TheGamer

Check out the shake recipe thread. There are some really good ones there! My favorite pre-op shake was to take a basic vanilla shake and make it with blueberry tea ice cubes and chilled blueberry tea. I'd add in about 1/2c of frozen blueberries. It looked like a smurf in a blender, but it was tasty!

The one thing I try to keep in mind, even as I lose my hair (and boy am I losing it now!) is that I would have gladly given up all my hair to lose as much weight as I have. I may not like it now, but it will come back. The weight can stay gone forever, though

The less sugar I consume, the more my body reacts negatively to high amounts of it. It's the reason that I can have a bite or two of dessert, but eating a full sleeve filling portion is right out of the question. It's a pretty normal response, but it's also very easy to become reconditioned to high amounts of sugar, so it's good to be wary.

Logically look at the reasons your relationship failed the first time, imo. Ask yourself the hard questions - is this a healthy thing to pursue? What will you do/how will you take it if the relationship doesn't work a second time? Are you okay if he's not as serious about things as you are? Granted, I tend to approach my relationships with a heavy dose of logic and analysis, but that's my nature. Emotional happy fluffy feeling stuff is nice, but it often stops people from looking at things that may be a serious issue. If you can step back and look at it objectively and not really find serious red flags, go for it. Enjoy it, be happy, and take each day as it comes.

I went from being someone who drank water pre-op to someone who can't stand it now. My sleeve just doesn't like it, even if it's room temp. My preference is now for warm, flavored liquids.

I really don't get hungry, which was one of the things that was so compelling about getting a sleeve. Having no appetite is what we signed up for. Eating is quite often something that I just do in order to get in my daily requirements. I break my eating up in smaller portions throughout the day, so sometimes I feel like I spend my whole day eating, even though I know that's not the case.

I take iron, biotin, and zinc and I'm still losing my hair. The only thing I can figure is that maybe if I wasn't taking them, it'd be worse?

Pre-op I was someone who only drank water or tea. Post-op? Water is vile and I can't tolerate it. Now I drink flavored water and teas. I drink most of my 64 oz in tea. I got a 16 oz tervis tumbler (those things are awesome) and I drink 4 of them a day, problem solved.

I noticed that this paper seems to mostly deal with malabsorptive procedures like the RNY. It doesn't mention sleeve that I could see, though I did notice it also mentioned gastric banding and duo switch procedures. I noticed that the things it cites - adequate Protein of 60g or higher, L-lysine (generally obtained in sufficient quantities with protein), B12 (usually supplemented by sleevers), Iron, Biotin, and zinc are all things that I personally take, though I'm still losing my hair. The study also connects B12 with a loss of hair pigment, not necessarily loss of hair. The only thing on that list I'd say I'm not getting a lot of would be the EFAs, though I do eat salmon a couple times a week. I think it's pointing to things that can contribute to additional or protracted hair loss, because if this caused hair to not fall out, I think we'd see more people not losing hair.

It's mostly just strands. When I wash my hair there will just be 15-20 strands that I can see and probably as many when I brush my hair later. It comes out at the root, but it's here and there. I'm not getting bald spots, just thinning hair.

Compare the nutritional facts of PB2 to normal Peanut Butter and you'll understand why people substitute it in. Carb is not a dirty word, honestly. Too many and the wrong kinds of carbs are, but carbs are a normal part of healthy eating.

How much I can eat depends on what I'm eating. If I chewed a smallish apple to applesauce consistency, I could probably eat it all. It's mostly Water and then just a little Fiber. I know I ate a small thing of grapes yesterday (was craving sweets), probably 1/2 c of them over 20m and it was no issue at all. Conversely, I can have 2oz deli meat with a bit of Laughing Cow cheese before I am F-U-L-L. If you're being really careful with what you're eating and how fast you're eating, I can see not having issues. I, however, was not that person. I'm still not that person. Sometimes food tastes too good not to just... eat it If you're really concerned, then definitely go to a doctor and get checked out, but I don't know that I'd consider my surgery wrecked over an apple.

I'm a bit of an anomaly, as I had made peace with being overweight. It made me miserable when I was younger, but the more I struggled with it the older I got, I figured I could either continue to be miserable or... I could make peace with myself and be happy, even when fat. So I did. I pursued weight loss surgery on a whim after being told that my insurance didn't require a six month wait if you were over a certain BMI with comorbidities. Up until that point, the idea of a six month pre-op diet was so repulsive to me that I refused to even think about doing it. I figured that I had tried everything else up to that point, so I could try this and I would either succeed, and things would be different, or that I would fail and I could at least say that I had tried everything. So far, it's been successful. We'll see how it goes a few years from now.

