DougNichols

I'm 41, baby. :thumbup:

DAY 1 - 320 lbs
DAY 8 - 312.7 lbs
Going on 8 lbs in 8 days. I'm fairly happy thusfar. Drank one of those huge smoothies last night at 8pm. NOT RECOMMENDED. Even though I went to bed at midnight, it was still sitting on my stomach. Woke up still nasty full so only had a banana for Breakfast. Hit Sam's Club again today and got some organic spinach, mushrooms and grape tomatoes to make a salad for dinner. No more smoothies that late.
I'm starting to post my DAY 1 starting weight before my daily weigh in, so new readers can easily see the difference.

One year through the trials of hell
I started off at size 54 jeans and 6XL shirt. They were tight. I didn't wear them much because I mostly sat at the house, sans the occasional Walmart run to gather 10 2-liter Cokes for my many nights of playing World of Warcraft. Every Saturday night, I ordered an extra large Papa John's pizza with a large breadsticks and ate only that for all day Sunday watching football and playing video games. I had no girlfriend, no real friends, just the random online people I chatted with. And no computer vid cam because I never wanted anyone to see me. People on the internet are harsh, cruel and unyielding.
My doctor had prescribed 3 blood pressure and 2 cholesterol medications. He told me basically that I was going to die if I kept my weight up. I was approaching 400lbs with no end in sight. Dieting had never worked for me, since I always gained the weight back. And bulletin boards were no help, since most of the people there gained it back too. I hadn't exercised in 4 years, what was I supposed to do?
He recommended the sleeve, but it would take 6 months to get approved. I was too impatient for that, so I continued my binge. The solution it seemed was to get a girlfriend! I posted my profile online, hit up every girl on the sites and got several dates. Nobody wanted a second date however after they looked at my fatness, bad attitude and social irregularities. I became even more depressed, scored more terrible dates and spiraled into a cycle of self hatred. The movie "50 First Dates" is a comedy, however in real life it's not all that funny. I actually had one girl see me from a distance, get repulsed and leave on our first encounter. She was my 50th date, and had successfully crushed what little self esteem I had left. I went home and repeatedly hit myself in the head until I was almost unconscious. Here I am, a highly educated man abusing myself because of my miserable life.
As I laid there hurting.
I decided to change.
I started the surgery approval process, and threw away every piece of fattening food in the house. The surgeon's office had these huge chairs geared for morbidly obese people like me. It was weird to know that many other people had been on this journey, but comforting at the same time. In only three months I'd be under his knife, so it was time to get busy.
I joined a local gym who's owner was a pure b***h. She was mean to me, saying I was too fat for most of the machines. As I took my first step onto the elliptical, it started cracking. Maybe that wench was right, I WILL break her equipment! After ten minutes at level 1, I thought I would pass out. So I sat on the floor hyperventilating as she ran over and started yelling at me for being on the floor. I hated her.
Fueled by hatred, frustration, with vivid memories of all the bad dates in my head and the gym owner's voice still ringing in my ear, I suffered through. The next day I did 10 minutes, then 20 and finally a full hour at level 1.
I started on Atkins figuring I could lose a few pounds before surgery to get a healthy start. Then focusing my rage, I jacked the machine over the next few months to 3, 5, 7 and finally level 20 for a full hour. If you've never done level 20 on an elliptical, you can see your life flash before your eyes after a few minutes. Nobody else at the gym wanted any part of it as I poured sweat, breathed like a workhorse and suffered through. Not one person talked to me at the gym. Ever. Because if I wasn't near death when leaving, I didn't consider that a valid workout.
Then came this happy HerbaLife guy named Lynn. He was very friendly, inviting me over to his weight loss challenge and encouraged me every few days. This was the first person in years that didn't look away, didn't ignore me and actually was fun to talk to. I dropped 13 lbs before this weight loss challenge began, and started my pre-op diet after few weeks in. And even had surgery on one of those Mondays so I missed that meeting. The VSG board said to walk after surgery so I did, even though it hurt like hell. I walked an hour the day of surgery, the day after and every day out of the hospital. My doctor said to not exercise for a month, but I didn't really care. I wanted the weight off. In my head, all I saw was that extra large pizza barely fitting into my refrigerator, the sickly smell of those breadsticks that weren't cooked properly half the time.
So I married the treadmill and the elliptical in a ceremony of pain, sweat and anguish. I probably injured myself a couple of times during this process, but never reported it. I threw all my medications into the trash, drop kicking the empty bottles into the wall. And put my doctor's phone number on call blocking and didn't attend the follow-ups.
It's me.
And the gym.
If we die together, so be it.
After a couple months I had upped my exercise to 2 hours a day. When football was on, I'd watch a whole game from the treadmill for 3 hours. And then there was Lynn and his weight loss challenge. At the end of their 12 weeks, I had dropped 47 lbs + the 13 before for a grand total of 60lbs. I obliterated everyone. There was no second place. But in the process I had stumbled upon what fires me up - a challenge. Competing with other people, and being accountable made me lose faster, and keep it off. If you've ever attended one of these events, it's a huge Herbalife advertisement spam. But - the challenge aspect is what hooked me.
I remember during this process the day that I stopped caring what people thought about me. It was a weird day, one where I decided to wear house shoes to workout. Working on my self-esteem, people skills and removing all the negativity from my life during this process freed me a lifelong burden. One where I constantly worried when someone didn't like me, or wouldn't make eye contact as I passed by. If you ever reach this point, your life will change dramatically.
Society is filled with social pressure towards food. Every time I'm out with other people, we eat. But I drink an Atkins shake before I leave the house and normally don't eat anything. Other people try to shun you, ask why, etc. We had these little Herbalife pies in class the other day, and people were trying to guilt me into having a piece. Seriously? What a joke. I'm not hungry, and that little pie is a stumbling block towards my goal of LIVING MY LIFE THE WAY I WANT. As a populous, we've descended into food social pressure, so the other people can feel better about themselves by making you eat more.
I signed up for another challenge, and am losing 7 lbs a week. I play Tetris on my phone during the videos, because I've seen them all before (sorry Lynn). At a social event last week, I had 3 women who were just fascinated by me and were all smiles and laughs. They actually liked me, which was strange from so many years ago. I've had several comment on my positive energy and great smile that I have all the time. NOT from losing weight alone, but working on fixing myself, my attitude, outlook on life, ridding myself of worry and fear. Sure the weight helps, but you can still be miserable while thin. The sleeve is not a panacea.
I've gone from a 54 to 42 pants, soon to be at my goal weight.
I'm off all medications.
I shop at Old Navy instead of the fat store.
I meditate an hour per day.
I look in the mirror and see a sexy beast.
Instead of the fat pig blood pressure velcro sleeve, I now can fit into the regular one.
The doctor can find a vein in my arm now, instead of taking blood from my hand.
And I'm under 300lbs for the first time since the 90's
I feel fantastic all the time. Why? Because I'm living the life I want and deserve.
Join me, find what FIRES YOU UP. Channel it into your diet and exercise, whatever it takes for you to reach your own personal goals and aspirations. Steve Jobs recently died at such a young age. Life is so short. If you get hit by a bus tomorrow, what will you see as your life passes before you? A miserable existence where other people AND FOOD control your happiness, or a life filled with self-love, joy and happiness? It's only food, guys. It was designed to keep you from being hungry for a few hours, not to reign control over your destiny.
You are in control. Find your motivator. And live it.
I saw a commercial for Papa John's pizza last weekend, and threw something at the tv. That vice is no longer a part of my journey.

