gmanbat

Part of this, if it is true, is the "prison syndrome". When freedom suddenly returns, many new options present themselves causing anxiety. In prison choices were more or less pre-determined. Now new power is in your hands, with power comes responsibility. Now you have a slim body and more energy. What are you going to do with it? You can't hide behind the fat bars anymore. You can make changes, some of them drastic. Your relationships, your career, your morals, everything needs to be re-evaluated or reinstated. If you don't have your values in place before you get out you will have to decide what they are once you are free. Can you cope and thrive in freedom and be a blessing to yourself and those around you or will you retreat and find a way to put yourself back into bondage?

If you could modify your thinking and feeling you might be able to solve your problem. You said you don't enoy eating any more. Is it because everything tastes bad or that you can't consume very much of it? I don't cook a whole lot but when I do I am very concerned with the taste because that is basically all I get out of it. I don't get to stuff for extended periods but I can eat slowly and savor great tasting food. I think I love food more now than before. It's because I concentrate on flavors more than quantity and because I know I am not making myself fat and unhealthy with it. I think of gormet competitions that I've seen. The meals are little bitty portions that I used to laugh at. Now they would be about right for me. Make some killer meals that twang your buds! Just eat a "gormet portion".

Yup, it was like that for us for quite a while when we dieted before surgery. I would lose faster than her. But after my prostate cancer treatment I lost the ability to lose weight and ballooned up real good. Weight loss surgery brought us both down to goal, actually at about the same rate! It's the muscle mass that makes the difference. I never yet have been able to get my muscle mass back after hormone treatment, (Lupron), blasted my testosterone all to heck. But what I have is looking more ripped all the time.

I wasn't referring to competing with your wife, I meant competing with any possible other guy that would catch her eye. It is common in nature for the male to strut his stuff to impress the female and beat out the other males so we have to work on our strut.

Way to stare it down! Engaged brain, compulsion conquered! Excellent!

My wife losing weight and getting even more attractive was an extra incentive for me to pour on the effort to increase my hotness quotient. I'm pretty happy with myself, no worries about her. Men, don't sit back and whine like babies, ...compete!

I joined Jan. 13, 2012. Fascinating place. It's like an interactive two dimensional reality/game show... only everybody loses.

I went from envy of junk food eaters to disgust watching them stuff their pig faces, (that's the way I felt, not saying they WERE pigs). Things change as you lose the weight and reap the benefits. Your love for the new you replaces your love for mass quantities of belt strainers. Now when I watch volumes of chips and donuts go down necks I am quite indifferent. I have accepted the fact that I am an alien to the majority of my society. Nanu..Nanu..

At the pre-surgery informational get togethers we were told frightening gas stories by the folks there. It was quite a discussion about the lethal nature and abundance of the gas that comes after WLS. That being said, most of the talk referred to Gastric Bypass folks not Sleevers. There was talk of wearing charcoal-laced Depends to filter out the nose burners. My wife is quite productive in that department but mostly after eating sugar-free candy and even then it is not what I call overly pungent. I have never been put off by women's sweat, gas, burps, leg hair, underarm hair, etc.. Must be a Viking ancestor somewhere in my tree.

Oh, come on gals, can't you see the . < ? the period? _____________________________^ I do not feel qualified to answer being of the masculine persuasion.

I do not count calories but I have the utmost respect for those who do. I have counted calories and carbs and Fiber and Protein so much in my myriad past diets that I can pretty well tell what I have in front of me. If you are really tuned in to your eating and not distracted by TV, talk, movies, etc. there is a place that I call the "sweet spot". It starts when your belly warns you that you are closing in on the limit.....yellow light...time to slow down. It's 1 or 2 bites more time. Sometimes my mind says,"Aw..not yet...this stuff is too good!" If I keep on going the pleasantly full feeling turns to stuffed. If I still keep on going stuffed turns to miserable. Beyond that my belly gives me an instant replay in reverse of what I just ate. Your docs advise about eating slowly is the right advice. I would add eat thoughtfully. Keep your mind on what you are doing. Let your belly talk to you.

