Swiftflow

+1 to this advice. This is how I broke stalls in low calorie dieting and it is a great way to vary or "trick" your metabolism. I recommend the varying calories even before you hit the stall. or in your case even after you have passed it--don't let your body get used to 600 calories every day.

On the greek yogurt--I got the one with blueberrys the other day and it was good.

Welcome! I am 6 days away now and I can't stay off the boards either. Great info here! Wishing you all the best.

I have also been considering starting a vlog on youtube... To vlog or not to vlog.. Thoughts?

Awesome! I love the positive outlook and start to this--you are going to do great! ROCK THAT SLEEVE!!

At the end of the creation there is a section called "bbcode" You copy the link in there and then paste that link into your signature file. The signature on this site is on the left menu after you select the User Control panel link (User CP) for this site. You can also just paste the link at the end of your messages, but having a signature does that for you automatically.

I decided to start my blog today with my story and how I ended up here. rather than repost my story here I wanted to invite you to read my blog if you like. I am looking forward to starting my journey with the sleeve on 4/28 Blog Link: "Confessions of a professional dieter...."

I am one week from my surgery, so I think it is time to start my blog. Today I am going to start with my story: I am currently 40 years old and morbidly obese at 323 Lbs. I have been overweight probably since age 3. I remember my earliest attempts at a ?diet? started around age 15. After 25 years of dieting I am sad to say that I have become a professional dieter, and a failed one at that. I have been fairly successful in most areas of my life, with one area that I have never been able to succeed in long term. Early on in dieting I tried many diets and fads: slim fast, nutri-system, good old fashion running, lifting weights, diet pills, sweat suits, fat reduction belts, sports, karate (up to Black belt level), work sponsored personal trainer and doctor led diet system, cardio of every type, interval workouts, several best-selling diet programs, diet software, internet based diet programs (ebooks) etc. With myself as the human guinea pig I know what works to lose weight. Some of the best programs out there that really worked for me and were actually healthy were based on the principles you see in ?Body for Life? and ?Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle?. I know the ways to lose weight safely and steadily. I know how to mostly avoid or break weight loss stalls and plateaus. I don?t know what?s worse, being ignorant and fat or knowing exactly what to do but failing over and over doing exactly what I know is self-defeating. It is like the mechanic who can fix everyone?s car but his own. More about exercise: I inherited my mother?s strong cardiovascular system, anytime I work out during a diet, my heart is back in shape within a couple of weeks. My cardiovascular system far exceeds my physical capability. In other words If I did not have so much extra weight I could run forever?my muscles and joints give way long before my heart or lungs are winded. As an example during one of my better diet runs (the doctor led one sponsored by my work) I got up to where I could run 12 miles and I was still at 250 pounds?my knees and shins gave out that day, but my heart and lungs could have kept going. My goal at the time was to run a marathon and I had built up to this distance over time, but I injured myself and went fell into a terrible slump gaining the weight back and much more. Just this past year starting what would be my final diet attempt I went from 340 down to 320 pounds and was working out hard?just to give you an idea of the heart health I had an EKG at 320 lbs. and my resting heart rate was 44 bpm. The doc who did the EKG and physical made a comment about how healthy my various blood pressure and heart numbers were even compared to some athletes she had seen. I was like so ?I?m a healthy fat guy, how does that help me??. She then mentioned the VSG or Lap band to help me for long term weight-loss. I had not really entertained thoughts of WLS very much?I?m a ?professional dieter? after all who knows what works and what doesn?t (HA!) I am so glad she brought that up because it got my stubborn technical brain to really research WLS. This was reinforced when I had 2 other friends at work have WLS (one band one bypass) and I was seeing their results. For the first time I looked at the surgery objectively and read every technical detail I could about the options out there?this is what led me to the VSG as the best choice for me. My failure in every diet has been my lack of a ?Full? sensation. My mom says I had no full button as a kid?if she put it in front of me, I ate it. I have always over eaten; even when I eat healthy I eat too much in portions. Here is an operation that finally gives me an ability to feel full with just a few ounces, not have excessive hunger, and it does not have the major drawbacks of the band or bypass. So this is not a magic bullet, it is a tool. This is the tool I have been missing in my so called ?professional dieting? career of 25 years. I also know and have already planned to get some mental assistance to deal with the fact that I can no longer live to eat. I start my journey using this new tool on 4/28/2010. I can?t wait to run again and not have to worry about my weight slowing me down! I plan to use my knowledge to benefit me in this journey incorporating the good healthy principles I have learned over the years. Now that I have the right tool to assist me, I will succeed!

Wed 4/28? Me too!!

I went to my pre-op class and this is actually the way my Doctor's office teaches thier drinking rule. You can drink until the first bit of food hits your lips, and then 30 mins after the meal. I was pleased to hear that.

Even if you physically had to drink shakes, you could up your calories with healthy shakes too. I have just ordered a product called suplimed The Weight Gain Supplement That's Your Sensible Weight Gain Solution to help me up my calories on my off days (lots of calories packed in to small doses 4 oz or 1/2 serving can get 254 calories) this is just the one I liked, but GNC and other stores have other product options too. I am about to use my 3 days on 1 day off practice with my vsg to maybe try and prevent a stall. I will keep everyone posted on how that works. My plan is 3 days at 600-800 calories, 1 day 1500-1800 calories. repeat. There is no way early in my sleeve I can get 1500-1800 healthy calories without using a liquid suppliment, so I am planning ahead. My number is higher with 1500-1800 based on my studies of Base metabloic rate for my desired goal weight and body fat percentage. A female will typically be a lower number than that--web search for Base metabilic rate (BMR) on how to figure out your own. Also once I can eat regular food easily I will adjust the suppliment amounts to match the calorie levels and try to use shakes more as suppliments then and not a mainstay.

