The problem is that I believe I can cook a very tasty meal and I love to eat, so even on a fresh meal with veggies and meat you gain weight if you eat more than you should. You will probably have more/longer stalls - just so you can prepare mentally. I stalled almost 2 weeks after week 3, and I stalled a whooping 23 days around 3 months (which I am just coming out of). But the thing is, the weight is coming off and that's all that matters. I do work out though, so I hope you are in for that but I can tell you, as the weight is falling off, working out gets a lot more pleasant. Good luck with your decision!

As long as you stayed within your calories, it probably doesn't matter at all. Wihout trying to push my own blog, I just wrote this a couple of days ago which is along the same lines: http://bananatummy.com/2011/02/does-it-really-matter-what-i-eat/ I have just found for myself that it pretty much doesn't matter too much what I eat as long as I stay within my calorie range and have enough Protein. Admitted, I don't eat real junk, but I do feel like a nice slice of crusty white bread from the Euro bakery with some nice capicola and it really doesn't hurt me. Don't worry, part of getting the surgery is that you need to worry less about these things and that you need to obsess less about what you ate, when, and why. What's your calorie goal? Stay within with a good mix of protein, carbs and fat and you'll be just fine. PS: Just because a bread is brown doesn't mean anything. Just because it says "whole wheat" doesn't mean anything either. If you want to make sure it is healthier, it should say whole grain and it should have somewhere around 2-3g of Fiber (depending on portion size).

This may sound a little harsh, but let me play devil's advocate. If something so small as the simple taste of a Protein shake can make you doubt whether you should get this surgery or not, maybe you are simply not ready for it. This is a decision for life, and you have to be ready for it. The taste of a shake is such a minor inconvenience, but if it has such a strong effect on you that you may NOT want to get surgery, maybe there are other reasons why you shouldn't have surgery. People will tell you that you should get it, but no one should be able to influence you either way...and definitely not the taste of a shake!

All they did was lower the requirement to a BMI of 30 if I read that correctly. I think that's actually not a bad thing. I think it fails for a lot of heavy people and that's what we read all the time. On the other hand, I believe that people who have a BMI of just 30 RNY or VSG is quite a drastic step. 30 is barely obese and maybe for people in this lower range, the weight CAN be controlled with a band and no drastic surgery is necessary. Never had a band either, I was looking into it but for me, VSG was the better choice. BUT...if I had a BMI of 30, which would be 185 pounds at 5'6" I would NOT have gone for such a permanent procedure.