I wonder if they are instructed to tell everybody that, to delay/cancel paying out the surgery money.

Starting weight: 320 lbs.
I replied to everybody in the original thread. Fruits and veggies are unhealthy? You guys crack me up.
SAM's Club opened at 7am, and I was right there for a big haul!

Breakfast
Look at those lucious strawberries, fresh mangos and plump tomatoes. I had to wipe the drool off me before checking out. So I came home and made a banana/spinach/pineapple/strawberry smoothie:

LUNCH/DINNER
I got hungry at 1pm, so had a few yummy grapes. And then at 4pm I drank a ton of my freshly juiced cucumber/celery/apple/orange drink.
Around 7pm I'll have a big salad and then drink the rest of my juice until bed.
Walked for 45 minutes on the treadmill. Now my kitchen is GREEN:

760
http://www.atkins.com/Products/Frozen-Meals/Atkins-Frozen-Meals/Lunch---Dinner/Italian-Style-Pasta-Bake.aspx

Just wanted to say thanks to the OP who has inspired my dinner this evening!

DAY 1 - 320 lbs
DAY 10 - 311.7 lbs
Haha, I'm glad people are making smoothies, drinking fresh green juices!
You guys rock.
Uh - average day. I may not post every day anymore, since nothing significant is going on. Maybe once a week. The weight continues to shed. Inches are dropping off.