Also DFW area. My doc only has the day before surgery starting at noon on clear liquids--so happy about that! Rant: I'm not sure why many have the blanket pre-op diet for this procedure. It's the same procedure they used on 60+ BMI patients as the first stage to get them ready for a Duodenal Switch after they drop some weight. Maybe some want to see the commitment level. It cant just be for liver size because in almost every case they have operated on someone with a higher BMI than you in the past--meaning if I don't diet is my liver going to be larger than the 60 bmi patient that did a diet? Maybe they don't want to have to use the extra incision for an additional liver retractor...Not sure--just a rant... My surgeon does the DS procedure on a regular basis and may be used to working around the larger liver and thus does not require it... Edit: Not to say you should not follow your docs recommendations--its just weird that it is not a standard recommendation.

Just my thoughs based on my weight loss experience: Whats the total on that calorie wise? Just at a brief glance, your calorie intake could be low and your body is in starvation mode or adjusted to the long term low calorie diet. Some possible changes to the ones you already mentioned: 1. try to up your calories a couple of days to jump start your body into burning again 2 days at 1000-1200 calories (edit: healthy foods --use shakes as additional suppliments and not main meals) 2. take a long term approach of 3 on 1 off-- 3 days at low calorie 1 day maintenance level calories (based on your base metabolic rate) This helps prevent the body from ever getting used to the low calories all the time. Again these things have worked in the past on stalls--I obviously have gained it all back and am awaiting my sleeve to help me keep wieght off and not just be a professional dieter. stall article : http://www.dsfacts.com/weight-loss-stall-or-plateau.html

I am pre-sleeve but I like the Isopure plus alpine punch--I hope I still do post sleeve. Its zero carb so its a mild taste--not too sweet or fake punch tasting. I could tell that if you added more Water to the mix the taste would be very little twinge of flavoring if you thought the straight punch was strong for you. I have the unflavored powder on the way so I will test that with water first then try to add lemon or tea to it. By the way I buy so many different things off of amazon that I get the amazon prime (free 2 day shipping on amazon shipped products) this has paid for itself three fold because I order allot of heavy shipped items this last year (bulk liquids/powders, cooking supplies, etc.) the amount you save from no sales tax and no shipping are great.

I am glad my surgeon does not bypass the educational requirements for self pay indeed! In fact Tomorrow I have a full day of classroom training getting me ready for the surgery. Im sure after 12+ years of doing WLS they learned that education is key to success and they would only be hurting there own success rate if they did not require the manditory learning. This is in addition to required seminar, labs, EGD, sonogram, doctor consult, and EKG to make sure you are ready for this.

Don't worry, you will forget this post soon :thumbup1: I tend to believe the resolution of the sleep apnea will improve your mental sharpness far more than hunger hormone could affect it. I'm sure there are plenty of well fed scholars that could agree. Also do a search on medical studies on how exercise effects memory. If I can get down to a "running weight" again I may enjoy some of those benefits as well!

For any comment about the easy way.... "In the last 25 years I've lost and gained over 1000 pounds the hard way, I decided to take a smarter route and do something that actually works long term. Why would I waist more time doing something that has not worked for me in the past?"

Mine was all about the surgeons schedule and he only does cash pay on certain days--Im sure that is due to the different billings and costs with cash pay vs. insurance.

Just another day and you will be on your way to having the best tool in the toolbox to help you along the way! Once you complete your liquid/mushies post-op diets you will be able to eat again one day just in smaller amounts. I can't wait to get my sleeve!

Yeah the poor quality of sleep does sound like it could be the issue here. When I did workout and go through my spurts of fitness, my wife reported that I stoped snoring and slept more peacefully--so I am looking forward to seeing if I get my "Edge" back. I used to be able to skim through a technical document and then remember facts--now I have to focus and re-read. I had chalked it up to turning 40, but you may be on to something here!

Welcome! I can't wait to rock this sleeve!

Thank you for posting this. Although my insurance does not cover the sleeve, they do cover seeing a therapist. It is good to go into this being prepared for the mental challenges.

Also I would look to use the SupliMed product for maintenance added calories before turning to junk. It is well balanced calories that can maybe help you maintain and in turn lower the stress levels. It seems the cycle can be that stress is causing this and then you get more stress because you can't stop it. It looks like a healthy way to get good calories in while your working through your other life stress. But like any typical Man I want to solve the problem--maybe you just need someone to listen. We are here for that too!

Never really seen this side of it, but friends of mine that want to put on weight will use those weight gain type of shakes/powders you see at GNC and other health stores. Maybe those could help with maintenance calories that are easy to take in without having to eat junk. Edit: check this example I found out--Patients trying to regain wieght from illness, cancer treatments, etc use this. http://www.suplimednutrients.com/ Seems like you could modify the quantities or amount for maintenance vs. gain as well.

Sorry to have to say it, but yes this is in fact in the Clinic and Dr's control. I'm an excellent Support engineer most of the time, when I'm tired and overworked I make mistakes--hopefully mine can be repaired with a good restore from backup--peoples lives are a little more serious than this. You can't really chalk this up to the "expected complication rate". I mean you can't honor this as a valid experience without reading the whole of the experience. Don't write up a nice reply to this--if you want to write, go write a Jerry McGuire "Less Clients, better service" paper and hand it out! Run the place like a good business and everyone will refer people there. Common--I was willing to let this go into the internet forum category of "a bunch of hype" until I read the story. You can fix this! 10 pm starting the surgery I mean COMMON!