Fiddleman

If you are going to have chocolate ( good for you!!), try to eat dark and pure chocolate. The expensive stuff!! The reason is because it will be low sugar and still be satisfying. The cheap chocolate tends to have a lot of sugar and milk in it, both which can cause issues post op, especially for newer sleevers.

What is wrong with 1-2 lbs a week?

It is hard to meet Water goals in the beginning, especially before 3-4 months. It just hurts too much to drink faster then sips and like Laura says, drinking water is a full time job. However, it gets easier as the months go by. Start out drinking to a schedule and try to meet mini goals during the day. For me, my goals were really small in the first couple weeks. I was just trying to get through 2 ounces every hour. After you are in liquids phase, try and empty 3 blender cups a day. By solids at 5-6 weeks, try and hit 64 ounces ( 32 ounces by afternoon and 32 ounces by evening). At 3-4 months, try and make sure you can drink 90 ounces a day. This usually happens by trying to get through 32 ounces in between the 3 major meals. The point is that increasing water intake is progressive over a long period of time. You want to be able to drink a lot of water a few months out in order to meet hydration needs from flushing toxins out of the body (translates into faster weight loss) and also to meet hydration needs for during and after exercising. Add flavor to your water as soon as you can. It will make drinking water much much easier. Water was really hard to drink plain for me until month 6. I still flavor my water every day with Desani drops. Other posters like a variety of different types of water enhancers. It just tasted weird plain, lots of strong minerals in every type of water I tried, from tap water to Fuji water. Just could not do it without flavor. At 9 months now, I think my daily water intake is 120+ ounces. Sure I spend a few extra times in the bathroom during the day, but it is worth it from all the benefits from staying well hydrated.

oooooo, gourmet!! Looks really good!

Hate to say it, but the VST site is dominating by threads about slow losers. You hardly ever see a thread about a fast loser. So it is hard to say or answer your question. I would say a new VST reader would form the wrong opinion if all they read are all the slow loser threads. A lot of these people are losing 10, 15 or 30 lbs in 30 days! Come on, how does that even qualify as slow losing? Anything more than 2-3 lbs a week should be considered perfectly acceptable. Later on, 2 lbs a week is very good as you get closer to goal. Sometimes a whole month may go by where the scale does nothing. People need not be so hard on themselves. Take one day at a time and celebrate on the small successes along the way!! And when weight loss does slow down, change is required. More water, more protein or more intense exercise for example.

I had to do 15 in a set 3 x, so 45 of them, fast! My upper strength was seriously fatiguing after set 3 rep 10. I was having trouble lifting myself off the floor. Lol! My coach got me to 15 on that last set. it was a miracle I also had to do 2 other sets of lifts in the workout of the day (WOD). In the future, maybe 100 of these in a WOD? What do you guys do for reps and sets? By fast, I mean 1-2 seconds per burpee.

I think I have partially figured this out today. My Protein bars, while organic, have 2 grams of refined sugar in them. I think even this small amount is making me hungry because of insulin response. The rest of the bar is good and organic. I am going to try something. Instead of trying to go very low carb all the time, I am going to increase sweetening carbs by getting them from natural sources like honey. Honey may cause less of an insulin spike then the 2 grams refined sugar of my nu go bar. Honey will be adding 17 grams carbs in the paleo bar I found today called Am rap Nutrition Refuel bar (100% paleo). What do you think? Will also slowly start to add good carb fruit like apples back into diet.

Need I say more?!?!

What do people think about using the appetite suppressants to deal with the hunger, like Hoodia or something related. I don't really want to hear that the only tool we can use is our tool. Heck, I use supplements, exercise, run, cross fit, do yoga, hike and other things to help with weight loss / maintain?

Might as well make lemonade out of lemons and profit from the situation. Sue her for damages. Make her know that her behavior is not acceptable to you or any other patient. In no professional environment is this behavior acceptable between service provider and client. I am a little over the top in my response, but think about it...

Yes, there is a wonderful NUT at my WLS Center. I will hound her with my eating questions at the next support meeting ( next week). Again.

I thought they meant human tissue, like from walking dead. Hehe.

Luckily I was not drinking my nectar shake or it would have spewed every where. Also luckily I am using my ipad with the virtual keyboard or I would be cleaning out the keys on my computer keyboard for days. Your comedic timing is perfect. I think we have enough material on VST to win Last Comic Standing. Lol.

I seem to be way more hungry all the time post op then I was pre op. Every hour! I am not kidding or using hyperbole!! I eat every 3 hours " on purpose" and then a spoonful of cottage cheese, an ounce of chicken, an extra energy square or some other helpful food in between (try and limit to 50 calories). I have even been known to eat an extra low carb/fat Protein bar (200 calories!!). Arg!! I am getting tired of needing to eat so often mainly because it is so distracting and I worry a little about it. This has been going on since month 6 and am now month 9. Even though it seems like I never stop eating during the day, my weight stays about the same, maybe down a little bit. My weight is hovering 178-182. The hunger strikes the most between 11 and 3 pm for me. I normally eat at 12 pm and 3 pm as part of my plan, but oh how I want to eat more in between. I stopped tracking what I am eating in between planned meals so cannot tell you exactly how many calories are coming in. My planned meals are about 1200-1400 calories during the day. Always drinking Water too in order to keep well hydrated, especially for exercise. I eat mostly animal meats, leafy green veggies, Protein Bars and shakes. My supplements in terms of Vitamins and minerals are also complete. I eat good carbs and low to moderate fat. My protein is 150 g or more during the day. I do not think I am depriving myself of anything that is needed from a nutritional standpoint. I am not eating or drinking junk food or soda. I do have splenda and caffeine in my coffee. Anyone else want to rant about this??? Can someone just come snip my Vagus nerve right now to take this hunger from me?

Still waiting for a response from Mark! Lol.