DAY 1 - 320 lbs
DAY 10 - 311.7 lbs
Haha, I'm glad people are making smoothies, drinking fresh green juices!
You guys rock.
Uh - average day. I may not post every day anymore, since nothing significant is going on. Maybe once a week. The weight continues to shed. Inches are dropping off.

A ton of natural, fresh foods. No Atkins bars or Atkins shakes I see.

I call this the "Three Meal Fantasy". Who determined we should eat three meals a day. Why not 4, or 2? Makes no sense. For millions of years we ate when we were hungry, assuming food was readily available.
You should eat healthy, nutritious foods until you're satiated. And only when you're hungry. Feeding our bodies the nutrition it needs via healthy, plant based foods slows down our hunger mechanism and disables the constantly-hungry switch in our heads. Then once we handle the bad habits, we score a win as our bodies return to normal weight.

Three Years Later - What I've Learned
Here's my experiences from the sleeve process years ago. I wish I had this information before getting the sleeve, so I wanted to share it with all of you:
GAINING WEIGHT
Gaining weight is easy: you simply eat when you're emotional, lonely, or not hungry. Even though my stomach would barely fit a slice of pizza, I could still suck down an entire large meat Lover's Supreme by eating a single slice, waiting until my stomach could fit some more and then eating another. Until the pizza was all gone. You can also do this with ice cream, burgers, fries, and all the other miscellaneous crap food widely available via drive thrus.
This is why you're required to see a counselor and nutritionist - to handle your eating issues. If these aren't handled, then DON'T BOTHER WITH THE SURGERY. You will simply get fat again by eating smaller portions more frequently. If however you only eat when you're hungry - and stick to good foods then you're golden. Now OBVIOUSLY if you did that in the first place you wouldn't be fat. So surgery is a booster shot to your weight loss, and new way of life.
Think of it as waging a war, and surgery is a tank. Now a tank is a formidable weapon. Can run over enemies, shoot some big artillery but eventually if all you have is that one tank, you'll probably lose a prolonged battle. So you gather some strategy and military air support (diet changes), some recruits and soldiers (lifestyle changes) and NOW you have a master battle plan for your war. And ultimately a better thought out path to success.
You invested a lot of money and pain into this - don't screw it up.
FIRST FEW MONTHS
The first six months your weight will drop amazingly fast, because you're out of surgery and can only eat Soup broth for a week. And then slowly mushy foods come in, followed by a few solids. You don't really need a blender, there are ample canned goods you can eat. Baby food, blending a steak and other shocking posts you read about aren't required: just shop for other things that qualify. Going out with friends during this period is depressing, since your diet is so restrictive, you're staring blankly at the menu for a long time and finally decide on Water.< /p>
Get everything you need together before coming home. You'll be on some pretty loopy meds when arriving home, and won't be in any shape to hit the local Walmart. Nor will your family want to bother with it - so plan ahead.
FOOD AND STRETCHING
You can only eat maybe a half cup of food during the first couple months. Then a cup after about five months, then two cups after longer. You can hurry this process along by stuffing your face until your stomach hurts so bad you need to go lay down, or vomit. But if your eating problem is that severe then see my multi-faceted approach to surgery from above.
Each person is obviously different, but stretching your stomach (to me at least) seems difficult and a venture of pain and suffering. I can feel my stomach naturally taking in more food over time, however I've cycled that back down by going a few days drinking only delicious fruit smoothies. This makes my tummy literally shrink back to where it was after surgery, or pretty close, dependent upon how many days I go. You can also accomplish this via more extreme methods like water or veggie juice fasting, however banana/stawberry/pineapple with some coconut water and ice in the blender tastes much better in my humble opinion.
If you do continue to gorge like a tick on bad foods, then yes your stomach will stretch. I've met a few people who's stomach has returned to normal size. Again - everybody is different, I'm just telling you MY story.
How much food you can eat varies by food type:
RICE - I can eat maybe five spoonfuls of this before I feel sick. Stuffing in another three before my body registers that I'm full and it's a vomit party. You need to eat slowly - there's a point in which eating more means bending over the toilet. And once you've experienced that joy, you quickly learn where the limit resides. Rice expands so you gotta be careful. An average meal of fried rice and an egg roll is a full day's worth of food, that requires splitting up.
SODAS - Equivalent to drinking battery acid. I've met some people who've acclimated back to it, but why bother?
MEAT - Steak is bad, try like five or six bites before calling it quits. chicken is similar. Fish goes down a little easier, and you can eat more, maybe because it's flaky.
SALADS and FRUIT - I can eat one banana. Two is painful. Ditto with grapes, strawberries, etc. These foods process through your stomach quicker, so you can eat a little more often compared to stuffing down a sirlion.
PIZZA - Takes me about 12 hours to suck down a large thin crust. Regular or deep crust, I end up tossing half of it into the trash.
Desserts - They hurt. Bad. And then make me sleepy, ticked off and depressed. I mostly stick with natural sugars now like fruits and veggies.
RESTAURANT EATING
Eating out with friends has a lot of rules tagging along. You must wait 30 minutes after drinking water before eating (which works out great, since that's how long food takes to arrive). I order an appetizer or split a full meal with a friend, so this is not a big deal. I see and hear lots of drama about this mingling around, but it's not THAT bad, and you can easily make it look perfectly normal without telling people you had surgery. You don't need a little happy note from your doctor saying you had surgery, just get a doggie bag or go halfsies with a buddy.
CONCLUSION
These are just my two cents, and I hope they help someone.
I lost about 100lbs, then gained back 50.
I'm in the process of losing again thanks to a diet change (I went 100% raw food) and exercise.

