GraceAbounds

Congratulations. I can imagine your day to day living experience has improved tremendously! Small things like bending over to pick up your cell phone, putting on shoes, and walking a few feet are all suddenly easy and even enjoyable. Keep at it!

I just posted something about there being way to much emphasis on BMI. What about body fat! There are "skinny people" that have high percentages of body fat. I do believe ere are so many other factors. I do not want to be "skinny fat" I want to be healthy and I am not sure that the BMI chart gets me to what I consider healthy. 125 lbs doesn't always equate to health for my height.

It's kind of funny that you posted this because I was just talking about it the other day. It is extremely frustrating to see this bmi scale and what it does to people. My sister started eating healthy and exercising and lost about 110 pounds. She exercises every single day, she is a runner and still eats healthy but she weighs about 210 which puts her bmi greater than 30 and of course means she has to go to weight watchers for insurance. It's ridiculous, she is healthier than some of her 120 lb friends but she still suffers because of the label of >30 bmi.

Had 8 small pieces of Sashimi tonight. Nothing else. It was wonderful and no stomach issues. Big load of Protein and good oils to boot. I'm 5 weeks out and so far have not had a single issue with anything I have eaten. Lost 46 pounds of the 130 I want to lose in that time. I keep waiting for the other shoe to fall and have some issue but so far this has been easy and a blessing of gigantic proportions!

That is a great post clk. I feel guilty, honestly, that nothing I have eaten has been an issue. I wonder sometimes if they just poked holes in me to make me feel like I had a sleeve? LOL. Protein powders were never my favorite when I played football or while I was in the Army training - but they are easy now. eggs, sushi, potatos, Soups, Chinese food (mostly just the chicken from the broccoli dish); Beans and rice at Mexican, and others all go down easy and have caused no issues. I log it all in MyFitPal and stay under 1000 calories in a day. Losing weight and feeling better than I have in years. I hope this course stays the same. And for all those I read who are struggling with eating I pray things improve quickly and fully!!

Wishing you the best on this. I had mine Dec 13 and am down 44 pounds and not having the issues you describe. Taste is more sensitive for sure as I'm eating much slower. For me, the challenge has been the food companion is now dead. I refuse to allow food to be more than nutrition at this point. It used to be a pal. Hoping you soon reach a better place in this!

It stinks, doesn't it? I mean, we had surgery so we could eat less but I think deep down, we expect that we'll eat less of things we enjoy the same way while reaping the benefits of the weight loss!
I wish! There are some folks that never have the taste change or have finicky sleeves but so many more of us go through exactly this phase.
And iegal is exactly right: hang in there and it will pass.
I did not really enjoy a meal until more than a year out. But before that I did get to a point where eating wasn't such a chore. I hated eating. And I developed lactose intolerance, so my "easy" Protein foods like yogurt and cottage cheese stopped being options early on. It was miserable.
But it does come back. Your tastes change and your standards get higher but you'll find yourself genuinely enjoying your tiny portion of a meal at some point. I can't say when, but it really will happen.
There are a few things you can do in the meantime. One, keep trying new Vitamins. Gummy vites are not the ideal but if that's what you can keep down right now, take those (and your other supplements) until you can handle the other ones. The multi that finally worked for me was a chewable prenatal Vitamin that I started taking more than a year before I got pregnant. I think it was the sixth or seventh multi I'd tried and it was the first one that didn't give me hours of nausea after taking it.
Two, do not force yourself to drink a Protein you hate. Keep trying new ones until you find the one you like. There is one out there if you try hard enough! I cannot even begin to count how many times I changed protein powders. The only brand that has hung in there the entire time and tasted good to me is the Syntrax nectar - I like the chocolate, vanilla, Cappuccino and unflavored versions. It's the only unflavored I've had that I really cannot taste or smell once it's mixed. Find what works for you. Find a site that sells samples so you can try many different things and track what you like. The Syntha-6 drinks by BSN have a higher calorie/carb profile but taste very good. You might find that in order to get to your protein goals you need to compromise with yourself and eat what works and keeps you happy. And mix with something other than milk - try almond milk, hemp milk, Water, tea, coffee...keep trying until you find what works for you.
Make your diet as varied as possible. Eating the same, boring foods day in and out, choking down unpleasant Protein shakes and feeling exhausted by eating will only make you feel run down, discouraged and depressed. If you're having Soup, make it spicy or different in some way. Introduce foods you might not have eaten prior to surgery to liven things up. Do you like quinoa? It digests quite easily and is a complete protein. If you don't use it already, it's easy to use it in place of rice in dish you used to enjoy. Get out there and find foods that you can eat and enjoy, or at least not hate.
This is a very normal part of the journey. It really does get easier.
~Cheri

