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Waaaaayyyy to many calories for one meal. You are not bulking up for a triathalon. Cut it at least in half. At 4 weeks out you should be eating maybe 500 calories for the entire day.

Started back on the elliptical today!! Can't wait til I get back to doing my 45mins!!! I'm starting slow right now tho only did 10mins today

The worst thing I did was lick the seasoning off of some wheat thins during week 2. But I must say, those wheat thins were delicious. My sweet lab mix was happy to eat the evidence after I licked them.

Hi everyone. I am still in the phase of doing my insurance approval and first time posting on the forum. The 18 year thing seems unrealistic. I am 350 and 31 years old. My doctor reassured me that doing the sleeve could add another 30 years to my life as opposed to not doing anything. I'm nervous as hell about making diet changes and sticking to them. But it took 31 years to get into this mess then what's a few years to get out of it? Gotta stay positive.

http://longevity.about.com/od/researchandmedicine/a/gastric_bypass.htm
People who underwent gastric bypass surgery had a 40% reduction in the rate of death compared to their obese counterparts. More specifically, they had a 56% reduction in death from coronary artery disease, a 92% reduction in death from diabetes, and a 60% reduction in death from cancer.

The breakouts can be caused by a high Protein diet. I experienced breakouts during the first few months, and I am old and dried up! Until then I had not had a zit in decades! It will pass. Just like all the other maladies you are experiencing.

I am postitive the OP will get past this little bump in her weightloss journey. Some times a major surgery with heavy anesthesia can do odd and complicating things to a person. Depression and melancholy in part along with lack of enthusiasm. gotta get past that and things will get on track

Here's info from the Bariatric Surgery Association:
Summary and Recommendations.
Substantial comparative and long-term data are now published in the peer-reviewed literature demonstrating durable weight loss, improved medical comorbidities, long-term patient satisfaction, and improved quality of life after SG.
The ASMBS therefore recognizes SG as an acceptable option as a primary bariatric procedure and as a first stage procedure in high risk patients as part of a planned staged approach.
Based on the current published literature, SG has a risk/benefit profile that lies between the laparoscopic adjustable gastric band and the laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.
As with any bariatric procedure, long-term weight regain can occur and, in the case of SG, this could be managed effectively with re-intervention. Informed consent for SG used as a primary procedure should be consistent with consent provided for other bariatric procedures and should include the risk of long-term weight gain.
Surgeons performing SG are encouraged to continue to prospectively collect and report outcome data in the peer-reviewed scientific literature.

I'm calling shenanigans on the whole 3 docs said it would decrease life expectancy by specifically EIGHTEEN years! Why the hell would you have the surgery with doctors telling you that?
OP... good luck and please know that you can make it through this bump in the road! I highly suggest you talk to your doctor about getting on an antidepressant. Also, I am a night nurse and I have trouble sleeping day and night, try 1/4 to an 1/8 a tablet of unisom. It's enough to get you to sleep without making you drowsy or dehydrated. A good nights sleep may help with your depression.

The gastric sleeve does NOT shorten life expectancy. This is ABSOLUTELY wrong, and in fact morbid obesity and the results from morbit obesity is the real killer!
The Bottom Line
These findings emphasis the health benefits of losing weight. Obesity is linked to dramatic increases in the risk of heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Losing weight can dramatically reduce those risks, as seen in this study.
Gastric bypass surgery is an option for people who have not been able to lose weight through lifestyle modifications. Once weight is reduced, controlling blood sugar, high blood pressure and other health conditions becomes much easier.
Another outcome of these studies may be the lowering of the BMI threshold for gastric bypass surgery. Until these studies came out, there was no solid evidence that gastric bypass surgery increased life expectancy. Now that that evidence exists, we may see gastric bypass surgery recommendations being made for more and more people.

I look at it this way. Even if it does shorten your life span, so does being obese! But if WLS will increase the quality of the life I have left, then bring on the WLS! Nobody can guarantee how long you will live, with or without the surgery.

From someone's ***

Since I'm seeing my nutritionist tomorrow and my surgeon later this month, I'll definitely be asking some clarifying questions about whether WLS shortens anyone's life by a measurable amount.
Since the sleeve is so new (comparative to the other two usual options), how do researchers really know? Curiouser and curiouser, Alice...I'll see if I can follow this trail down the rabbit hole!

What?!? I've never heard or read this before. I've only read positive things about lifespan after the surgery because of the drop in obesity related diseases. Where did you get that information from?

I hope this turns around for you. You have a gem of wisdom in your sorrow - you did this for good reasons. Your doc should not have made this seem easy, because it is not. I have to say, I don't think mine did much better, but the nurse did. I also spoke to someone had it, so I had a better understanding of what life would be like. Even still, I do think I was a little surprised at how bad I felt for the first 6 weeks. But now I'm 82 pounds lighter, and I look and feel so much better than I have in a long time. I think once you start feeling better physically, it will get better for you - however, only if you change your attitude. Don't mean to sound harsh, but it what it is, and you can choose to focus on the negative or the positive. Try to focus on the positive. Sometimes we have to "fake till we make it" when it comes to that. Best of luck to you. (PS - I hate taking vitamins, too. I feel like it's a full time job, lol. But you could get that B12 sublingual)

Ruthie,
Do it for those that want to see you in a few years.
Do it for the person you will be next month, next year.
Do it because you deserve to feel good.
Do it because you love yourself.
Throw out the food in the house you know you should not be eating.
Put your workout clothes out the night before and set your alarm.
Buy the healthy foods you should be eating and put them in convenient locations.
Lynda

Yeah, don't be a statistic. You can lose every pound of weight you want to, most likely. The fact that you've lost 50 in 3 months is great. The reality is that most of us could have lost the weight without the surgery, at least from a physiological standpoint. For me, the surgery just makes it possible to shoulder through the hard times when I normally would have given up. It's hard work either way, but the sleeve gives us a fighting chance, and at the end of the day, it's what we do with it. I know people who had RNY and have gained all their weight back and then some. Don't be discouraged about being up a pound or two, it's normal. At three months, that happened to me, too. I think that's about when my loss slowed a bit. I had to realize my body just could not keep losing at that rate. I figure it might take me another 8-12 months to get to goal, but every day I enjoy the fact that I'm feeling and looking so much better. Good luck to you - you can do this!