DAY 1 - 320 lbs
DAY 8 - 312.7 lbs
Going on 8 lbs in 8 days. I'm fairly happy thusfar. Drank one of those huge smoothies last night at 8pm. NOT RECOMMENDED. Even though I went to bed at midnight, it was still sitting on my stomach. Woke up still nasty full so only had a banana for Breakfast. Hit Sam's Club again today and got some organic spinach, mushrooms and grape tomatoes to make a salad for dinner. No more smoothies that late.
I'm starting to post my DAY 1 starting weight before my daily weigh in, so new readers can easily see the difference.

DAY 1 - 320 lbs
DAY 9 - 312.5 lbs
Well I've dropped half a pant size in a little over a week. My legs rub together less, and I'm sleeping like a baby again. The weight loss slowness I think it because I'm building muscle from aerobics 6 times a week.
So yesterday I kinda screwed up - had two bananas for Breakfast, a banana for lunch and then for dinner I had planned a nice salad. However after suddenly realizing I barely touched my juice, I consumed a very large 40oz worth over an hour's time.
And then I wasn't hungry. At all for 4+ hours. No salad, no nothing except 3 bananas the entire day. DOH, that's probably bad. But I just wasn't hungry at all. Probably how these juice fasters make it work - they eat 100% raw a few weeks before, so they weren't all that hungry anyhow. So today I'm trying to stuff more food down my gut. Originally I'd planned to not eat until I was hungry, but I'm NEVER hungry. A far cry from eating 3 pizzas in a week before I started this journey, eh?
So for Breakfast I had a smoothie:

And people are STILL concerned about my Protein (which I get almost 50g a day). Here's how:

2+ handfuls of organic spinach with every smoothie. And I *try* to get 2 smoothies in a day. And then a banana for lunch (plus my coffee), and tonight I'm having a salad (I swear this time).

I'm fascinated by your 30 day raw food challenge. Just wanted you to know that I've been lurking about...following your progress. Thanks for posting daily updates.
You may even encourage me enough to finally try a green smoothie...someday...lol.
Keep up the good work.

I am about to go juice me some organic kale, carrots, celery, ginger, apple, lemon, and a beet. I can't wait to drink it up!!

I get about 45-50g of Protein a day:
http://www.fatsecret.com/Diary.aspx?pa=fj&dt=15910&id=437821
Yeah I eat about 4-5 cups of spinach per day in my smoothies (they are very green).

Starting weight: 320 lbs.
I replied to everybody in the original thread. Fruits and veggies are unhealthy? You guys crack me up.
SAM's Club opened at 7am, and I was right there for a big haul!

Breakfast
Look at those lucious strawberries, fresh mangos and plump tomatoes. I had to wipe the drool off me before checking out. So I came home and made a banana/spinach/pineapple/strawberry smoothie:

LUNCH/DINNER
I got hungry at 1pm, so had a few yummy grapes. And then at 4pm I drank a ton of my freshly juiced cucumber/celery/apple/orange drink.
Around 7pm I'll have a big salad and then drink the rest of my juice until bed.
Walked for 45 minutes on the treadmill. Now my kitchen is GREEN:

Maybe "you lost your perky manboobies" praise, haha.