Hi there. My hubby just got off of a tour as a US Army recruiter so I feel somewhat qualified to help here. Bad news but weight loss surgery automatically medically disqualifies anyone from service. Active or reserves it doesn't matter. Our dietary and physical requirements are too complicated. Vitamins might be unavailable during certain situations (such as when overseas, missions, etc...), having to eat in a huge hurry, MRE's would be a huge no-no because they're full of carbs and crap, not being able to eat often enough because our meal portions are so much smaller, just to name a few reasons. Generally I think they just don't want to risk it. And in this economy where many many folks are trying to get in there are, unfortunately, no wavers. Unless you lie about having your surgery of course (which is bad please don't do that lol), but the folks at MEPS are pretty thorough and will find out. You can always talk to a recruiter though. Asking risks nothing and the worst he could say would be no. Good luck! =)

1st pic at 619lbs 2nd pic at 375lbs

Ok I will jump in here. My before is at about 320 lbs. My after is at about 207. Im down to about 197 now and still going.
After
Before

Wishing you the best on this. I had mine Dec 13 and am down 44 pounds and not having the issues you describe. Taste is more sensitive for sure as I'm eating much slower. For me, the challenge has been the food companion is now dead. I refuse to allow food to be more than nutrition at this point. It used to be a pal. Hoping you soon reach a better place in this!

I had the same thought. But then it dawned on me. This is not a perfectly healthy part of my body. It helps drive me to overeat and that was killing me slowly. And making what Life I had terrible at times due to health and physical issues.
So, now that I am 4 weeks out I can say emphatically I am glad to that piece of me is gone. It was doing more harm than good. Now it poses no problem.

The point about your height and weight in at surgery date is key. I'm 6 feet tall and weighed 342 on Dec 13, date of surgery. This morning I was 294.8 pounds. That is 47 pounds in 30 days. But I have followed the diet closely and walk every day. Even have started light running and lifting in the last two weeks. I have a teenage son who is a QB and I catch passes for him almost nightly so I likely get more activity than most folks 1 month out...
The great news for you is you are headed in the right direction! Losing 40 over 5 months beats the tar out of gaining 1 more over any period of time. Keep at it!

Congrats! My surgery was Dec 13. This has been a great blessing to me and my family. I spend 1/4 what I used to on food and I feel amazing already!

In all honesty, if you can do this without surgery, do it. Hands down it is better for you to succeed from sheer self dicipline.
The unfortunate reality for most of us is that out willpower over food was pretty close to non existant. And the brutal reality is that being obese will kill you, along with destroying your life.
YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING.
Do you need the sleeve? I don't know. Only you can answer that. But if you've tried for years to lose weight unsuccessfully, then it damn sure beats the alternative (being fat & dying).

Congrats!!! You are doing awesome! Keep in touch with me and God Bless!!

You can try unflavored Protein in your food, it helps to get it in without having to set aside room in your tummy for shakes

The resemblance is there for sure! LOL.

I don't know if anyone answered this, but I want to clear this up just in case. Of course, every surgeon has a diff plan, but i was told that ALL liquids count. Jellos, pudding, everything. In the beginning plain Water is very hard on the sleeve. It can make some people nauseous. It certainly did me! I am 4 months out and just this week i've been able to tolerate plain Water w/o any issues.

Agreed!!! Hydration is more important than Protein initially. Once I got to the point where I could tolerate more, I was adding unflavored Isopure to hot chocolate and broth....and I pretty much lived on this for the first two weeks.
Hang in there....it absolutely will get easier!!!

Prayers!

Are we brothers?
Sorry about the flip, can't get my ipad to act right.

It takes awhile to build both up. I'm 6 weeks out & just in the last couple weeks have met my Water intake. You'll get there; just keep working on it!