I am an 'all around' round person. Also, not heavy all of my life, but I am surprised at how my body has lost the weight so far. My arms are FAR more hangy, swingy than I thought they would be, my thighs are much less so than I had thought they would be, my belly...sad, and I had no idea my pubis mons was SO fatty and seems to be staying that way. My chin is not popping back into shape the way I had hoped, and we won't even TALK about the girls BUT I honestly don't regret it one bit. I think my 'before' body, all swollen and rolly was FAR worse looking than my 'current' and soon to be 'after' body. They say that it can take up to 2 years after extreme weight loss for everything to end up where it will be, that is why many plastics forums suggest waiting until you're stable for a long period before having any skin removal done. I am 31, and didn't personally do this surgery to be able to wear a bikini, or daisy dukes, I did this for my future health, and if I have some extra jiggle to my step, I'm okay with it

At my heaviest I was 560. The day of surgery I was 530. After making up my mind that this time I was going to go through with it (I had attempted this in 2010 and 2011,) I told a select few friends and family. Most we're supportive, yet later most of them asked me why didn't I want to try diet and exercise...apply to be on the biggest loser...extreme weightloss...get a person trainer. It hit me hard that no one realized I'd tried things all of my life and had short term success, but then life hit me again. Now, I think they were foolish to ask about diet and exercise because hey had no idea how much I weighed. Being big all of my life I was able to still be active and camouflage the weight. When you think of almost 575, you imagine someone that is bed ridden and needing assistance around the clock. You don't imagine someone with 3 degrees, working in upper management that also works 14-16 hours a day. I know realize that they had no clue.
But also in the time after I announced I'd be having surgery, people asked how much did I want to lose or my goal weight. I never gave an answer because I didn't want to have to think about how much weight I'd truly need to lose. For my height, I should be around 180-190...that means I need to lose 350 lbs.
THREE HUNDRED and FIFTY POUNDS....I know that anything is doable, but facing the actual reality of it...wouldn't anyone be a little discouraged? I do plan to give this my all and I know that this trip is going to take a while, but I finally feel like I'm ready.
Sent from my iPad using VST

Hello there. I haven't posted much on here. I'm Sara and I had my surgery on Dec 10th 2012 in Las Vegas by Dr. Atkinson. My husband Sean also had the surgery 1 week before me. He is 9 lbs away from his goal and I'm 26 lbs away from mine. I can't tell you how happy I am that I did this. It was the best decision I ever made. I now can run around with our 2 daughters age 3 and 8. I don't feel the way I used to feel when I look in the mirror. When I was at my heaviest I was 280. The day before surgery my weight was 266 and today it's 176!!! I was in a size 24 pants and 3x shirts. As of now I'm in a size 12-14 pants and a size Lg shirt. I'm also only 5'2''. I wasn't always a big girl. I didn't start gaining my weight until I was 20. So to be at one point 135 and go all the way up to 280 was a huge problem. As a woman I didn't feel attractive, I hated the looks I always got from ppl, I had so many limitations, I couldn't do what I wanted with my girls and I had obstacles in my career. I would cry all the time over the way I felt. I don't have any of those feelings anymore. I feel like a completely new and better me. It's been wonderful that my husband and I are doing this together. The picture that I attached, the 1st 2 pics were taken on May 18th 2013 and the 3rd was on Dec 23rd 2012. I'm the happiest I have been in many yrs.

You will be able to enjoy Pasta again one day... 5 weeks is way too soon though.... hang in there.. It gets better!

Congratulations on your weight loss and the pregnancy and condolences for the losses you've experienced.
Wishing you loads of luck!

BTW, I can eat around my sleeve, no problem. I could do everything you are talking about. I could easily gain 10 pounds this April. I could drink with my meals, have caramel-latte-Starbucks-a-Grande whatever everyday. I could eat a large size DQ blizzard and suck down a strawberry lemonade with lunch and dinner. 2,000 calories ... HAH! I could eat that for Breakfast ... literally.
But, I don't.
I do the guidelines exactly as they were laid out for me and have been iterated on this site dozens of times. I have listened to what other successful sleevers have done and repeated.
Was it easy?
HELL NO!
But I knew I had to change my fundamental relationship with food and I needed a tool to help me with this journey. For me, the sleeve has been that tool. Just like a saw or hammer, it is worthless just sitting there on it's own. I have to hold it and work it the right way in order for me to get the desired results.
This is no different. It is hard, but there are lots of people here who can help guide you. We all want you to be successful. If we're going to make a change, then let's make a change.

This picture compares day of surgery and my 2 month mark. Wow! Down 27 pounds in 2 months which makes a loss of 47 pounds total including pre-surgery. I have more to go. But so proud that I'm doing this! Have been at this weight since college, 20 years ago!