Maybe "you lost your perky manboobies" praise, haha.

Three Years Later - What I've Learned
Here's my experiences from the sleeve process years ago. I wish I had this information before getting the sleeve, so I wanted to share it with all of you:
GAINING WEIGHT
Gaining weight is easy: you simply eat when you're emotional, lonely, or not hungry. Even though my stomach would barely fit a slice of pizza, I could still suck down an entire large meat Lover's Supreme by eating a single slice, waiting until my stomach could fit some more and then eating another. Until the pizza was all gone. You can also do this with ice cream, burgers, fries, and all the other miscellaneous crap food widely available via drive thrus.
This is why you're required to see a counselor and nutritionist - to handle your eating issues. If these aren't handled, then DON'T BOTHER WITH THE SURGERY. You will simply get fat again by eating smaller portions more frequently. If however you only eat when you're hungry - and stick to good foods then you're golden. Now OBVIOUSLY if you did that in the first place you wouldn't be fat. So surgery is a booster shot to your weight loss, and new way of life.
Think of it as waging a war, and surgery is a tank. Now a tank is a formidable weapon. Can run over enemies, shoot some big artillery but eventually if all you have is that one tank, you'll probably lose a prolonged battle. So you gather some strategy and military air support (diet changes), some recruits and soldiers (lifestyle changes) and NOW you have a master battle plan for your war. And ultimately a better thought out path to success.
You invested a lot of money and pain into this - don't screw it up.
FIRST FEW MONTHS
The first six months your weight will drop amazingly fast, because you're out of surgery and can only eat Soup broth for a week. And then slowly mushy foods come in, followed by a few solids. You don't really need a blender, there are ample canned goods you can eat. Baby food, blending a steak and other shocking posts you read about aren't required: just shop for other things that qualify. Going out with friends during this period is depressing, since your diet is so restrictive, you're staring blankly at the menu for a long time and finally decide on Water.< /p>
Get everything you need together before coming home. You'll be on some pretty loopy meds when arriving home, and won't be in any shape to hit the local Walmart. Nor will your family want to bother with it - so plan ahead.
FOOD AND STRETCHING
You can only eat maybe a half cup of food during the first couple months. Then a cup after about five months, then two cups after longer. You can hurry this process along by stuffing your face until your stomach hurts so bad you need to go lay down, or vomit. But if your eating problem is that severe then see my multi-faceted approach to surgery from above.
Each person is obviously different, but stretching your stomach (to me at least) seems difficult and a venture of pain and suffering. I can feel my stomach naturally taking in more food over time, however I've cycled that back down by going a few days drinking only delicious fruit smoothies. This makes my tummy literally shrink back to where it was after surgery, or pretty close, dependent upon how many days I go. You can also accomplish this via more extreme methods like water or veggie juice fasting, however banana/stawberry/pineapple with some coconut water and ice in the blender tastes much better in my humble opinion.
If you do continue to gorge like a tick on bad foods, then yes your stomach will stretch. I've met a few people who's stomach has returned to normal size. Again - everybody is different, I'm just telling you MY story.
How much food you can eat varies by food type:
RICE - I can eat maybe five spoonfuls of this before I feel sick. Stuffing in another three before my body registers that I'm full and it's a vomit party. You need to eat slowly - there's a point in which eating more means bending over the toilet. And once you've experienced that joy, you quickly learn where the limit resides. Rice expands so you gotta be careful. An average meal of fried rice and an egg roll is a full day's worth of food, that requires splitting up.
SODAS - Equivalent to drinking battery acid. I've met some people who've acclimated back to it, but why bother?
MEAT - Steak is bad, try like five or six bites before calling it quits. chicken is similar. Fish goes down a little easier, and you can eat more, maybe because it's flaky.
SALADS and FRUIT - I can eat one banana. Two is painful. Ditto with grapes, strawberries, etc. These foods process through your stomach quicker, so you can eat a little more often compared to stuffing down a sirlion.
PIZZA - Takes me about 12 hours to suck down a large thin crust. Regular or deep crust, I end up tossing half of it into the trash.
Desserts - They hurt. Bad. And then make me sleepy, ticked off and depressed. I mostly stick with natural sugars now like fruits and veggies.
RESTAURANT EATING
Eating out with friends has a lot of rules tagging along. You must wait 30 minutes after drinking water before eating (which works out great, since that's how long food takes to arrive). I order an appetizer or split a full meal with a friend, so this is not a big deal. I see and hear lots of drama about this mingling around, but it's not THAT bad, and you can easily make it look perfectly normal without telling people you had surgery. You don't need a little happy note from your doctor saying you had surgery, just get a doggie bag or go halfsies with a buddy.
CONCLUSION
These are just my two cents, and I hope they help someone.
I lost about 100lbs, then gained back 50.
I'm in the process of losing again thanks to a diet change (I went 100% raw food) and exercise.

