Globetrotter

I'm sure your surgeon is very good, but even among good WLS surgeons, not every one is a metabolic or bariatric scholar. Bubbly sodas? Seriously? Lifting weights 2 weeks out? SOLID FOODS?? I may get flamed for this but I'm going to flat out say no, those are not good ideas. I didn't eat solids till the end of my 2nd month and if I had it to do over again I would have waited till the end of 3 months, I didn't lift weights until one month out and I REALLY wish I had waited on that as well.

AAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGHH, MAKE THESE LAST #$%(**&!! 40 LBS GO AWAY!!!!!! Sorry, just had to get that out. I fear that I am sabotaging myself, I have not lost any weight since New Year and I am backsliding into a world of bad foods, grazing, and night eating. I'm petrified to get on my scale and see the truth of real gain, my clothes are more snug than they were 2 months ago, I think. Yesterday I ate 3 (albeit very small) hot dog franks for dinner, 2 before the gym and one after. My total calorie count for the day was 1088, carbs 46, Protein 94. I already know from trial and error that I (unfortunately) only lose proper weight when I am severe low calorie <700 so why do I keep eating? Since I no longer get "hungry" I have started interpreting empty as hungry so I am now in a very bad routine of eating about every two hours, when my stomach is empty. I know exactly what I should be doing, like everyone here I have the mantra memorized; protein first, Water water, exercise, work your sleeve, blah blah blah, but I am just f***ing eating. I miss losing weight, I miss being on the losers bench, I miss how hopefull and fulfilling it felt to really KNOW it was all working. I haven't felt that way in a year.

The way I did it is I just sort of took the decision out of my hands, I made a date with a friend for running, the fitness phd friend by the way, and that kept me from backing out of it. She has damaged her own ankles a lot over the years so she is also cautious and since she has been a personal trainer, she let me go at my own pace but also nudged me along. I definitely could not have gone it alone for my first time! We now have a standing run date every Monday and Wednesday and because someone other than myself is involved, it makes it more difficult to bail. She of course can keep up a chatty conversation without breaking a sweat while running which I can't quite do yet but I manage to talk a little, which makes me put forth even more effort.

Oh Coops that is an awesome nsv, and sort of a fantasy of mine, to have a third party call out my thinness!! That friend of mine that I've talked about, the personal trainer who is lean and athletic and has her phd in nutrition and metabolism, is JUST like the one who gave you the trousers, constantly talking about her "tummy", look how much bigger I was in this photo ... about how fat she feels. I know it is all a desperate teenage girl (she's 31) method of gleaning compliments - how insecure is that?! I just go silent when she does it, I do not give her what she wants, I will not feed the beast.

@ Lisalu - could you tell me more about the Cornell plan? I too am 20 months out but unlike you I haven't even hit surgeon's goal yet, let alone personal goal. I'm still 20 lbs away from surgeon's, 45 from personal.

@ Coops - the short answer is, yes! I got on the treadmill one day and told myself, "you are NOT ALLOWED to stay on this treadmill for longer than a single minute, I don't care how much you are enjoying yourself!" (A bit o reverse psychology), so, for one minute, I ran properly. Then I got off and went about my regular workout routine. I did that for a few days and then switched it up to 2 minutes. After that I switched from minutes to distance and told myself that I was not allowed to go more than a quarter mile (about 3.5 minutes as it turned out), then half a mile, then .75, before I knew it, I was purposely not looking at either the clock or the distance and just going by how my body felt and when I needed to stop and walk I looked down and I'd done a mile and a quarter! As far as running without stopping to walk or slow down at all I am still "only" at 1 mile on the treadmill, out in the real world like I said in the prev post, we did 3.33 miles but that was the sum of bursts of running and walking, not pure running. As they say, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. <3

I used to wonder about this, and still do to some extent. My conclusions are that 50 lbs is usually the top-out point for non-op weight loss, you always hear about people saying well I lost 50 lbs on such and such diet. So I figure that one reason why people don't say anything is that they are waiting to see if it "sticks". By the time a person has lost 100 lbs it usually becomes apparent that this is no flash in the pan and this is some legit weight loss and we are clearly committed to our goals, so people feel able to talk about it. Also, I've noticed there is something magical about 200 lbs, regardless of your height. It seems like once you cross over, people are really able to tell, and once you get south of 175, they seem to notice every pound! I saw a guy the other day that I hadn't seen since I was about 210, I'm currently about 167, and for the entire length of our conversation he looked like someone had used a cattle prod on him, just stunned. ;D

Update: I went running Friday with my buddy, we ran up hills, through sand, and down trails and did 3.3 miles!! It was interspersed with walking, but still!

@ Coops - I have totally noticed the same thing. I am now the same weight I was around the middle of my freshman year at college and lookking back at photos, my face was way way rounder back then. Also, I am a solid 20-30 pounds heavier than I was toward the end of high school and yet I can comfortably fit into some of the clothes I have saved. BTW - I have recently discovered the truth about bread sliding. I can only eat half a chicken breast and yet feel full for a very long time. However I can wolf down an entire grilled cheese sandwich and half an hour later be interested in food again. BOO.