Yes, they're important. Protein will be the cornerstone of your post-op diet, so it's good to get used to it. Also, if you're given a pre-op diet that is high protein and low carb, it's for a reason. In order to get to your stomach, your liver must be retracted out of the way. A fatty liver is easily damaged and many surgeons do not want to take the risk of doing a laproscopic surgery if they can't safely move your liver. While some (usually lower BMI) patients are not required to undergo a pre-surgery diet, if you are given one, stick to it as best you can. For me, the very idea that I could be responsible for my own surgery not proceeding was just too embarrassing to comprehend. If I couldn't do it for two weeks, how could I possibly stick with it the rest of my life?

Carbs creep in, seriously. I did SBD/Atkins for a long time and eventually the carb deprivation just gets to you and it's really hard to not go back to the carbs you loved, which, for a lot of us are the really bad for you carbs. I'd suggest trying to find some low-er carb stuff that's at least somewhat good for you so that it doesn't become a habit again. I try to delay my cravings at least a couple days. I figure if I still want it 3 days later, then I should probably have just a little.

I met or exceeded my daily protein intake, my vitamin levels were fine, and even took preventative measures with biotin and zinc. I am still losing my hair. While that kind of sucks, because my hair was the one thing I was always proud of no matter how fat I got, I figure it's an okay trade. I mean, let's be honest. At my highest weight of nearly 400, if someone had come to me with a razor and said "If you let me shave your head, you'll lose 100 pounds," I would have let them take it all anyway

No matter what, your stomach capacity is never going to go back to what it was, so take comfort in the fact that even if it stretches, your capacity is still greatly reduced. What I've found is that the more "solid" something is, the less I can eat of it. So, I can eat, say, a half cup of Soup with a couple crackers, but only a couple slices of deli meat before I'm full.

Sagging skin will have a lot of variables to it. How old you are (the older you get, the less resilient skin is), how much weight you're going to lose (the more to lose, the more likely you'll sag), how long you've had the weight on, etc. Exercise will help. Some people swear by skin tightening cream and dry brushing to stimulate new cell growth. From a tattooist's point of view, where your ink is located will have a lot to do with it. If you carried a lot of weight in your hips, then you may have some sagging issues. If your weight has fluctuated a lot post-tattoo, that will impact it as well. In much the same way that the older you get, the more the ink you got when you were younger changes, so it goes with weight gain and loss.

Heh, I wish I could quit salt. Since I'm no longer eating a lot of fat or sugar, salt's become the new thing.

One of the reasons my caloric intake stays around 600-800 is because I'm really no longer compelled to eat. Prior to surgery I'd eat anything and everything put in front of me. I'd eat large portions without much regard to how much I was putting in my body. Now? I eat to get my nutritional requirements (Protein and water) and I generally stop eating once I've finished those up. I eat every 2 or 3 hours in order to do so, which really leaves me feeling like I spend most of the day eating. Sure, if I changed what I was eating, I'd have a higher caloric intake, but eating more just to eat more usually leaves me feeling ill these days.

Another factor is your starting weight/bmi. I think, in large part, it comes down to if the doctor thinks liver size will be an issue. Most pre op diets are to shrink the liver.

I wouldn't say I'm losing less, not at all. I've dropped about 100 pounds since late October. That's about 25 pounds a month. I don't feel deprived and I don't feel hungry. I would have been physically unable to achieve this in a sustainable way without the sleeve. Now that I've been at this a few months, I've noticed my body's own peculiarities when it comes to weight loss. I'll lose 2-3 pounds, then I'll not lose for a couple days, then lose a little more, then not lose. Two days ago, I dropped 3 pounds. This morning, only .4 pounds. I'd probably see better weight loss if I was able to exercise, but a string of injury and sickness has kept me unable to do so since November. Still, I can't complain. Ultimately, if I'm doing what I am supposed to, I know the weight will come off. Not as quickly as I'd like, and maybe not all the weight my surgeon wants (I think he's slightly nutty to want me to be 150), but honestly, even if I get down to 200, I'll be happy because I will have lost almost half my highest body weight.

I haven't had issues with the Chinese food, but I have been careful with what I've eaten. Grilled chicken skewers, stir fry beans, anything heavy protein and skipping the rice and noodles. When I get Japanese I stick to sashimi, mostly. I'll splurge and have tamago, too

Also remember that you're eating much less than normal. At this point you may even still be clear liquid only. My understanding is that it's not uncommon for things to er... slow down in that department simply because we're not really eating a lot.