Maybe "you lost your perky manboobies" praise, haha.

This is my third long post on my journey so far. Probably should have been a blog, but no time to keep it up! Thanks for hanging in there with me!


“If you work at something with total commitment for a really long time, you will succeed.” 8th grade runner, in newspaper story.
Such a simple but profound statement from a young girl who set out to change her life by running. A statement that has come to define my journey.
I gauge my progress by non-weight goals. Yes, I do weigh in every morning. I do love to see the scale go down. But my real excitement comes not from the number of my weight, but from the increasing quality of my life.
The time I started trying on all my clothes and ended with a totally empty walk-in closet!
The first time I walked a mile in 20 years!
Sitting in a seat in a plane and not touching the person next to me anywhere!
The first time I felt a lump, thought it was a tumor and realized it was a bone!!!
Walking out of Coldwater Creek—a store I had always longed to shop in--with a bag full of clothes!
I feel like I have been let out of a cage. I am excited about life every single day. Even the hard days.
Joy, empowerment, potential…these are the things that keep me on track. However, every outcome involves a journey, and there are a few essential tools that keep me focused. You’ve probably heard all these before. Even if you have, when you start doing these things yourself you’ll feel like you’ve made a terrific discovery you want to share with the world!
Here, then, are my tools for success.
1. My Fitness Pal… Except for the time when my life was consumed with taking care of my dying sister, I have tracked every bite I’ve eaten almost every single day. This has been the most valuable thing I’ve ever done. Why have I stopped losing? I’ll look back over the last month or so. Oh… I see I’ve added in a couple of tablespoons of Peanut Butter a night. Could that be it? Oh… I see that a greater proportion of my daily calories is coming from carbs. Could that be it? Knowing that no one will see it but me, I am completely honest. You can download it for free for your smart phone or computer. If you don’t have one, just track somewhere! Track everything!
2. An honest assessment of my eating habits and problems… You may want to read my old post, “Sneaks, Snacks, Sweets and Lies… “ I posted this when it first began to get hard, and it seemed to resonate with a lot of people. I continue to live by this each day.
3. Protein. I HATED the protein regimen when I first started it. Now, I love to have my Protein Drink almost never miss a day. You know those delicious Starbucks Mocha-Frappes? The ones with about 500 calories? Well, I figured out that the ingredient that gives it its flavor is espresso! So now I go to Starbucks every few days and get 6 shots of espresso, straight. Into the blender goes ice, 2 shots of espresso, Water, maybe a little coffee, and chocolate Protein powder. I top it off with a little real whipped cream! 150 calories and low carb! Yum!!! I have energy for hours, and believe it or not, espresso has much less caffeine than real coffee!
4. Mostly Low carb diet: Once upon a time I craved carbs every 20 minutes or so. Now, I long for them but don’t crave them. The difference is huge. Craving: Addiction. Longing: Eh… that would be nice, but I can do without. If I eat heavy carbs, I crave them. If I begin my day with refined carbs, I want them all day. I don’t obsess about them, but I am careful about them. If I want a couple of bites of baked potato, I have it. About once a week I have a McDonald’s vanilla cone. But toast for Breakfast? Hash browns and French fries? Cookies and chips? If I eat these things for a couple of days, I feel poisoned, and I don’t lose weight. If ever I get seriously off track—and I have—for an entire month at a time, I know that to get back on track I first have to cut out the carbs. Then it gets to be easy again.
I made a commitment to myself. If I was going to undergo major surgery, with all its potential risks, I was going to totally commit to the process. If I never reach my personal goal—and with as much as I have to lose, it’s possible I won’t—it won’t be because I didn’t give it my all, for as long as it takes.
The last thing I want to share with you in a separate post is dealing with food addiction. Watch for it soon!
Hope this helps!

I've dated a couple girls with WLS. They told me on the first date, it's no biggie.
If the guy is only concerned about your body, he's a crappy catch anyhow.