joatsaint

I've thought about that and the only time I could ever see myself needing a bigger stomach is if I were to become a competitive athlete or bodybuilder (trust me, ain't gonna happen!) Then I might need to eat more than a normal person, but otherwise, I'd say "No."

I can only offer my own experience, pre-sleeve, I could lose weight in the short term, but would gain it right back as soon as I went back to normal eating. So I knew I could lose weight - I've even gone 5 days eating nothing but coffee and Crystal Light lemonade. But I knew that I didn't want to spend the rest of my life fighting the food cravings. So I'd give in. If I could be like my skinny friend, who can take or leave food and never think about it, I'd have never needed the sleeve. The sleeve has given me a mental rest from constantly thinking about food and what I'm going to eat next. It is an extraordinary feeling when I see a buffet or a spread of free food at work and I know I can eat just a little or none. I can eat less than the skinny women now! (You know those show offs that pick and eat little pieces off their doughnut and can walk away after 1) And I my head won't be constantly nagging me about how good it will taste and how wonderful it feels to have a full belly. That's what the sleeve did for me.

I thought this was another great article on how on one hand, we're being scolded and treated as outcasts for being fat, and at the same time, food companies are engineering foods that are designed to create cravings and make us fatter. I am all for taking personal responsibility, but at some point you have to realize they are targeting us and creating products that overwhelm our natural stopping point when eating and creating a craving for unhealthy foods. The only way to strike back at these companies is to quit buying their products! According to Michael Moss, the Pulitzer prizing-winning reporter and author of the new book Soups, tomato sauces and hundreds of other food products have put millions of individuals’ health at risk. But the Quest for bigger profits and a larger share of the consumer market has compelled the processed food industry to turn a blind eye to the dangers and consequences of eating those very products. How do the food giants trick consumers? Moss gives several examples: “At Cargill, scientists are altering the physical shape of salt, pulverizing it into a fine powder to hit the taste buds faster and harder, improving what the company calls its ‘flavor burst.’” “Scientists at Nestle are currently fiddling with the distribution and shape of fat globules to affect their absorption rate and, as it’s known in the industry, ‘their mouthfeel.’” “To make a new soda guaranteed to create a craving requires the high math of regression analysis and intricate charts to plot what industry insiders call the “bliss point,” or the precise amount of sugar or fat that will send consumers over the moon.” http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/food-companies-trick-consumers-eating-unhealthy-products-132949611.html

Congrats on your NSV. I got my 2nd NSV this week, had to buy a smaller belt. My old belt looks like Swiss cheese, it has so many holes in it.

At 3 weeks, I had tried ice cream, peanuts, and sunflower seeds. My stomach kinda grumbled over the tablespoon of ice cream, but no problems with peanuts or sunflower seeds. I haven't tried any of the others.

I had a few stomach grumblings for a few weeks when I tried to eat very very finely shredded chicken, but it was only with canned chicken. If I cooked and food processored my own chicken, no problems. And I had no problems with cheese or eggs.

Nope, I don't think anyone is ever 100% sure. You have to go through it before you realize it was worth the effort. This ain't like a $30 bottle of diet pills that you can throw in the trash when they don't work. This sh*t is permanent! I can't find a tattoo that I like enough to have forever, how was I gonna let them remove 85% of my stomach. If I had buyer's remorse, I couldn't have it put back in! My main motivation was, "Do I want to be in this situation this time next year?" And my answer was "No." I could only see things getting worse. But I don't regret a second of it. If they came back tomorrow and said I had to do it all over again, I'd hop on the gurney and surf into OR.

When I have problems sleeping, I take melation. It makes me sleepy pretty quick, but if I wake up at 2am I still have problems going back to sleep for an hour or so.

This reminds me of the Oprah show - the first one where she lost all the weight and came out with the big yellow blob that represented the weight she lost. She went on and on about healthy eating and exercise. As the show closed, the last commercial was for McDonalds!

I prefer to use my cat-like ninja skills.

I know where you are coming from, but I it didn't hit me till I was in the pre-op waiting room, laying on the gurney, in the hospital gown. Somehow I didn't let myself believe it was happening till that moment.

Congrats on having such a successful pre-op diet. How long do you have to be on it?

Wishing you guys were all here with me, watchin Zombie Land and getting thinner.

I think we have our 1st zombie victim, she just broke the #1 rule - don't get cocky!

My doc just said he'd take out about 85%. I was confident in his judgement, he'd been doing sleeves for over 12 years.

I took melatonin that night, but in case it's extra hard to get to sleep, I take NyQuil gels - The Nightime, Sniffling, Sneezing, Coughing, Aching, Stuffyhead, Fever, How-the-Hell-Did-I Wake-Up-on-the-Floor Medicine.

Don't have to worry, cause brains is slider food!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "Let me eat your brainnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!" "Mmmmm....protein" P.S. I found the perfect anti zombie weapon. We have'em on the run now!

You forgot one of the most important lessons from Zombie Land - The 1st to go were the fatties. Rule 1: Cardio: This one comes up in Zombieland and clearly makes alot of sense. How many fat people do you see at the end of the world when its zombies.

I haven't told anyone at work, but if I have to, I plan on saying I had a hernia repaired.

I guess I'm lucky, my pre-op diet was only 7 days. When I wasn't drinking the low carb shakes, I was eating grilled pork tenderloin with Adobo seasoning. I was getting it at Sam's Club for $2 a pound and grilled it on my George Foreman grill. Before surgery, I would buy the pre-chopped lettuce in bags, they seem to last about 4 days before going brown.

My NUT said to shoot for 80 grams/day for men. I would assume it would be a little less for women.

I am guessing but I think it means Tummy Tuck.

I was trying to drink the broth from Campbells Chunky Soup - Hearty Chicken. I loved it before surgery, post-op I can't stand it. I switched over to Cream of Mushroom and Cream of Chicken at the end of my 1st week, when I went on full liquids.

I didn't take any Vitamins the 1st week, but on the 2nd week I was able to swallow whole pills. I am taking the generic Wal-mart men's Vitamin, sub-lingual B-12 and (2) 500 mg Calcium Citrate pills daily. I have been drinking the EAS carb advantage chocolate fudge from Wal-mart (4 for $5) since the 1st week. They taste very good, like thin chocolate milk, just a tiny bit grainy.

Got my fingers crossed for ya. Good luck.