Fiddleman

Wow, I am inspired. Great pics and awesome job!

I could not drink more than a few sips 3 days post op. It was too painful.

Balloon animals...love it!!!

Yeah, I was surprised to read things like lasagna ( high carb).

Wow, that is really incredible. Good for you. Now go throw a party to Celebrate.

Is the up and own only a female issue? I read about it all the time from females on the forum. However, why would it not happen to guys as we have hormones too trapped in the stored fat? I never experienced the ups and down so far. Either neutral or up. Maybe it also varies from person to person based on psychological states rather then body compositions. Not sure. What do others think?

Well, I'll be. I never realized there was a balloon on the other end of it. It is a good thing no one told me about this before hand or I would have chickened out.

Now at 4.5 months, at 115 lbs. most weight was lost during the first 2 months. 5-12 lbs lost in month 3 and 4. The best advice I can offer new sleeves: 1. Follow your doctors plan 2. If you have a NUT, listen well and follow your NUTs plan. 3. Do not give into temptation. It will get easier after a few weeks. 4. Drink as much Water as possible all day when not eating. I try and hit 125 oz a day. Sometimes I get too busy and do not, but I try. 5. Eat as much Protein that your body can successfully process. I eat up to 150 grams a day, averaging about 125 grams daily. 6. Eat as few carbs as possible. I try and get under 20 grams daily. 7. Eat as little fat as possible. I don't really track this, but do try and minimize it. 8. Take supplements daily. I take a bunch mainly because I rarely eat veggies and do not eat fruit. For example, c, d, fish oil, Calcium, Multivitamin, b50 complex b12. Vitamin c helps with absorption so I take extra around eating. 9. Exercise at least an hour a day. If not cleared for cardio or weights, walk a lot. For example I walked 4 times a day which added up to 3-4 hours. Start slow and build up your endurance, speed and hills. I still walk about an hour a day with my dog mainly out of enjoyment on top of my exercise program. I try and exercise effectively for 45 min to 1 hour a day. I do some weight training, but am still working on that. 10. sleep 7-8 hours minimum. Even though this is 10, it is super important. If sleeping enough, your body is happy and the weight melts off, often without a lot of exercise. If you don't sleep enough, your body stresses out and olds onto fat, sort of a fit or flight response all the time. It is not healthy and will also lead to irritability, stressing out,etc. 11. Eat a super food supplement. These are super rich in antioxidants, fruit, greens and Probiotics. I mix in 1 small scoop a day from GNC. It is not the best tasting, but I am doing it for health. 12. Get regular. Constipation and blockage is not only uncomfortable, but slows down your metabolism, marine a car engine full of gunk. It is not going to run optimally. The same applies to your digestive track. You will feel 1000 x better and have a million x more energy if your digestive track is clear of gunk. I do not find it very difficult to follow the guidelines. However, expect that it may take a few weeks to develop good habits post op. Hope this helps.

OTC keeps saying that these liquid Proteins contain collagen and do not actually get processed by your body in the same manner as whey based protein. Just thought I would pass it along.

That looks like a good setup. To answer your question, I lots of walking right after surgery. At 3 weeks, I did a tough hike. Bad mistake. I was literally considering the ER after that one because of extreme dehydration. I continued to walk a lot for another month. After about 2 months, I started to work out in my home gym. I was not really consistent with that over the next couple months, but still continued to walk miles every day with my dog. Finally after 4 months, I am finally on a daily workout routine in my home gym. I think it took that long to have the endurance and also the motivation. Now I love working out hard for 45 minutes to an hour, being sure to mix things up to prevent muscle memory and boredom from forming. The best piece of advice I can give you is to find a time and program that will work for you. My biggest problem for the longest time was finding a time that works. I start work at 5:30 am and work on Eastern US time and then often late into the afternoon. If I have time in the afternoon, I tend to forget or not find the motivation. I am not going to get up any earlier to workout in the morning before work. It turns out an ideal time for me is between 9am and 10am, when my work colleagues on the east coast are at lunch.

You can try substituting shakes with some Soups. Back he, I liked tomato Soup. Bariatric Advantage sells a good high Protein tomato soup. I mixed it with lobster bouillon and made an awesome savory lobster bisque. You might also try to strain some other soups to get just the liquids. For example, I strained a yummy vegetable soup to sip the liquids. This approach allowed me to eat out with family and friends with me sipping on the various soups. Good luck.