Been there. I've got 63 years versus 1 year of programming. My neurons are pretty well hard wired. I have to approach food with brain engaged or Mr. 63 takes over. My sleeve is a huge blessing and it did me a big favor. When I look in a mirror, walk up stairs, put on my pants, hug my wife, and a thousand other things I am reminded what a fat trap I escaped. It's not much of a burden, then, to pause before food and think it through.

Gas that won't come out causes me more pain than anything concerning the sleeve. GasX or Gavascon helps.

On the box look below. There is a paper clip and next to it is "Attach Files". Under that is "Choose Files". Click that button and find the pic on your computer. Click open, it will load up. Click "Add to Post" on the other side. Wherever you had the cusor on the message it will put the pic. Here comes my first car wreck: When you are doing replies you must use full editor.

She sat down with her sister and read the original post and all of your wonderful responses. You should have seen the look on both of their faces. You'd think they were reading a certified letter stating that they had been named as the primary recipients in the estate of a Saudi prince! Sometimes being human is not so bad! Thanks, folks!

Before: After: My Debbie, RNY, Nov. 2011. Went from Size 22 to size 4. Went from 235 to 125. Look at that face...beaming with pride...posin' n' stylin'...diggin' that camera! My friends this is such a difference for her. No more feeling bad about herself. She's got energy coming out her ears. This is the gal I married in 1973. Her old sassy snap is back and I'm loving it!

Yup on that Fiddleman. Also my tight shoes are now loose, my watch hangs from my wrist, I put new holes in my belts and just gave up and bought new. Wierd the other day I wanted to wear a tie that was too short before. I had to cut a piece off of another tie and sew in on to the end. I had to remove the piece I had sewn on because it was way too long. My belly stuck out that much more!!

Do you measure yourself? Muscle takes up less space per pound than fat due to the molecules being closer together. As muscle increases more calories are burned which will get at the fat eventually. Your body infuses Water into muscles after strenuous exercise for healing which accounts for immediate weight increase. It eventually drains off. I have been stalled in the neighborhood of my goal weight for months. I have steadily stepped up my exercise program. I continue to lose fat as evidenced by how my clothes fit and how I look. Muscle cuts are emerging like rocks when the water level goes down. Do you really think you can eat small and correct, drink sufficiently, exercise more, and retain fat over the long run? If you are indeed one of our species that would be quite unlikely. You are quite ahead of where I was at your stage. I never sweated the slow drop. Goal weight was my destiny, my body had no choice.

When you take 20 passes at the craps table and get snake-eyes every time you naturally fear doing it again even if you have loaded dice this time.

Ya, I used to watch them constantly. I skip over them now. Too much like an ex-con going back to look at his old cell in the joint.

I don't have a cycle, it got stolen when I was a kid, but I get grumpy. Not because of food, my cat ticks me off! The bum has to stay in our bedroom but if we close the door so I don't get kept awake by my granddaughter's nocturnal sugar glyders in their stupid wheel, Tigger sctratches on the door to get out. If I close the door after he is out he will scratch the door to get back in. So the door stays open and light sleeper me stares into the darkness. Ok, that's not such a big deal. Sorry for the over-dramatics. Hunger comes around at times, it must be sorted out. Head, real, whatever, it is still hunger. In my case it was MUCH less than before the operation, no doubt because off the reduced ghrelin. The operation gives us a boost but our wills are still in play.

I am not a doctor but I can encourage you to take their advise. Ride it out. No need to scold you about the mistake, you are doing that yourself as I have to myself for the times I have messed up. One essential skill that comes with successful sleeving is concentration. I have trouble with distractions: TV, conversations, movies, etc. can dull my senses and trick me into eating wrong. I have to purposefully force myself to think about what I am doing. It becomes a habit if you do it long enough.

That looks great! Where do you live to get tuna like that?

Is that fish?

You look soooo good! I anticipated that my wife would be shopping more when she got to goal, she lost 110 pounds. What I didn't anticipate is that I would get the shopping bug for her. When I am in Macy's without her I find myself in the women's section looking for size 4s. I seem to want to dress her up. What is happening to me?