Bufflehead

Steel can be stretched, wood can be stretched, bones can be stretched. Given that, I find it very hard to believe that the soft tissue comprising your stomach can't be stretched . . . is my stomach somehow less "stretchy" than steel, bone, or wood? I doubt it! I think it would be extremely difficult to stretch it to its former size though. On the other hand, can water stretch it? Nope, liquids go right through the pyloric valve and cannot stretch your stomach, so no worries there.

Second the recommendation for a PPI if you are not experiencing head hunger. If you are on a PPI, check about increasing your dose or trying a stronger PPI. Seriously, the "hunger" that some sleevers experience immediately post-op usually clears up several days after getting the correct PPI prescription.

US pharmacists only fill prescriptions by doctors/nurse practitioners with US licenses. Not sure about Retin-A in Mexico.

When I had lost about 50% of my excess weight I started getting comments. For me that translated to about 100 lbs from my highest weight.

@@LittleBill they've heard it all from bariatric patients. It's in their FAQ. They know that some people, including WLS patients, are under doctor's supervision and are cleared to eat VLCD, but they will not change their program. It's not worth anyone's time to bug them about it.

If you want to click the complete button and not get that nasty message, there are a couple of tricks you can use to avoid it. First, you have to set your daily calorie goal higher than you normally would (or you'll get the message in red that you went over your daily calories, which is also annoying). So, set your daily calories to something like 1100 or 1200. Record your food each day as normal. Say you end the day at 850 calories. Before you click complete, you can either: 1) Add food --> search in food database for 100 calorie block --> add in two of the "generic 100 calorie blocks" --> this will bring your daily calorie total up to 1050 --> click complete and you'll avoid the annoying message about starvation and not eating enough. 2) In your food diary, click Quick Tools --> Quick Add Calories --> Add 200 calories to your journal --> close your journal for the day. After you use the generic 100 calorie blocks for the first time it will show up in your recent foods and you won't have to search for it anymore. That's my method for bringing calories over 1000 for the day but Quick Add works too.

Not kidding. https://www.amazon.com/Squatty-Potty-Original-Bathroom-Toilet/dp/B00ESKVN7W/

Eat small, frequent meals with unprocessed meat and green veggies. Cut out all junk. Cut out grains, sweets, starchy veggies. If you are drinking your calories, stop. Count your calories. Get junk foods out of the house. Good luck!

Coffee, whether decaf or full test, will *not* dehydrate you, that is a myth. It will hydrate you just as well as water does. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/06/30/milk-and-other-surprising-ways-to-stay-hydrated/?_r=0 http://www.livescience.com/55479-does-caffeine-cause-dehydration.html I would say that 80-90% of my liquid intake is full test black coffee and has been for years. I am still here, alive, kicking, and perfectly healthy, rather than the shriveled, dead husk of a person that the anti-caffeine, anti-science nuts would have you believe.

I don't avoid fat other than trans fats, and I make sure I eat at least one meal a day with a minimum of 10 grams of fat -- I take my vitamins with that meal, as many vitamins are not properly absorbed without fat. I do eat some pretty high fat foods such as avocados, eggs, nuts (small amounts) and fatty fish, but as long as I stay within my calories for the day I don't care. My cholesterol and triglyceride numbers are always fantastic so I think I must be doing something right. As far as carbs go, when I was in weight loss mode, I kept carbs under 60 grams per day. I don't count carbs anymore now that I am in maintenance (well, MFP counts them for me but I don't even look at the number). However, my carbs tend to stay in the low range naturally as I eat a lower-carb diet in maintenance: no more than one serving of whole grains per day (no refined grains), no bread, no sweets, no starchy veggies, no tropical fruit, no alcohol, and modest amounts of dairy, beans, and legumes. This eating plan works well for me.

I'll chime in with Babbs about the "fun" of maintaining. Essentially, for most people, you have to work just as hard at maintaining your weight as you did at losing the last several pounds. But it isn't nearly as much fun to balance out the work! When you are losing weight, you get the pleasure of seeing the scale numbers go down, the cute new clothes, people telling you how great you look . . . that all goes away with maintenance. Now it's just the work and no external motivators to go with it. I try to give myself rewards: buying a new book I really want to read if I don't go out of my comfort zone for a month, getting my nails done if I exercise every day for ten days in a row, etc. I am going to adopt a dog this spring if I stay in my weight comfort zone for three months!

You need to hit your protein and liquid goals and everything else will fall into place. Right now those should be your priorities, not anything else.

Congrats! I have no personal testimony to offer but I will share what the bariatric nurse practitioner told us all at pre-op bootcamp: while they don't advise pregnancy before reaching your goal weight, they have had several patients who got pregnant well before that, some as early as 2 months post-op, and they have never had a mom or baby end up with complications or problems.She said that a growing fetus requires only 300 calories per day on top of mom's intake to sustain herself, and it is perfectly healthy to continue weight loss during pregnancy as long as you consult with the surgeons and your ob-gyn to determine the precise number of calories you need and you are willing to commit to being careful to get those calories in but not more. She said some women use pregnancy as an excuse to start eating whatever they want and that derails their weight and they never get to goal, but they have healthy babies regardless. All that said . . . it is third hand info from my nurse practitioner, definitely check in with your own care team. Good luck!

I added in more fat to my diet, not more carbs or sugary foods. So, have a couple of slices of avocado with dinner, have almond butter instead of PB2 with my yogurt, eat full fat yogurt instead of nonfat, add some shredded cheese to my usual lunch salad of chopped chicken breast and green veggies -- things that I could do without eating significantly bigger meals or eating more carbs or sugar. To the extent that I do eat some higher carb foods, I focus on whole grains and things that I am not going to start to "graze" on. So, no to crackers or cookies or anything like that. Instead, I occasionally have hot oat bran cereal (100% oat bran, no sugar or sweeteners of any kind) for breakfast. I like it, and it is good for me, but it isn't like I'm going to make a giant pot of oat bran mush and eat it all day long.

A handheld (stick) blender works better than a regular blender for shakes. The regular blenders put a bunch of air and foam in the shake, the immersion blender does not. I used a mini food processor for purees. Don't stress too much about having everything you could possibly need set up in advance. If you find there's something you truly need that you don't have, that's what Target is for (or Amazon if you don't feel up to driving to Target or have someone to take you).