joatsaint

I got the infamous 3rd week stall right on time. After that, I could expect a week long stall at least once a month.

When I suddenly stop losing like you have, I fall back on this thought - if I haven't changed my eating habits and it was working, just stay with the plan till my body decides what it wants to do. If I try making too many adjustments, I just wind up second guessing myslef with no way to track the results.

Congratulations.

Congrats on having such a successful pain free surgery. I remember not being in any kind of shape to be able to make casual conversation, much less post updates online.

I went down about 1/2 size. But for years pre-surgery my feet would swell and shrink for some reason, so I never really knew my actual size. One bad thing about the shrinkage is that the hairs on my feet are closer together now. I have fuzzy Hobbit feet!!!!!!!!!

I've only gotten the "ice pic" to the temple feeling when I'm having caffeine withdrawals, none of the other symptoms your experiencing. I do get nauseous when I take vitamins or calcium on an empty stomach. Hope they ease up soon.

I think I lost 8lbs the 1st week. But I was wondering how much of that 8lbs was the part of my stomach they removed?

I too suddenly could eat more at 9 months. And it scared me. I was allowing myself to drift away from my normal diet and eating a small piece of cake here and a "fun" size candy bar there. My weight loss started to slow down even more as my body grew accustomed to the new way of eating. I had to take a hard blunt look at what and how much I was really eating. And I cut out the sugary stuff and went back to lean protein and low glycemic vegetables like salad/squash/eggplant/lentils/beans. I've gone through quite a few stalls and I know that as long as I stick to my eating plan, I'll eventually start losing again.

Have you considered getting some of the unflavored Protein powder and mix it in with your chili or Soups? That's what I still do to get in extra protein. But you didn't say how far post-op you are, but for the 1st 3 months, I know I wasn't able to get in the recommended 60 - 80 grams of protein daily. I just did the best I could and focused on staying hydrated.

From my own experiences, I know that if I eat carbs from candy or fruit I tend to hold or gain weight and experience sugar cravings. If the same amount of carbs come from beans/vegetables I don't experience weight gain and I don't get sugar cravings. The guidelines I was given said try to have 75% Protein 25% carbs per meal. And by carbs they were referring to fibrous vegetables like greens/beans/squash/eggplant - nothing that could be quickly converted into sugar like fruit or potatoes or Pasta or rice.

The Atkins diet worked for about 6 months for me before my weight loss stopped. I just couldn't maintain a diet of virtually no carbs forever. But I can remember losing 10 lbs in 8 days by eating less than 20 grams of carbs per day and all the meat I wanted.

My insurance only required 1 visit, but it really dependw on your insurance provider.

I was worried that I would fail pre-op, but post-op, I was hurting too much to think about failure. :-P

I know where you're coming from. I used to drink 2 or 3 glasses of Water or Crystal Light with my meals. It took quite a while to get into the habit of not drinking with meals. Along with training myself to break the habit of trying to eat everything on my plate. At 15 months post-op, I can't say I don't drink at all with meals, but it's only an ounce or two. I drink the tiniest sip, just enough to wet my tongue.

I've only tried 3 brands - EAS carb control, Muscle Milk and Premier Protein. All premixed and only the chocolate flavor. Premier Protein comes in 1st - being the smoothest and most like chocolate mile, EAS comes in a close 2nd (just a little grainy texture and waterier), Muscle Milk tasted good, just too many calories from carbs. I can usually find the Premier and EAS at Sams and Walmart for around $1.25/shake. When I want a thicker shake, I toss in a scoop of powdered protein mix.

Never had a problem with cold water doing that to me. But the flavor of room temp water makes me nauseous. I need it to be ice cold to taste good.

I'll take the Spiderman plate please. :-P It will go well with my Captain America sippy cup.

I agree with the others, walk walk walk AND sip sip sip. Get those fluids in.

I can tell you that the pre-op diet was the hardest part for me. I was mentally suffering every moment of it. Post-surgery, I never felt the same way about food again. The obsession and cravings for food completely went away. If I had to do the pre-op diet again, it would be a breeze - just because I don't "need" to eat certain flavors anymore. Hang in there, I promise that a few weeks after surgery you'll look back and wonder why you thought the pre-op diet was such a challenge.

Don't feel alone. I was right where you are. I even backed out on my 1st attempt at scheduling the initial doctor visit. But in the end I asked myself 2 questions that cemented my resolve. 1. Am I ready to do what it takes to get out of this situation? 2. Do I want to be in this same situation a year from now? Anytime I am ready for a life change, those 2 questions always give me the resolve to make the change. I had my pre-op freakeout. I got worried that I wouldn't be able to eat as much after surgery as I could pre-surgery. That's when I had to break out my inner PIMP and PIMP SLAP myself and say, "Hey Stupid, that's why you're having the surgery - so you CAN'T eat as much as you can now!"

It's so taboo because so many people - junk food companies/fitness gurus/drug companies - have a vested interest in keeping people fat and continually buying the next "miracle cure". They spend millions marketing their products to us and telling us it's our fault we are fat. I'm not saying it's not my fault for being fat, but there are more factors at play that got me to 375 lbs than just my lack of self control over my eating habits. Food companies spend millions trying to find that "sweet spot" where the perfect combination of salty, sweet and fat combine to get the highest response from the test group. They are designing foods to target and increase our desire for the flavors. I've often eaten a bag of chips, and as I ate more, I got hungrier - I was driven to eat till I was stuffed. How many times has that happened when eating an apple....NEVER! :-P

No offense meant to FitnFabfor2014. Please take this as meant - tongue in cheek - :-P Other famous articles from the same author: Stacy Finz "Miss Manners’ response to diabetic triggers firestorm" and "Go ahead and shack up" Thank God for all these articles, written by people with little or no credentials.

During my 1st week post-op, I was eating about 1/2 sugar free Popsicle a day and drinking little sips of Crystal Light. I couldn't drink more than enough to wet my tongue or it'd come right back up. I got in as much Fluid as I could hold, but I really wasn't worried about it. I figured with all the Water and fat stored in my body, I could go at least a week and not be concerned. I wasn't getting in near the water and calories/protein my doc wanted me to. But it turned out okay, day by day, I could eat a little more and drink a bit more.

My 1st 10 days, I didn't eat much of anything either. I was living on sugar free popsicles and Crystal Light. Since you're not taking too much in, don't expect much to come out the other end. :-p Including fasting the day before surgery, I basically didn't eat for 11 days. My system was used to processing 3000+ calories a day. That's a lot of empty storage space to fill, before it needs to clear out. Just keep drinking as much as you can and give your new stomach a chance to heal. In the first few months post-op, it wasn't unusual for me to only go once a week. I had one spell where it was almost 2 weeks, I got concerned and took some Milk of Magnesia. If you're concerned, you really should consult your doc. He can decide the best course of action. http://www.bariatricpal.com/blog/9018/entry-31570-constipation-and-milk-of-magnesia-or-how-fema-declared-my-bathroom-a-national-disaster/

I have to go with what bellaaa said: I can tell you what guidelines my doc gave me, but I'm not qualified to tell you what to do - every situation is different. My doc wanted me to stay around 60 - 80 grams of Protein and 800 calories a day. It took me at least 6 months before I could eat that much per day. It was a least 11 months post-op before I could get in over 1200 calories a day.