Uh, what kind of Protein shot has 600 calories? None I've ever used, mine have 110 calories, 26 grams protein and maybe 1 carb. Yeah, I've seen the scale move - I've gained 5 pounds. =(

I have no problem with the idea that the men who give me attention now may or may not have given me attention previously because, how could I expect them to like me when I didn't like me? I did get "play" a a very heavy woman, there are men out there that DIG it. But I didn't love me, and it showed, in my size, my behavior, my self destruction. So no worries there. Also, I carefully screen, if I get the slightest whiff that a man might have fat (or other) prejudices, thanks for playing, good bye! And since I am so short and still fluffy (40 lbs to goal), if a man shows interest in me, he clearly doesn't have a problem with curves. The part that IS upsetting, is the freedom some people seem to feel to fat-bash and use bigoted slurs. I almost feel at times as though I were a person of color, secretly hiding in another ethnicity's appearance, hearing how they "really" talk, when they think they are among their own "kind". They just unconcernedly toss around terms like, fat slob, stupid fat ass, fat jokes of every kind, remarks that clearly indicate that they regard the worth of a person and their pant size as synonymous. Sometimes I'm so startled, I don't know how to respond and so say nothing, which makes me angry at myself. I've lost 128 pounds, am a size 12ish, but I really don't notice any extra male attention.

Continuous grazing on high carb/calorie foods without exercise is the most efficient way to destroy wls success. I'm afraid I'm doing that, always afraid of doing this. But if you are talking end-of-the-world-no-escaping-it, then grilled cheese man, grilled cheese till the end!

Ate a snickers bar for dinner last night.

Well, I didn't wear that Princess Leia bikini for either of the two halloweens that have passed since I was sleeved, however, I did wear a long tight very low cut black dress to Rocky Horror that I hadn't worn since I was 19 (in 1997!) so, yeah! I found a little sweater set from my preppie mid-90's days and it fits but I laughed so hard because the hem is above the navel! Everything showed the midriff back then, even preppy clothes! =P Can you imagine anyone doing that now? lol. Class of '96, the best! Oh and, we call this board the Flirty Thirties for a reason ... I'm "seeing" a younger man, ahem, he is *cough*, 22. Next week. >;P What can I say! I live in a college town and he came after me. =D =D

It's fun to me because I've turned it into a game; when I bought my shoes at a specialty running store I got a lot of great knowledge from the sales dude and he informed me of the ideal running gait which is 180 steps per minute or 90 pairs. It's so easy to get lost in the counting of the steps and establishing my rhythm that the first few minutes breeze by and now that I know what 180 feels like, I can do it without counting and it is almost hypnotic. Also, I don't know about you all, but one of the hurdles as I've approached goal has been to drop my mind sets as well as the pounds. I had a knee-jerk response to running, that it was difficult and embarrassing and would feel horrible physically and emotionally. I reassured myself, said hey, it's okay, you can stop if you want. And when I automatically started to stop one day on the treadmill because I had been on for 30 minutes, I said, wait a minute, LISTEN to your body, are you actualy tired? How do you REALLY feel? And I realised, I was perfectly fine, I wasn't about to collapse, far from it. That was the day I pushed ahead and went a mile and a half. It's a cliche but, sometimes, we really don't know what we are capable of! =)

<3 <3 Coops!

And the best part is that when we stopped I realized that if it weren't for my throat and lungs, I could totally have kept going. My muscles and body were doing just fine! Now I truly can recognize and cannot deny the positive changes in my body. As much as I have forgotten or want to forget, I distinctly remember how exhausted I felt just walking up a short flight of stairs, how my knees trembled. Now I dance all night long, twist myself into a yoga pretzel, and run alongside a very fit person and the differences between us aren't stark. =) =) =)

Let us know if you feel your weight loss if affected in any way, positively or negatively.

For the first time in my life I ran outside in the real world, with the intention of running, and with a running buddy! It was amazing, we really ran, this wasn't just some slow walking, we kept up a steady jog pace up and down grades AND talked! I felt great and the only part of me to conk out were my lungs and throat which felt like they were sucking ice shards, otherwise I felt good. And ... we did 2.75 miles!!!! The most I've done alone on a tread was 1.5!!!! My running buddy is a former personal trainer and is in excellent shape and she said that I did really well. yay

The part I find most facinating, and alarming, is that my capacity grows and shrinks depending on whether or not I am eating alone. If I am eating with non-ops I have a total sleever's appetite and can manage 3 bites. If I eat alone I can eat way way more. This is bad news. Also, turns out I wasn't paying attention, the reason for my sudden increase in capacity was my cycle, right before I start my capacity seems suddenly endless and I can't cram in enough rare red meat and chocolate (oh my).

I do not experience hunger so that is good, but when I sit down to a meal, nobody can tell I've had surgery =(

So does the pudding mix thicken it? If that's the case than some pectin thickener or something from the baking aisle might work, and be lower in calorie and sugar.

I have tried various approaches to get back that old feeling of restriction, I do not drink with meals, chew really well, don't dip, eat protein first, etc. etc. So far nothing really does it.

I believe he used a 32F, I had surgery 20 months ago, I had a LOT of restriction at first (took an hour to eat half an overeasy egg, 2 oz of tuna salad had me full all afternoon) and now I can eat 4 ounces of steak without blinking, half a sandwich, a slice of pizza (not all at once, you get the point), and depending on which insurance chart you are using I easily have another 30-50 pounds to lose. =C

I tried early on to blend protein powder with greek yogurt and that was noooo bueno! =/ Now I blend with very cold water and ice cubes which helps to thicken it, as well as frozen banana and a little SF torani syrup makes them taste all coffee shop special =)