Fiddleman

You should be able to eat real food starting in week 5 or 6. Start to introduce proteins that do not cause you trouble. Perhaps some chicken, pork or salmon. A lot of people struggle with beef this early on in most forms like hamburger, steak and shredded. Some do not. See if you can handle 2-3 ounces of these proteins. If not, no worries. You can always try again in a couple weeks. You can also start to eat cooked and steamed vegetables at this time, but do watch out for very fibrous vegetables like squash as it could irritate your stomach. Raw vegetables can be introduced after 3 months. By about month 5 or 6, you should be able to eat almost anything in terms of proteins and vegetables. You are welcome to also eat fruits, but do stick to the fibrous fruits as they will be lower in glycemic values and be absorbed more slowly. It is this slow absorption of carbohydrates that will be good for you and not be converted immediately into energy for the body. Spikes in insulin will cause hunger and is generally something you should try and avoid. Nuts and lentils are good carbs and fats that will help with energy also. As for rice and other starchy carbohydrates like potatoes, do try and limit eating these as they are converted into energy too quickly and may result in slower weight loss.

For newer folks, target being able to drink first 1 ounce an hour while you are awake for the first week or two after surgery you can easily meet Protein goals with this strategy and not be discomforted as the amount you drink at once will be sips over an hour. After that, work up to 1-3 ounces per meal until 5 weeks out. Then you can start moving towards 5 ounces and 8 ounces as the months progress. Usually around month 5 or 6, most post ops do not find much restriction from a shake and are encouraged to try and get their Proteins all from solids, usually earlier then that. At 5 weeks out, I was sticking to 5 ounces as not able to drink more without discomfort. By 6 months out, I could drink 8 ounces no problem, with chia seeds. Today, I feel like there is no limit to the amount of shake I can drink at once. My stomach basically treats it like Water. It does not cause restriction for me any longer. For this reason, I have lately been mixing up my breakfast to include 5 ounce shake and 2-3 ounces of a protein like chicken meatball. I still love to have my Protein Shake first thing in the morning with chia seeds.

I just called my health insurance (UHC) about this question. They said that TT, extended TT and panni are covered 100% if I meet the morbid obesity requirement as-of current health. This seems ridiculous!! Of course I am not going to meet that requirement now and I am pretty sure I would not be needing a Tummy Tuck when I was morbidly obese. Retrospectively, perhaps I should have submitted the claim for TT with the claim for VSG at the same time. They also said I can have my doctor submit a claim now with a solid reason to see if it is eligible according to UHC. Any idea what I can have my surgeon state as a reason to grease the eligibility as-of today when I am in healthy range according to the BMI chart?

Thanks for the update!

Thanks Laura!

I never get those days where I feel like I cannot eat anything. Wish I did sometimes. However, I always feel like I am unable to eat more then 4 oz protein and 1-2 ounce of veggie. Do you want to share some of those food restrictions days with me where you feel full after 2 bites ? Please? Pretty please??

I will be having 4 chicken teriyaki meatballs and 1 ounce of seaweed salad.

This post hits on some great points. However, the most important point is learning to eat optimally for your body to function optimally. Getting weight loss results is like 80% good diet and 20% exercise. It took me a while to figure this out in my life. Presleeve, I would exercise like a fiend, but was not getting any results and in fact was gaining a small amount. I was like WTF. Here I am busting myself on the ellyptical for like 2 hours and it was not helping drop the weight. The reason was my diet was screwed up. I knew it was screwed up but kept rationalizing my bad eating habits from working out. Bad eating habits like popcorn, donut holes, brownies, Cereal to the obsess. Got really tired of this and gave up the exercise, but not the bad eating. Ballooned me 100 lbs in 6-8 months. Literally. And really compounded my mental stability issues. That is why I am so glad we have the time post sleeve to get our diets right and ideal before jumping into a regular exercise routine. This is important for everyone who thinks losing weight and maintaining can coexist with bad eating habits and mediocre exercise. Progressively, I am pushing myself athletically in ways I could only dream about before. As Pdxman so wisely states, it is good to really WORK hard when you are exercising. Push through to the edge of pain / fatigue. If you feel like your exertion < 80%, notch up your intensity. Progressively you will get stronger and be able to do more and more as you get real results and your confidence climbs. A personal recommendation is to lose the weight all the way until near goal before going tough to the nails on your work outs because 1) it will be easier and 2) it will be less stress on your body. This is just an opinion and you can take it or leave it. An added benefit is that good eating really optimizes not only exercise results, but also mental balance, ability to focus and concentrate, sleeping well, good energy response during the day and much more. The benefits go on and on and on. Please consider good eating habits and goal driven hard work out sessions!