I like to do some king of workout every day because it really effects how I feel. Recently I have switched to using my elliptical every day in addition to a barbell workout. Now do not think I am working out 4 hours a day because of this thread subject. I'm not. My workout is about an hour. Anyways, I was doing my 45 minute interval program on the elliptical today and changed my approach to be as relaxed as possible, remain flat footed and focus on my core area. It felt really great. I did not get any fatigue even though I was really pushing myself. In fact it felt like I was high on a drug ( no, I do not abuse drugs; just remembering surgery recovery when taking oxy). The feelings of euphoria was there and it felt incredible. I must have really been " in the zone." Do others encounter this in their exercise?

Here is something I noticed the other day when out for my daily walk with my dog. When I am out walking, my gait is normal and flat on my foot. One foot lines up in front of the other and nothing's rubs except a slight touch right above the knees. This feels so much better when walking then before when my inner thighs would rub to redness. My natural gait is now a pretty quick clip and it feels fine. And yes, it feels more comfortable to cross my legs then not when sitting for a long time. The only issue with sitting a long time is my bony butt now gets a little uncomfortable.

I concur with many on the thread. I used to get on the scale every morning for the first couple of months because progress was really fast and furious. Then it slowed down. And stalled. Finally, after about 5 months, I am not really obsessed with weighing myself every day and sometimes not even every week. I think it is because it took a few months to accept the new me. I have also lost a good deal of weight (115 so far) and like the way I look and how I feel. Now I don't feel like seeing progress on the scale is that important. I focus on how I am feeling, how well my clothes are fitting, how much I get out of my workout, etc. There are so many other ways to measure success. I focus on quality of life now and balance. Hope this helps others.

Double stuff cookie, mmmmmmm

Insult to injury, my twin brother lost weight during elementary school. I did not. A lot of people taunted me through middle school about the weight difference. I tried to be the same weight, but never could keep it off. It drove me to do some things I am not proud of and didn't deal with until about a year ago. Things got much better in high school, but those middle school years damaged me mentally for a long time. And even family was verbally abusive about weight. That is what I mean about forgiving the people who did this to me in the past. The positive of those ugly years is that it made me stronger and turned me into the overachiever I have always been starting in high school, even to today in the work world. If those same people that made my child hood hell were around today to look at what i made of my life, boy they would be surprised and probably jealous. i think the good people who belong to this forum are generally in the same boat in that they have much more depth than those that coasted throughout life on their good looks.

That could be a problem if you got in the habit of it. Your sleeve is still a baby and needs some time to heal an mature into a Responsible sleeve. As a point of reference, I am many months out and am still not eating Pasta. I don't know ow Stevo-sleevo would take it. Would he grimace, be happy, go postal? Who knows? You shouldn't play with the healing process.

I get a little cocky sometimes with myself when it comes to chewing and eating slow. At 5 months out, my Stevo-sleevo still is sensitive about me eating fast and not chewing. And it is not a problem every time. remember that! For example, I ate 5 ounces of a flat chicken pattie tonight in about 5 minutes. It was very flavorful and comes from costco. 20 minutes later, I was paying for it. I was like " out of the way, out of the way, " as I walked very fast towards the bathroom. This was a severe stuck throat feeling and was not going to be one of my little full feeling belches. I just knew. Trust me. I lost about 1/2 in the toilet and slimed a whole mouth full. Fortunately, 2-3 ounces stayed down. Now you know ounger sleeve kiddies. Do not try this at home.

That is a very good way at looking at it. However, I only told my family members; I only got some pushback from one person, but that was only because he didn't understand why I needed to walk so much at the beginning and why I had to be very careful about what I chose to eat. Now he is fully supportive. I also told doctors and Dentist, but no one else. It will take me a while to come clean with strangers, work colleagues o acquaintances because I am generally not an extrovert where everything is on my shirt sleeve. I Am getting much better now that i am much thinner, but still am dealing with decades of stereotyping and verbal abuse, all the way back to early child hood. My acknowledge of the abuse that occurred during childhood by family, school associates and basically society is still there; it will never truly go away or be forgotten, however, I no longer let my opportunities be shaped by them and have forgiven them. I am sure others can relate to that pervasive rejection by society purely because of an outward appearance of being obese or even overweight. Remember that obesity is a disease and we are only pushing it into remission By choosing to not be the obese person any longer, we are choosing remission. Furthermore, all the non obese people (that is, those hat are thing or deal with being overweight) deal with their own cause and effect by not eating 100% purely nutritionally. They deal with constantly being on a diet because they have a few pounds to lose or they are naturally thing because they or make good decisions and have to exercise. In general society does not "get it" with regards to our decision. only those that truly love you, will stick by you through thick and thin as a good friend or are paid to be your personal advocate as a medical professional will "get it." everyone else will either be nasty, discriminate or bring it up as a sparring point later on. And that is why I am a little hesitant of shouting my decision of WLS to lose weight from a mountain top. Sorry that is so long winded, but That is from my inner most essence.