I am just like this! One thing I am still trying to get right 8 months out. However, instead of just burping, I now get the whole runny nose, hiccup thing going on also. At the same time!! Lol. My wife keeps asking me if I am ok because I hiccup and burp at the same time while sniffling and it comes out like I am needing medical attention. Lol. I need to 1) take 2-3 fewer bites then what I know is to be my stopping point and 2) respect the stopping point!!! Eating slower should help with those.

It is a fun alternative to cross fit and running. Just as hard as a cross fit session if you lack the core strength and / or flexibility that is required to do yoga well, like me. That I definitively found out!! And yes, I was the only guy in a room full of good looking girls. It was hard to stop from staring. Lol. Just kept my eyes to myself and focused on doing yoga as well as I could. Breathing very deliberately and having fun being Gumby.

I did not actually realize this until checking their schedule when I got home. I really only intended to stop by and find out information, perhaps watch a bit. however, the instructor convinced me to actually do the class instead of just watch it. Kind of a surprised actually because, to me, it was not that hot. Their website said their temperatures are between 80-85 F. It was an hour of some really hard yoga. I am glad the instructor explained everything along the way and I could watch him as I turned my self into a pretzel. I literally was a newbie so struggled a bit, especially as my upper body fatigued. Lots and lots of sweating, dripping in fact. Overall it was fun and I feel balanced / relaxed, but it was not really geared for beginners in that we did about 100 poses, some which were pretty hard. I was shaking pretty bad near the end and lost strength to implement proper positions. Had to modify a bit in order to stay in the game without having to stop. Does anyone know how long it takes to get relatively good at Yoga? I plan on attending probably 2-3 x a week, but am wondering if 1x a week would still help reap the benefits of toning, strengthening and relaxation? Reason is there is not time to do much more then that. Already doing cross fit and run out of energy if I attempt cross fit and yoga back to back same day ( like today). So 1 day yoga, 3 days running and 3 days of cross fit is how a typical week will probably shake out. What do other folks do with regards to Yoga and other fitness activities.

Yes, of course. It was a question for you to answer about a guy having zero butt and whether you thought that was acceptable or not.

Really depends on the type of fruit you are eating. Fruit that is higher in Fiber will tend to allow sugar to be absorbed at a more slower pace. Sort of like Tylenol extended release versus Tylenol rapid release. These are fruits like berries, cherries, apples, pears, apricots, figs and grapefruit. Fruits you will want to stay away from include melons, mangos, papayas and pineapples. My favorite fruit includes apples and berries so I am glad to see them in the good carb list. How about you? Trying also not to hijack this thread. Hope that people see the relationship between scale weighing and low carb diet.

Isn't zero butt on a guy a good thing ?!?!

I think you will get a fever from the infection that forms when gastric juices leak out of the stomach. The infection could spread and lead to irritation, or failure, of other systems like the lipid system, the pulmonary system, the pancreatic system and / or other systems. By this time, you will probably have a septic infection and be in serious medical trouble and must treat the infection immediately in addition to the leak.. Disclaimer: I am not a doctor nor have I ever taken any medical classes. My comments are common knowledge I have read from prior posts on VST. If you even think you have a leak, get checked out, go to the ER or call your surgeon immediately. Do not let it go septic as infection will be much more difficult to treat above and beyond the original leak.

Isn't zero butt a good thing???